Apple iPod 8Gig Nano

Having never before owned an iPod I was very excited to try one out and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how brilliant the device is and can easily see why it is the term that everyone uses when referring to any portable music device.

Brief Technical Analysis

• Dimensions: 8.9cm x 4cm and 0.7cm thick
• Weight: 43grams
• Built in Memory: 4 or 8 Gig
• Battery Life: ±5 hours Video, ±24 hours Audio
• Screensize: 320 x 240 pixels at 204 pixels per inch
• Device Size:
• Playback Formats:
  1. Music
  2. Photos
  3. Movies / TV Shows
  4. Podcasts
  5. Audio Books
• Extras: Notes, Games, Calendar, Contacts, World Clock, Stopwatch

Installation and Setup

After unpacking the device and connecting the USB cable to my Macbook, iTunes automatically opened and proceeded to inform me that there was a version update available for the iPod. I clicked upgrade and the whole upgrade procedure was automatically done within a few minutes without any problems. After the upgrade I was presented with some screens asking what I wanted to sync with the iPod and I could choose which music, photos, videos and podcasts I wanted to sync. After choosing which I wanted I started syncing and a few minutes later I was up and running. It couldn’t be more simple.

Using the iPod Nano

The iPod Nano has the usual iPod controls which are very clever and make for easy one handed use while driving or being otherwise occupied. The standard music playback options are present (skip, search, shuffle, repeat) except for the new addition of a new feature (now standard on other iPods) called Cover Flow which enables you to view the album covers and browse your music visually. I did, however, find this method a little slow and using the Click Wheel means that you sometimes scroll right past the item you are looking for.

Because of the relatively large screen, photos as well as videos display nicely on the screen. Controlling them is done in the same way as music using the playback keys and Click Wheel. The audio output quality is brilliant even when using the standard Apple headphones you get with the Nano. The Menu design is also very logically laid out which makes for quick navigation and ease of use.

The Extras

One of the best features on the iPod Nano must be the Music Quiz game which uses all the ID3 data from the music on your iPod and quizzes you on release dates, artist information etc. and it is really quite intuitive and fills those gaps in your day when you have 20 minutes to kill. The other extras, in particular: Notes, Calendar and Contacts, are a nice to have but I am not sure about how much of the functionality would be used on a day to day basis as taking notes takes some time and is again complicated with the overly sensitive Click Wheel.

The Downsides

There are very few things that I found problematic with the iPod Nano but the main one would have to be the Click Wheel which is overly sensitive and I was often changing the volume when I simply wanted to change the song, or scrolling way past the item I was looking for. The other thing is I feel that the iPod Nano should have a voice recorder which would make it a little more feature complete.

Whats in the Box

The iPod Nano box contains the following items:

• The iPod Nano
• Apple headphones
• The Apple USB Sync cable
• Manuals and Warranty information

Conclusion

Overall the iPod Nano is a brilliant product that brings together various playback formats into one amazingly small yet still easily usable product. The build quality is outstanding and you don’t at any stage feel like you could easily break the product even though it is small. The audio quality, as mentioned before, is brilliant and overall I would highly recommend this product to anyone.

Pricing and Availability

The iPod Nano is available from many different retail outlets as well as the ZA Store on line and prices range from R1599 for the 4Gig to R1999 for the 8Gig.

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(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Filed Under Apple, Audio/Visual, Featured Reviews, MP3 Players