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Apple iPod Mp3 User Review of the Week
Apple iPod Nano
Upon first plugging the Nano into my iMac, iTunes immediately opened and a software setup screen followed. Everything here is pretty straight forward, asking you to register your iPod (which I was unable to do due to me not being allowed to select a country outside of America – possible iTunes issue?) and sort out whether you’d like to have songs automatically placed onto your Nano or put them there manually. Now I have over 1000 songs in my iTunes library, so I had to shift through for a while deciding which songs I’d like to listen to whilst I’m out and about, so for that reason I told iTunes I’d like to manually place songs on the Nano. Once the Nano summary and options page loads within iTunes, I was then asked it to only upload songs I’ve checked in iTunes, but there was a brief period, about 10 minutes, where nothing was happening. I hit ‘Apply’ a few times and double-checked my options, still to find nothing would work. However, after that initial 10 minutes, the Nano started to update and ever since then it’s worked like a dream – fast and reliable. Whether this is an issue with software on my Mac or the Nano itself, I’m unsure, but I’m pretty certain it’s the former. Other than the obvious aesthetic updates, the first thing I noticed when scrolling through my library was the brightness of the screen – the 40% increase in brightness Apple claimed is certainly noticeable when compared to the first gen Nano. It’s almost as if the screen has been completely replaced with a much more powerful and expensive version, removing the “yellow” tinge when viewing images that is now apparent when the 1st and 2nd Gen Nanos are compared next to each other. The software on the 2G Nano is clearly faster than the 1G, especially when viewing photos, although this alone wouldn’t really warrant a new purchase. The main addition is the search function that Steve Jobs seemed so excited about at last months Expo. On testing, I found that I could locate a song much quicker using the search function than I could when scrolling through my entire library. It’s simply a case of selecting the first few letters of the song and within milliseconds (on a full library as well) a list of songs are shown, allowing you to select and play straight from the search facility. Battery life has always been a big issue with Apple’s line of media players, the iPod fronting the majority of the slack for this. Although it didn’t seem to harm Apples sales, the iPod was in desperate need of a battery boost. The 1G Nano had 12 hours of battery life that was adequate to an extent until you of course saw other MP3 players on the market with nearly double that amount. Thankfully the 2G Nano now has 24 hours of battery life to play music, hopefully ending those criticisms of a pathetic battery. On a smaller side of the updates, Apple also introduced some new headphones with the updated iPod range. The headphones themselves don’t appear to be any different from their predecessor, except in the form of the shape. I was pretty impressed how much more comfortable these new earphones sat in my ear, allowing a much more solid sound to be pumped through. Other than that, the overall power and quality remain the same. For those that don’t have a large enough music collection to justify a purchase of the iPod, the Nano is definitely the next best thing. The size and weight are perfect for those who use their iPods in gyms or in sports (such as running or cycling). It’s also worth while noting that the 2G Nanos resemble the iPod Mini much more than the 1G, so if you were disappointed when Apple buried the Mini, then these newly re-mastered Nano’s could be the Christmas purchase/present for you. It’s still early days and I dare say the Nano will scratch like most other gadgets available today but certainly not as much as the 1G Nano. Along with the Firewire charger issue, these are the only two real complaints away from all the other ‘wants’ out there (radio tuner etc.).