iWuv'ED my Wittle Nano!..until I lost it...

Author's Rating:

Pros: easy to use, slim size, weighs nothing, just plain cool

Cons: earbuds hurt, no power adapter & costly accessories, scratches?, can't replace battery

The Bottom Line: 
1st generation of Nanos w/reports of screen durability issues. I am not a sound snob so it is good enough for me. Easy to use and carry around AND LOSE!

Author's Review
UPDATE 12-17-2005
With much sadness, I must report that my wittle, wittle, nano is now in someone else's hands. This is due to the FAULTY design of the lanyard accessory http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=MA093G/A. Of which I see many others have now commented on losing their's too (ignore the just-cuz-I-hate-apple-idiot-comments). To sum it up, Apple focused on the "cool" factor in the nano design and seems to care less about customer satisfaction. Since the product is so slim and light weight, one would have thought that security was part of the design spec, but alas, that's obviously not true. My review on the lanyard has yet to be posted by Apple on their website and my complaint to their customer service department still is and will most likely be ignored.

Because the nano is so small and light weight, you will not notice that it's gone until it's too late, so please keep that in mind for those that tend to lose things. As I'm becoming one of them.

I was on a Southwest flight the other night and all through the airport during my layover I had been wearing my nano on its lanyard around my neck. I had been listening to it and during the last 10 minutes of the flight I turned it off and that's the last time I saw it. Between walking off the plane, walking down the jetway, stopping to put on my coat, and going down the escalator and through security I lost it. I didn't hear it drop b/c I had it in my wittle pink nano tube. It was only about 200 feet of distance, Ontario isn't a big airport.

Since i was out of security, I couldn't get back upstairs to search for it w/o a boarding pass. The NANO simply FELL OFF the lanyard. After only having it for 2 months and using it maybe a dozen times around my neck the whole time it never once fell off. After walking around an airport for 2 hours and then sitting on the plane for another hour it just simply FELL OFF. APPLE HAS A SERIOUS DESIGN DEFECT in this accessory as it will lead people to believe that it is meant to be a secure way of keeping your nano with you and safe. To release the lanyard, you have to squeeze super hard on the sides of the metal/plastic piece that "locks" *YEAH RIGHT!* into the dock connector so i never ONCE would have believed it to easily just fall off. But I swear to you it did. I frantically went to the ticketing check-in for Southwest and they called the gate and assured me they looked for it, but didn't find it. TSA and Ontario Police had no one turning it in.

So, there you go...I'm out the the nano ($250), my lanyard ($29, which is $39 on their store site but i bought through a university store discount), my nano tube (bought on ebay for $16, $29 at the Apple store), the extra earbud accessory i bought ($9.99) and not to mention my USELESS music library purchased through ITunes (can only load to an apple device). All of that combined probably cost someone in China $12.50 for labor and parts.

I can't decide how to change my rating of the nano. I think I'll keep it as is for now til the bitterness wears off. I haven't decided if I will purchase a new one. I was going to run right over to the Apple store and buy one that evening I lost it, but figured, wait a minute, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT ME TO DO! Grrrrrrrrr.....

My only suggestion for everyone else is to get a tube or case w/some type of belt loop for the nano that you can weave the metal connector part of the lanyard THROUGH, so if it does become disconnected you will still have your expensive product and music library hanging close to your heart...
END UPDATE


Look, I'll get to the point, this is my first MP3 player, so if you're new to the game, too, hopefully this review will be helpful to you, too. I’ve had this thing now for a few weeks and overall I’m quite happy with it, although there have been a few glitches and a few things I think you should consider before buying. In a nutshell, it plays music well and is easy to use and rates high on the cool-geeks-with-gadgets scale.

About Nano
For newbies, the iPod Nano is basically a memory flash stick that stores files, mostly music, and is often referred to as an “MP3 player”. MP3 is the more common, lossy compressed audio file format. Though it is often referred to as an “MP3” player, Apple uses the AAC (MPEG-4) format as the default compression format for the files, but it supports these other formats: MP3, WAV, Apple Lossless, AIFF. What does this mean? You can load a lot of music files in essentially a small amount of space.

