Amazon.com Product Description
An anodized aluminum top and polished stainless steel back. Five eye-catching colors. A larger, brighter display with the most pixels per inch of any Apple display, ever. iPod nano stirs up visual effects from the outside in. And it’ll wow you for hours. Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on a single charge. All that staying power and a wafer-thin, 6.5-mm profile makes iPod nano one small big attraction.
Cover Flow
If a picture says a thousand words, think of what all the album art in your collection might say. With Cover Flow on iPod nano, you can flip through your music to find the album you want to hear. Use the Click Wheel to browse music by album cover, then select an album to flip it over and see the track list.
In addition to listening to music you can now enjoy TV shows, movies, video podcasts, and more. View iPod nano dimensions.
The iPod nano comes in a host of exciting new colors.
Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on one charge. View larger.
Music
Use the Click Wheel to adjust volume, navigate songs, browse in Cover Flow, or explore the Music menu by playlist, artist, album, song, genre, composer, and more. Want to mix things up? Click Shuffle Songs. iPod nano makes your music look as good as it sounds, thanks to its bright color display.
Movies
Buy movies from the iTunes Store and you can sync them to your iPod nano to watch anywhere, anytime. Up to 5 hours of video playback means you can watch two movies back to back. And for your viewing pleasure, the 320-by-240-pixel display–with a whopping 204 pixels per inch–is 65 percent brighter than before.
TV Shows
There’s always something good on iPod nano. Browse thousands of episodes of your favorite TV shows on the iTunes Store, buy them for just $1.99 each, then sync them to your iPod nano. Watch last night’s episodes this morning, or buy a whole TV series and play a pocket-size marathon.
Podcasts
The iTunes Store features thousands of free video and audio podcasts, including indie favorites and offerings from such big names as ABC News, Comedy Central, ESPN, PBS, NPR, and many more. Browse and subscribe to podcasts, then sync them to your iPod nano. You can even play video podcasts on TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.
Audiobooks
The digital shelves of the iTunes Store are stocked with thousands of audiobooks–including exclusives like the entire Harry Potter series–so you can catch up on your reading wherever iPod nano takes you. iPod nano even recognizes where you left off reading and bookmarks your place.
Games
Put hours of fun at your fingertips. iPod nano comes with three games–Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike–and you can download more from the iTunes Store for $4.99 each. All iPod games are designed specifically for the iPod interface. And all of them look great on the 2-inch color display.
Photos
iPod nano holds up to 7,000 photos you can sync from your Mac or PC via iTunes. Use the Click Wheel to scroll through photo thumbnails. To see a photo full screen, click the center button. You can even view your photo slideshows–complete with music and transitions–on a TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.
Extras
Calendars, contacts, and a screen lock appear in the Extras menu, along with a few more handy items. Take the world clock, for example. Spin the Click Wheel to choose different clocks for cities all over the world. For workouts, use the built-in stopwatch to log your best times.
Product Description
iPod nano is the small iPod with one very big idea: Video. Now the world’s most popular music player lets you enjoy TV shows, movies, video podcasts, and more. The larger, brighter display means amazing picture quality. It features an anodized aluminum top and polished stainless steel back. It’ll wow you for hours. Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on a single charge. iTunes provides music, movies, TV shows, games and more. All those features within a wafer-thin, 6.5-mm profile makes iPod nano a tiny big attraction you’ll just love carrying around! 2-inch (diagonal) liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight; 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch Compact and lightweight – Unit Size 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.41 inches (103.5 x 61.8 x 10.5 mm)/ Weighs 4.9 ounces Photo support – Syncs iPod-viewable photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG formats Internal rechargeable battery delivers up to 24 hours audio or 5 hours video per charge / Recharges in about 3 hours (1.5-hour fast charge to 80% capacity) Includes Earphones, USB cable, dock adapter
Apple’s new nano is designed to improve upon past models and add some functionality. The improved video, smaller thinner body and updated firmware are enough to make it stand out. The slightly lower price tag is also sure to help sell more units.
I think most buyers will opt to get the 8GB, considering it is only $50 more than the 4GB and actually makes the video function more usable. Regardless, the new nano is an improvement in any size.
The Looks
Some people will prefer the older nano’s longer body with the larger click wheel. Apple shortened the body to limit breaks due to the former generation flexing in people’s pockets and bags. The longer nano was prone to bend (and sometimes break) when people put them in their pocket and sat down.
