iPod Nano: Music, Video, and Podcasts to Go!

Having downloaded 1,000’s of songs onto my computer’s iTunes and enjoying them for quite some time, I began burning them to CD’s to listen to in my car. I really began enjoying the portability of my music and started looking around for a portable music player in which to use for exercise and stroller-walks with baby-girl. After some research, some opinions from friends, and a good sale, I went with the 4GB iPod Nano (3rd generation).

My Experience
The package it came in was a neat plastic box (after I took off the outer wrapping) that contained my iPod, my ear-buds, a USB cable, and another cable that I don’t apparently need (a dock adapter). I quickly plugged in the USB cable into my computer and in moments the computer had recognized my device and it was ready to go (and charging, too!).

Since I was already a user of iTunes, I was able to quickly learn how to move and synchronize files from my iTunes to my iPod. Using a playlist (easily created and updateable in iTunes) that changes with my latest whims, my iPod gets synchronized with the new music selections each time that I plug it in. I also set a folder of baby-girl pics, so if the music doesn’t fit the entire iPod (which, so far, it hasn’t), then pictures of baby-girl get copied over so I can show friends and family.

The user-interface on the Nano reminds me of the iTunes panes. The Nano has two panes of view: left and right. This allows me to see a menu and see the next level of choices under each one that I select without having to go completely back a menu-level each time I make a selection. This is very nice!

The iPod
The iPod is small, very thin, and rectangular. This silver model feels like a nice, solid metal casing made of anodized aluminum (even if it still “feels” fragile due to its thin size) on the front, and stainless steel on the back, making it rather attractive. It is easy enough to hold in the hand for a bit, but is easy to drop. A nice protective covering that bulks it up a bit will help (which is my next purchase).

With my iPod, I can listen to music, podcasts, watch video files and video-pod-casts, use its world clock, stopwatch, and alarm; and view photos, synch my address book, calendar, and To-Do list. It also comes with several games and more can be purchased from iTunes (but I’ve not played any of them…it is not the reason I purchased it).

The music can be selected by genre, artist, album, or even a randomized “shuffle”, which is my mode of choice.

At any given time I have about 100 songs, some podcasts, video-pod-casts, and many pictures of baby-girl on my iPod, with plenty of space for them all. 4 GB easily fulfils my needs. In fact, with 4 GB, it can hold 1,000 songs in 128-kbps AAC format, or 3,500 photos, or 4 hours of video! Nice!

The Screen
The small color screen on the tiny iPod Nano is actually easy to view menus, pictures, and even small video on. The screen is a 2” (diagonal) backlit LCD screen that is 320-by-240-pixels, with 204 pixels per inch, making it sharp and is easy to see. The small size, though, does make watching longer videos a little straining, but it is great to show of short clips or to keep up on my latest video-pod-casts! The screen is also great for displaying the album art of the music I’ve downloaded (known as Coverflow, which I really enjoy! I can browse the cover art to pick my music!

The Sound
I was quite surprised at how good this device sounded! I plugged the standard earbuds into the bottom of the iPod, but them in, and let it play—and it sounded great! I’m not an audio-phile, but I detected nothing bad, tinny, or any other bad effects that would detract from my experience. In fact, it sounded better then my expensive computer speakers! The playback is skip-free and can be from files that are AAC, MP3, Audible, AIFF, and WAV

The Controls
For about 5 minutes after loading songs and pictures onto my iPod, I was very confused…I couldn’t quite figure out how to control the volume, switch songs, or navigate the menu. I kept pressing the top, sides, or bottom of the little clickwheel, but it rarely did what I wanted. Then, I accidentally rubbed my finger around the edge and very quickly picked up the intuitive interface after that. I really like how it works, and it becomes very natural after a little practice. I don’t recall seeing any instructions on its use in the package, so a better example would have been nice. The controls (once you know how to use the wheel) are very responsive and make nice “click” noises.

Durability
So far, my iPod has easily survived being dropped several times onto hard surfaces with no scratches, but it feels so delicate that after my last drop, I’ve decided to go get a protective covering, which I’m told will help really keep it safer for much longer. The battery is a built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery that can go for 24 hours of audio or 5 hours of video before needing charging from the USB port or a car-lighter plug (which I purchased separately).

The Bad
I wanted to move an .avi file of baby-girl’s first minutes of life onto the iPod to show some friends, and it took me over 15 minutes of fruitless attempts to realize that Apple products don’t like .avi files, so I needed a converter program. This device only likes .mov, .m4v, and .mp4 files for video.

Final Thoughts
I love this little device! It is my first mp3-type player and it will definitely last me for several years! From the ease-of-use, small size, great picture, great sound, and easy synching with my iTunes, I can’t really ask for much more! Well, it would be nice if it accepted more file formats, especially on video…that would be nice. Otherwise, Apple outdid themselves on this little device and it comes highly recommended!


Details

Product: iPod 4GB 3rd Generation
Height: 2.75 inches
Width: 2.06 inches
Depth: 0.26 inch
Weight: 1.74 ounces

Display Resolution: 2-inch diagonal with 320-by-240-pixel at 204 pixels/inch
Frequency: 20Hz to 20,000 Hz

System Requirements (Mac):
Mac Computer with USB 2.0 support
Mac OS X v10.4.8 or newer
iTunes 7.4 or newer

System Requirements (PC):
PC with USB 2.0
Windows Vista or XP with service pack 2
iTunes 7.4 or newer