The iPod Nano has other features besides playing back music, but its basic purpose is a portable music player and it is NOT a radio or satellite radio receiver. You have to have a home computer to sync music and other files onto the iPod. Apple has software called iTunes that is free to download (and comes on the installation cd w/iPod). iTunes is used with the iPod to sync your music files or buy music from Apple’s Music Store, load photos, update your Outlook calendar and contacts, and load text files or notes. You can also load and listen to Podcasts and Audio books.

Basic Specs and Features

Nano comes with:
-Earbud headphones that stick IN your ear
-USB connector cable
-Dock adapter (i.e., cheap piece of plastic).

iPod has these other features besides playing music:
-Load Outlook calendar & contacts
-Games (eh, whatever)
-Load text files under Notes
-Stopwatch and Clock features (with Alarm and Sleep Timer features)

The iPod Nano is like the regular iPod with its “click wheel” control device and that’s about it. The USB dock and headphone jack are at the bottom of the Nano. At the top is the lock-screen control or "Hold" slider button. The click wheel is on the front and is used to interact with your iPod.

The click wheel is simple to use and through it you turn on or off the iPod and access and play your music. Through the click wheel clicking you can access the main Menu to play music and access the other features described above. Playing music is simple, you can choose to play by Artist, Album, Songs, Genres, Composers, or your Playlists. You gotta hand it to Apple with their ease-of-use feature design as there isn’t even an “On” or “Off” button on these things. The menu interface is very simple, you cannot get lost finding settings and such. Mostly because in keeping things simple, Apple uses design techinques that just don’t let you change lots of options and tweak lots of settings.

Other iPod Nano basics:

Display: 1.5 inch, bright and easy to read though small

Dimensions: VERY SMALL!: 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches

Weight: NOTHING! Okay, really 1.5 ounces

4GB unit: Holds about 1000 songs (i have about 617 songs loaded taking up 2.27 GB, including a few photos)

Price: $249.00 (but don’t forget the accessories!)

Battery: Rechargeable and not SELF-replaceable lithium ion. Apple says “up to 14 hours”. I think I’ve been averaging about 10-12 hours (but I haven’t drained the battery yet to dead). They say 3 hours for full recharging and that seems about right. Charges with USB connector cable to your computer or through optional (unbelievable!) USB power adaptor.

Warranty: single incident telephone support for the first 90 days and a one-year limited warranty

Overall: CUTE as a button!

Getting Started and Using iTunes
The iPod Nano comes in a simple, shiny, elegant black box. Nice. In a few easy steps I installed the software on the included cd in the box. I also went to www.apple.com/ipod/download and downloaded and installed the latest iPod updater software. Since I already had iTunes software installed, it was a piece of cake.

iTunes provides a very simple interface for copying music from cds or connecting online to the Music Store where you can easily buy music online and create your music “Library”. Using iTunes you can create multiple playlists and load songs from your ONE library into various playlists (or you can just skip this and load your library onto iPod). The iTunes iPod preferences settings allow you to choose how you want your iPod to update (or not) when it is connected to your computer. You can either manually (as I am) update your songs when connected or choose to update your entire iPod music library automatically or just selected playlists automatically. If you choose the automatic update option, be careful and make sure whatever is in your library is what you want on your iPod – i.e. if you have previously loaded music to iPod but removed it from iTunes your music might be unknowingly removed from your iPod. It’s a snap to drag n’ drop your music files onto iPod Nano. Using iTunes, you can only set one folder up as your Photos link and it will automatically upload ALL the photos in that directory to iPod (so be wary).

It’s very easy to create an Apple account and start buying music. And much easier to spend lots of money w/o thinking, but songs are .99 and albums typically $9.99. You can also subscribe to “Podcasts” – essentially “radio” or “TV” broadcasts from a variety of shows and performers – which can be downloaded with ease and most are free. With iTunes you can play music on your computer and you can also connect to internet broadcasted radio stations from around the world.

