Cons: Some Issues with cracked screens a little while back...
The Bottom Line: A great buy for anyone! Easy to use for beginners, great for those who work out, and has enough capacity to get you through a couple of days!
rapoob2's Full Review: Apple iPod nano 1st Generation Black (2 GB) MP3 Pl...
Let me start by saying I am a music lover – I have over 40GB of music that I play on my computer, I have a 3rd Generation 40GB iPod (which just barely doesn’t cut the mustard to hold all of my music), an iPod shuffle, and now an iPod Nano. Bottom line, I listen to a lot of music and care about how it sounds… Now let me turn to actually reviewing the 2GB Black iPod Nano.
Why I got it
I obviously have more than enough music playing capability, so you may find yourself asking why I would even bother to purchase one of these. Well, it was to stay hip, cool, and stylish. Just kidding. Sort of.
I bought an iPod Nano because I wanted an MP3 player that I could take to class with me in my pocket. The Nano is the perfect size. It also has the distinct advantage over the shuffle of having an LCD screen so I can actually scroll through my music and listen to what I want to hear.
How Big Is It?
I’m always skeptical of commercials when they say “it’s the size of a credit card” or “as big as your thumb” or “as wet as a whistle.” The iPod Nano, though, is actually as small as they say it is. It fits comfortably in the palm of my hand and I can put it in my back pocket and not feel it pulling down on my pants (an issue with the regular iPod… a story for another day). In fact, whenever I play music on it while walking, I put it in my back pocket (no joke). The headphones that come with it are long enough to reach (to give you a point of reference, I’m 6ֵ”). As a heads up, if you ever do keep it in your back pocket, make sure to take it out before you sit down!!!
What Comes With It?
Inside the box (which is pretty small itself) are manuals, the installation CD, a USB connector, and the Nano itself. Because I had an iPod installed on my computer already, I did not have to use the installer CD (which worked out rather well) or download iTunes (because iPods only play on iTunes). While this may seem like a pain, iTunes is incredibly user friendly and makes organizing and finding music very simple.
No Charger?!?!
That was one of my first thoughts as well when I opened the box. However, the Nano actually charges itself when plugged into your computer via the USB cable (much like a flash memory stick). This means that you can update it with playlists that you want to listen to while it charges. This is much more convenient than other iPods which have to be plugged into the wall (especially if you had the docking station and plugged it into the wall using the double cord that was popular at first). This way avoids clutter on the desk and is very simple.
How Much Does It Actually Weigh?
Well what weighs more, 1.5oz of feathers or 1.5oz of Nano? Because it is only 1.5oz, it is easily transportable (as I said before, I put it in my back pocket and forget about it sometimes).
What’s All This Flash Technology Jazz About?
Flash memory means that there are no more moving parts inside the Nano, which makes skipping impossible (I feel like it was only yesterday when ESP2 came out for Diskmen and that was the coolest thing ever…). It also means that it can access songs faster because it doesn’t have to search the hard drive (now it’s instant instead of taking 12 milliseconds…).
How’s the User Interface?
The user interface is much better than the Shuffle and is pretty much the same as the most recent regular iPods. For those of you who haven’t been riding the trendy iPod technology wave, though, I’ll dig a little deeper. At the top on the front there is a screen (on the Nano it is in living colour, yet another sweet feature). Beneath it is the scroll wheel that you can go over lightly without actually pressing down to scroll through songs or change the volume if a song is playing. In the middle of the wheel is a click button, which you can use to select songs or playlists. At the top of the scroll wheel, you can click where it says Menu and that will bring you backwards (think of it as the page back button). On the right and left there are the Skip Forward and Skip Backwards buttons, respectively. On the bottom there is the Play/Pause Button.
So Talk To Me About Some Cool Features
So you want to talk business, eh? There are two cool features that I think are worth noting:
(1) the screen is in full color and has the ability to show you slide shows of pictures that you make. It’s a cool concept, but not something that I find overly practical (if I want to look at pictures, I’m going to use my computer and not my iPod… I also do not look at my iPod screen continuously while I listen to music).
(2) When you pull the headphone cord out of the Nano or disconnect it from anything, it automatically pauses. I find this feature to be very useful because if you accidentally pull your headphones out while listening (you know, when you are rocking out hardcore like they do in the commercials) you will not miss a single beat.
I Heard On The News About Some Cracked Screens...
I heard the same thing. I have not had an issue with my screen cracking or scratching yet, but I did hear that if anything should happen to your Nano, Apple is willing to replace it right away. I had a problem with my original iPod (that now seem ginormous - it's a technical term) so I went to the Apple store and they were very helpful. While it may seem like a pain, I wouldn't let the possibility of a cracked screen that will get replaced for free deter you from buying it... I mean, did you avoid buying a car because of the possibility that it could get dented? That's exactly what I thought....
Sounds Like A Worthwhile Investment, Don’t You Think?
Yes. Yes I do. In all seriousness, I find the Nano to be great and definitely worth the $200 that I paid for it. I find that being able to carry it but not have it weigh down on you is a great feature, as are the additional cool features and being able to charge it by just connecting it to your computer. While it cannot hold all my music at once (or anything close to it) it doesn’t really bother me because I’m not going to listen to more than 2GB of music in a given day (I’m also not going to outlast the 14 hrs of battery life that it has to offer, either). All in all, a great investment. Get one today!!!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200 Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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