I've had my iPod nano in hand (and large ogre-like hands if the picture with this post is any indicator) now for 24 hours. Three words: best iPod ever.I love it. I'm actually considering selling my 60GB iPod. It's flash-based, so it is fast. It's super light and small. The plug on the bottom isn't weird like I thought it'd be. If I drop the iPod nano, it hangs nicely from the earphone cable without pulling free. It fits nicely in my shirt pocket.
It doesn't fit as neatly in the little jean pocket that Steve Jobs' intro to the unit indicated. It's too tall to fit straight down, and with the earphones plugged in, it won't fit fully in sideways. Nevertheless, the thing is so small you won't have any difficulty whatsoever finding a place to tuck it away. Also, it feels pretty solid. One of my complaints about the iPod shuffle was how light and plastic it felt. Walt Mossberg was right: this feels just right. Nice and solid with just enough weight. I think I could skip this sucker pretty nicely across the face of a lake.More after the jump...
Here's a pic of the illustrious bag it comes in if you buy one from the Apple Store (previously mentioned by Dave in his hands-on review). It's a rather stiff bag, but if I can figure out how to ship it, I'll include the bag with the white 2GB iPod nano I bought to send to the winner of our contest. If not, maybe I'll auction it off to the suckers on ebay.The black picks up fingerprints like you wouldn't believe and I've already put a scratch in the front, but honestly, I don't care. I've never been squeamish about scratches on my iPods. I bought this for its size and functionality. It delivers nicely in both areas. The USB only file transfer is a bit of a drag, and I don't think the file transfer is nearly as fast as Christopher Breen's review seems to indicate. It took quite some time for the iPod nano to get the 500 songs I chose to cram on it transfered over alongside all the photos I chose to transfer. That being said, the performance of the iPod nano when it is not connected to a computer is amazing. It flies through the interface and displays the photos much faster than my 60GB iPod does. The screen is great. Bright and clear. The only negative I can say about the screen is that the Notes font is more than a bit small on the nano's small screen and will most likely not make it an attractive choice for people with bifocals. Apple should release a firmware update that adds a preference to toggle the font size from miniscule to mega-big.
The sound is great. The iPod is great. Get one. Try to win one. I'll add more bits later.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-09-2005 @ 10:37PM
Alex said...
I Want One.
I can't spend that kinda money right now.
This thing would be great with my photography.
I'm jealous!
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9-09-2005 @ 10:57PM
REY2K7 said...
My white nano is on its way! I'm glad I chose white!
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9-09-2005 @ 11:18PM
El Payo said...
Totally with you on this CK - I LOVE my nano (black 4GB) it's absolutely the best iPod yet (just wish it was a 60GB flash model - though I'm sure we'll see those in about 2 years). I woke up this morning, saw the nano on my bedside table and immediately congratulated myself once again for buying Apple stock a few years back when everyone was declaring the death of Apple.
Now I just need a super-slick case for it. Oh, and the lanyard headphones (in black).
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9-09-2005 @ 11:19PM
Jeff Schottmiller said...
So, here's my question. I haven't used the new automatic music syncing feature that the iPod Flash and Nano use.
If my music library is larger than my iPod (which it is), is it possible to play tracks that were autosync'd from iTunes off the iPod?
My previous experience with iTunes 4.x and my old 3rd gen iPod wouldn't let me do this if I used any method other than manual tranfers over to the iPod. I need this functionality, as my library is inaccessible to my iTunes 99% of the time.
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9-09-2005 @ 11:40PM
Leo said...
i am grabbin my 4GB Black nano tomorrow... has anyone seen a belt-clip type holder for one yet? At the gym, I wear shorts/trunks that don't have a pocket... I need to find a clip!
+
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9-09-2005 @ 11:56PM
Ian Nott said...
God I can't wait till tommarow, all this postive content I keep reading on the nano is killing me! 4GB white for me. :)
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9-09-2005 @ 11:59PM
Chris Breen said...
C.K. I appreciate the link to my first look at the nano.
I've since written a full review of the nano and agree with you, the nano may be the finest iPod ever.