There are those that hate iTunes, those in the middle, and those that seem to love iTunes. I’m more in the middle. Sometimes it doesn’t see my iPod Nano when connected (but I think that is b/c I do not have a hi-speed USB port). I’ve noticed my PC hanging sometimes running it (only 256 MB Ram) requiring me to do a hard reboot. It’s easy to duplicate songs you’ve already loaded, but for your “main” library and playlist there is an option to show duplicate songs. Despite all this, I think it’s very simple to use with the classic Apple interface and simplistic usability design.


Don’t forget to add-in $$$ the add-on$
Ugh, they get you on accessories!

Lanyard: $39, very convenient and secure attachment, this is how I “carry” my Nano around, but i paid $29 at the University store at a Cal State college.

NanoTubes: another $29 (which you'll need it you want to use the Armband, such as when exercising).

Nano dock: $29, didn’t buy

USB Power adapter: $29 (haven’t bought yet)
ArmBand, $29

$29? Sounds made up to me. “Hmm, how much you think people will pay for this piece of ….”. Go to eBAY! Buy knock-offs for MUCH cheaper!

Gripes
1. Costly Accessories No power adapter included?! Come ON! If you’re going to travel w/o your computer then you’ll need this.

2. Screen and overall durability: By now, if you’ve heard any of the buzz about this iPod Nano, you’ve probably heard it can easily scratch or the screens can crack. There is a recent lawsuit against Apple for this. Neither has happened with my Nano (yet). Also, my big gripe with Apple is why did they wait so long to release the protective covers, i.e. Nano Tubes? I’ve been to the local Apple Store in Rancho Cucamonga, they don’t have them and you can order them online now, but the site said “shipping in 3 to 4 weeks”. On one site I learned they would be available on October 4th. On another site and at another store, October 24th. Sigh. We ordered one online through eBay for a lot less money, but for $29 you can order a set of four from Apple.

I didn’t remove all of that factory-covered, slim, plastic film that comes over the front of the device . I cut it to just below the screen so I could easily use the control wheel and thus I do not have ANY scratches on the screen or the front of the device, but the metal back does look smudgy and somewhat scratched. I’ve dropped it only a few times on carpeted areas and have had no problems.

3. The USB connector cable is only about 2.5 – 3 ft long so an extension cable or port may make it simpler for ease of reach plugging into your PC. Also, my PC is bit older and only has USB 1.1 ports, not high-speed. The iPod uses high-speed USB connector and I’ve been having problems with it dropping connection in iTunes, failing to load music mid-stream, and just not connecting when it should. Apple does recommend using only hi-speed USB ports, but I’ve been getting by with some frustrations.

4. The earbud earphones hurt my ears. For another $9.99 I bought extension connectors with 3 sizes of rubber attachments which extend into your ear and don’t hurt as badly. The earbud phones also come w/2 sets of replacement covers (those fuzzy little covers) and it took all of a few hours of removing the earbuds in and out of my ear before they got too stretched out and fell off.

5. Battery life How long Apple? That’s a good question and one to ponder. If the rechargeable battery ever dies, you cannot replace it yourself, but you can send it to Apple and for a hefty fee (from what I’ve heard) they will install a new one, really, in the hopes that by the time your battery does die you’ll want to spend the money instead on the hippest, newest, and latest iPod rather than buy a new battery. On Apple’s site you can get a guide for prolonging your battery life, for example, set the backlighting option to only 2 seconds and use the Hold button as much as possible (so Nano doesn’t come to life when it’s put away or the click wheel is bumped).


Overall
The somewhat pricey 4GB iPod Nano has just the right size for holding a “normal” (about 1000 songs) music library collection. The sound and non-skip playback and its size and weight are perfect enough for me and I never feel encumbered when carrying it around. Even when considering the extra costs for accessories and the questionable screen durability and long-term battery life, I’m happy with my “wittle” nano. It is elegant and just plain cool.