Sep 12 2005
iPod nano
The minute I heard about the iPod nano, I knew I couldn’t look at my mini the same. I actually heard about it later than most of you, since I was on a flight to New York during the announcement. When I heard about it from the Engadget guys at a party that night, I quickly plotted a trip to the SoHo Apple Store the next morning. To my surprise they had no units, but I was able to pick one up at my local store this morning.
First reaction
I’m an Apple guy and a gadget nut so getting a new iPod is twice as fun as christmas and three times less stressful. I opened it in the car and was blown away. It’s about the size of those mini remotes that come with some car stereos, but this thin actually holds 1,000 songs. I immediately thought of those dehyradted sponge animals that made childhood more interesting, but I haven’t tried soaking my nano in a glass of water overnight to see if it really does turn into a big iPod.
Syncing
The iPod nano only comes with a USB sync cable which isn’t surprising. It synced in a few minutes with my PowerBook. I set it to use the playlist I had already used for my mini when I discovered it had 666 songs on it. To advert disaster I added a song and got to my jamming. Since the nano can handle photos you can set that up in iTunes as well, just like all other current disk based iPods. Since my nano has 4GB of storage I decided to go light on the photos and concentrate on CDs and album art. I threw on a few photos just to demo and they look great on the screen, but you have to remember that no matter how great the photo is it will only be an inch and a half. Your digital camera will probably have a screen at least that big (mine has a 2.5″ screen).
General use
Using the iPod nano is like using a Shuffle that doesn’t suck. Volume wise it’s technically 50% larger than the Shuffle (1.51 cubic inches versus 1.07), but the screen and scroll wheel are definitely worth that extra size. And take that extra size statement with a grain of salt–it fits on top of my business card with a lot of extra (about 20% smaller on the side). The scroll wheel still is able to pack in a nice click, despite the super-thin design.
But is the iPod nano too small for general use? In my tests so far (over the past weekend) I have found that it feels just right. Since it’s solid state there is less to break if you do drop it, but there is still enough meat that it’s easy to hold on to.
Gripes
The long standing problem of the mirror finish on the back being easy to scratch and impossible to keep clean is my biggest gripe–but I knew that going in. My mini had a matte finish so I wasn’t dealing with this before. I’m not an accessory guy, so the smaller form factor that breaks almost all existing accessories isn’t a problem for me. If you do have a few accessories, prepare to buy new ones. Future models that use the dock connector will work across the board thanks to the adapter that comes in the nano box, but it doesn’t appear to work with existing accessories. Cases of course will not work across the board.
Verdict
If you were looking at the iPod mini, don’t wait a second to get the nano. These are going to be impossible to get during the holiday season, so I’d place that order soon. The iPod nano is the coolest thing I own bar none.