Another change motivated by durability is the metal face. The old clear composite face was a magnet for smudges and scratches. The new metal face holds up nicer. Be warned though; it can chip and scratch, so get a cover.
This unit is also thinner, so even in a cover it will still be thinner than most other players. BIG ++++!
Apple does lose some points for the smaller click-wheel being awkward. It’s a trade-off.
The Sound
Sound quality is not significantly improved from previous models. The slight improvements touted in Apple’s marketing are exagerated. However, let’s be fair to Apple here. Most MP3 players have only moderate fidelity sound.
Almost no MP3 players are actually designed for audiophiles / musicians / sound engineers; i.e., the people who could tell the difference between good sound and great sound. The sound is ok; just don’t expect it to sound like a Bose wave radio.
Remember also that MP3 is a compression technology that does experience quality loss. Particularly, with a lower bitrate your MP3 files will lose more and more of the sound integrity from the original recording. Combine that with the fact many people rip from CDs that are not digitally mastered, and you would get inferior sound quality with any device.
Features
Other than the changes in the body design, not many new features are noteworthy with this device.
There are some changes in the components and software that do make the screen brighter and allow you to do more things, including watch videos and play more games. Some complain there isn’t enough memory for video. It’s a nice extra even if these nanos don’t have tremendous memory.
The flash memory in this device could have been a higher speed. However, the main advantages of the flash player are still here: less risk of hardware failure associated with a hard disk drive player (better for running or working out).
The device does seem to have a slighly shorter battery life than advertised. Perhaps there is a trade-off with the shorter form factor. Users are still likely to get a full day’s use from a charge.
Apple’s software is still a weakness with very limited direct control over your device library and few file options. Most users have limited needs and will not notice. Apple hits the minimum compatibility needs of most of the market.
Coverflow is little more than a gimmick. It’s still buggy. Covers tend to blank out if you scroll quickly. Cover art has been downloaded with previous software versions and with other players. The ability to scroll covers is not really a breakthough.
Keep in mind that the iPod actually still has less features than most competitive devices. It doesn’t have a radio tuner, voice recorder, bluetooth, WMA support, etc. But what it does it does well.
Overall this device is an improvement. Apple really wins with sleek design and a wealth of accessories. This unit is no different. While it is not perfect, none of the competition is good enough to de-throne it any time soon.
I have gone through two Apple iPod nanos before this one. The sound quality of this latest Nano is better than the previous ones. The screen color is wonderful and the “Cover Flow” feature is one of my favorites. Not to mention that it now has video too and I must say that the quiality of the video is exceptional!
All is well EXCEPT for the design. The material used is shiny and somewhat slippery so I always have the fear that I will drop it. It’s square-ish design fits awkwardly on my hands and it’s so small that it too feels awkward when I am scrolling through my music collection.
Bottomline, when it comes to sound quality and added features (Video & Cover flow), this new generation Nano is unbeatable. As for the design and comfort, I’d still go for the second generation Nano. So 4 stars!!!
This is my first iPod. So I can’t compare it to previous versions like some reviewers so successfully have done. But it has a crisp, bright video playback that I find especially kind to my eyes. It also sports a very thin all-metal body.
One thing I really appreciate is the excellent battery life. So many players, and other electronics, don’t offer good battery life. This unit also has built-in games and an advanced user interface. I don’t use the games much. But it’s sort of nice to have them.
I find the body a bit wide for my liking. I also think the scroll wheel is slightly smaller than I’d like. I was also a bit disappointed with the audio. When I played it in the car, I noticed some static and distortion. I didn’t have that with my former player.
I use mine mostly for mp3s. I like the fact that it holds a ton of them so I’m not constantly having to reload like I did with my Creative Zen.
I also find that the price is reasonable. All in all, I think it’s a good device and, if it fits your needs, you should consider buying it. I personally think it may be better suited to those who use it more for video than audio, however. On the other hand, most people may not even notice that the audio is not quite up to par.
I would have given five stars if the audio was a bit better.
In addition to listening to music you can now enjoy TV shows, movies, video podcasts, and more. View iPod nano dimensions.
The iPod nano comes in a host of exciting new colors.
Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on one charge. View larger.
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