I'm interested in your syncing results. I found syncing consistently faster with the nano. To compare the experience with the nano and an older 1G mini I synced (sank?) both of them to the same 903-track playlist and the nano took 7 minutes less to do it (nano: 9 minutes and 15 seconds; mini: 16 minutes and 13 seconds). Other fill-'er-up syncs were also right around 9 minutes for the nano. What kind of times are you seeing?
And no, I'm not asking to pimp my stuff. Rather, I'm interested in learning if there's something about particular playlists that can cause the nano to choke. It's early days on this thing and the more we know, the better.
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9-10-2005 @ 12:35AM
Logan said...
I picked up my nano today. I ended up with the 4GB white. I knew I was going to the Apple store for a 4GB but unsure on the color. I was convinced after an employee threw two downsides to the black one at me. First being, as you said, the fingers. And the second was, at first glance the black nano doesn't really look like an iPod, but more of a knock off.
Either way, I'm happy as a pig in a slop with my new nano.
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9-10-2005 @ 12:42AM
Wheels said...
Dude, I was under the impression that syncing was through USB 2.0, but it's plain ole USB!(According to Apple's tech sheet) At first I thought the nano was dumb, but now I'm falling in love! Man, if I have a good work weekend, the black 4 gig is so mine!
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9-10-2005 @ 12:54AM
Wilymon said...
you know who else chose white? HITLER!
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9-10-2005 @ 1:38AM
vivamoto said...
Quick question, you said syncing is only via USB, what about charging?
If i plug it into a firewire cable which is connected to the A/C adaptor, will it charge from the powerpoint?
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9-10-2005 @ 2:25AM
Oliver said...
re: vivamoto
It should charge through Firewire (connected to A/C.
regarding the USB issue:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61935
It should work with USB 1.1, albeit very, very slowly.
I still think this is a major bummer. I wish there was a USB2-Firewire adapter or something.
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9-10-2005 @ 2:30AM
Oliver said...
There's a feedback page for that article about USB1.1 connectivity. You can find it here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/survey/index.html?v=1&artnum=61935
I've sent some feedback pleading for them to re-enable firewire syncing in the nano (if that would be possible through a software update or something... you never know).
Perhaps other TUAW readers could send some feedback too if they feel the same way about this issue.
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9-10-2005 @ 2:59AM
jimmie said...
I have to agree this is the finest ipod ever. I have a 60gig photo, silver ipod mini, 512mb shuffe. I gave mini and shuffle to my sister, no need for them anymore. I got a 4gig white at the Apple store at 10am when they opened thursday morning. There were over 20 people waiting outside. Like Steve said "it's impossibly small", I still can't believe how small it is. I brought it to work and almost everyone that seen it said they were going to the Apple store to get one, some ordered online. This will be the most popular iPod ever, guaranteed.
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9-10-2005 @ 3:46AM
craig said...
when does Apple embed wlan into the new new iPod???
http://techstockblog.blogspot.com/
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9-10-2005 @ 4:38AM
iFelix said...
black, white, black, white
I can't make up my mind...
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9-10-2005 @ 7:39AM
Darren Cornwell said...
Man I love this new iPod, my boss ordered me as a gift! Thanks for the review - just makes me salivate in anticipation!
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9-10-2005 @ 7:49AM
reece said...
WOW!
best iPod ever. I have a 20GB iPod and a 512mb shuffle but who cares now I only use my 4GB white nano because its sooo sexy. Cant even put it down.
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9-10-2005 @ 9:02AM
Josh said...
Darran, where is your companys Job Application form? ;)
I like the look of the black.. but I have a black Rio Nitrus, and fingerprints show up on it bigtime.. so I think I'll probably get the white. Still deciding though :P
Josh
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9-10-2005 @ 9:35AM
C.K. Sample, III said...
Hey, Chris,
I didn't do as scientific studies as you did with a race and timed iPods, so maybe my impatience was getting the best of me; however, I chose to manually sync, and dragged songs over simultaneously with the first migration of all my photos. It took well over 15 minutes, but this was cramming a LOT of photos in there (wedding and honeymoon and another vacation), and the photos seemed to be the real time-suck of the procedure.
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