A great product just keeps getting better

NOTE: Epinions has mis-classified this review.  I wrote this about a second-generation iPod nano.  I don't know why it is being listed under a shredder.  I have informed Epinions, asking them to correct the mistake, but they have not done so.

I have been a happy iPod owner for a few years now. My previous model, an iPod mini, worked great until it accidentally got thrown across the room, after which it stopped working.

I decided that I had to immediately replace it. The new 4GB iPod nano is the equivalent model in Apple's current lineup. I paid approximately $169 at a local Apple Store. ($200 for the iPod, less a 6% corporate discount via an arrangement with my employer, less a 10% discount for trading in the old iPod.)

Comparison with previous models

Compared to the mini it replaced, the following is improved:

- It is smaller
- It has the anodized aluminum case that I loved on the mini
- It uses flash memory instead of a hard drive, so it uses less power and isn't affected by vibration
- It has a color screen
- Much longer battery life.

Apple claims 24 hours of battery, compared with the mini's 8 hours. In actual practice, my mini typically lasted 4-6 hours on a charge. So far, the longest I've used my nano between charges has been about 10 hours - the battery gague showed more than 50% charge remaining, so Apple's claim of 24 hours might be accurate.

It is not without its drawbacks, however. The most annoying issue with the new nano is that the headphone jack has moved from the top of the device to the bottom. This may not seem like much, but it means the place I used to put my mini in the car while driving is no longer convenient, and it has to sit upside-down in my shirt pocket when I go walking.

It also no longer supports data transfer using FireWire cables, which I like (they're faster than the USB ports on my Macintosh G4). I have to use an aftermarket USB 2.0 card in order to synchronize it at a reasonable speed.

But these are minor drawbacks. In most areas, it is just as good as, if not better than, the iPod mini it replaced.

General iPod background information

For those unfamiliar with iPods in general, the nano shares the following features with all other iPod models:

- Plays music in three lossless formats (WAV, AIFF and Apple Lossless) and two lossy-compressed formats (MP3 and AAC). Contrary to rumor, AAC is not an Apple-proprietary format, but is actually part of the MPEG-4 standard.

- Plays DRM-protected music from Apple's iTunes Store (if the songs are loaded from a computer authorized to play the songs.)

- Displays photos (although the nano's small screen makes this feature impractical.)

- Can store your address book/contact list.

- Can be used as a flash drive for storing documents.

Unlike the full-size iPods, the nano can not play videos or games. (It has a few simple games built-in, but it can not play iPod games purchased from the iTunes Store.)

Aside from usage as a flash drive, all data transfer takes place using Apple's iTunes program. iTunes is not included with the iPod, but is available as a free download for Mac OS and Windows.

iTunes will let you rip CDs into any supported format. It can also import music, videos and audio books in any supported format. It also provides access to Apple's iTunes Store, where you can buy music, videos and audio books.

Items purchased from the iTunes store are protected with Apple's FairPlay DRM, to prevent piracy. The terms are more liberal than most music stores offer, but they are not unrestricted. For music, you can play songs on up to five computers, load them into an unlimited number of iPods, and burn them to an unlimited number of audio CDs (but a single play list containing a protected song can only be burned 7 times.) Videos can be played on up to 5 computers and can be loaded into an unlimited number of video-capable iPods, but can not be burned to video DVDs.

FairPlay DRM, unfortunately, is an Apple-proprietary standard. Which means items purchased from the iTunes Store can only be played in the iTunes program or on iPods. And DRM-protected music from other sources can not be played on iPods. But unprotected music (such as songs you rip from your own CDs and songs purchased from sites like emusic.com) works just fine in iTunes and on iPods.

iTunes organizes your music, allowing you to browse and search your collection in a variety of ways. You can also build and maintain play lists.

With respect to loading iPods, you can configure it for manual access, allowing you to explicitly load and delete songs on the iPod (you can not copy songs from an iPod to your computer, in order to prevent piracy.) You can also configure it to automatically synchronize your iPod with your entire music collection or selected play lists from your music collection.

In my case, my music collection is about 40GB, and the iPod is only 4GB, so loading everything is impossible. Instead, I configured a smart play list (in iTunes) to automatically select a random 4GB assortment of music not played in the last 90 days. I have iTunes automatically synchronize my iPod with this play list. Whenever I attach my iPod to the computer, iTunes reads the last-played timestamps from the songs, and updates the play list. The next time I perform a synchronize operation (usually because I immediately tell iTunes to do so), it updates the iPod to match the new state of the play list.

Getting back to the new iPod nano

The sound quality is not as good as a good CD player, but it is more than good enough for my ears. Especially when I use it in the car (attached to my car's stereo, of course - driving while wearing headphones is dangerous.) The volume level can be set high enough to damage hearing if you're not careful, but I don't see this as a problem - you just have to be careful not to make it too loud.

The iPod nano comes with a set of earbud-style headphones, a USB sync/charge cable, and a plastic insert to adapt Apple's (sold separately) iPod dock to the nano's shape. A standalone charger is not included, but is sold separately. The charger from my old iPod mini will charge the nano's battery.

My recommendation

I love my nano. I would not want to give it up for anything.

The nano series comes in three different capacities - 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. I chose the 4GB size mostly because I wanted the blue case. If the 8GB model came in blue, I would've bought that one instead. The 2GB model is too small for my comfort.

With a 40GB music collection, the 80GB full-size iPod would have allowed me to carry all of my music (and play videos), but I didn't think this was worth the higher price. (An 80GB iPod costs $350. Even with the discounts I got, it still would've cost nearly $300.)

Some people may prefer a music player with an FM radio tuner, or a voice recorder, or a phone, or PDA features, or wireless network features. If you need these, then an iPod may not be the right choice, but I don't need or want any of these in my music player (I already have a PDA and a cell phone, and I don't want to replace them), so the lack of these features does not concern me.

The iPod nano is designed for only one major purpose - playing music - but it does this very well, and does it for a very reasonable price.