What’s more hip than starting this blog with a post on the new Apple iPod Nano! Now we can all wave good-bye to our iPod Mini. This 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27-inch device is capable of storing over 1,000 songs, and even audio books, podcasts, and photos. Plus its sleek and elegant design, who doesn�t want one? And it’s most certainly one of the best things that US$199 can buy!
Size
Take a credit card and cut off 1/5 of its length. That should give you a good idea of just how small the iPod Nano is. Then take five of these cards and stack them up. That’s exactly how slim, the iPod Nano is.
That size is only 1/3 of the wildly popular iPod Mini! And being half as thick and half its weight, the iPod Nano has become the new must-have for the nano-tech freaks.
Color
The iPod Nano comes in two colors, a gorgeous white and a lustrous black. Apple also ships optional accessories called Tubes. These colorful rubber covers fit the iPod Nano like a glove, protecting the beautiful thing from scratches while still allowing usage of its Click Wheel from the outside.
Battery
Apple claims that the iPod Nano can play for up to 14 hours between battery charges, and takes only 3 hours to charge. This is more than Apple’s low-end iPod Shuffle’s 12 hours and an hour lesser than the original iPod’s 15 hours. Not much difference, but certainly sufficient for most applications.
Storage
The base US$199 model comes with 2-gigabytes of storage space. And for $50 more, you can get the US$249 model that comes with double the storage (4-gigabytes, for those who can�t count).
Like the iPod Shuffle, the iPod Nano uses flash memory to store its songs, instead of a hard-disk (as in the original iPod). Thus its storage space is significantly lesser than the original iPod’s 20-gigabytes and 60-gigabytes. But without using flash memory, the iPod Nano’s size will not be possible, as flash memory takes up much less room. Flash memory also has the advantage of skip-free playback. As unlike a hard-disk, it does not have any moving parts. And impacts from dropping the device also have a lower chance of causing failure.
Accessories
The iPod Nano Lanyard Headphones has got to be the coolest accessory available for the iPod Nano. Why keep your new iPod Nano in your bag when you can flaunt it with style!
For sports, there is the iPod Nano Armband, which comes in five different colors to match your sporting attire! Though I would really hate staining my iPod Nano with sweat!
For computer connectivity, there is also the iPod Nano Dock. Very handy for easy syncing of iTunes and charging of battery. You can also plug a stereo mini cable to its line-out port and enjoy music through your powered speakers.
And finally, there are also in-ear headphones (I love these as my ears just can�t hold typical earphones!) and the stylish Tubes rubber covers.
Conclusion
Like most things Apple, it is about style. And along with that style, comes very decent functionality. For only about US$70 more than the iPod Shuffle, you get an extra gigabyte of storage, a 1.5-inch display and more!
Very hip I say!
Get the latest prices on the various models of Apple iPod Nano
September 12th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
Seems like the smaller they get and the less music they hold, the more
heftier the price, just due to size. Correlates with Humanity progressing and getting more stupid with each and every ‘forward’ step.
What people tend to forget is that the purpose of a music player is to hold
as much music that one would like it to hold as opposed to making it as small so that one can carry it around. We already reached the optimal size with the walkman of the late 70s. Pockets haven’t gotten any bigger since and portables haven’t gotten any heavier. Thus, downsizing such players at the expense of digital space when pocket space is not compromised and muscular strain is not realised is, well, telling of the cogitational state of the market.
In this sense, the new Ipod might be argued to be most aptly suffixed in the term , ‘NANO’, which, and perhaps as an inside joke amongst those profitting from its sale, simultaneously serves as pun referring to its size and that of the cranial contents of the target market.