Apple iPod nano 4 GB Black (1st Generation) OLD MODEL by Apple Computer
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Digital camera reviews of Apple iPod nano 4 GB Black (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Digital camera Review: Absolutely nano-rific
Summary: 5 Stars
This is by far the BEST flash-based MP3 player I have ever used. It is incredibly user friendly. Great sound and picture with all the bells and whistles. If you are consider and iPod or an MP3 player, definitely get this one.Digital camera Review: All hype and no substance.
Summary: 2 Stars
Pros:
+ Impressive design. Simple and very elegant.
+ Good support and integration from 3rd party.
Cons:
- Poor battery life. The UP TO 14 hours is realisticly 8 hours for new batteries. (Lets hope the battery last for a least a year)
- Locked to iTunes. No every machine has iTunes installed.
- One-way sync means no backing up your music.
- Easily scratches.
- Overpriced accessories.
- No radio.
- No recording.
- Restrictive file format support.
- OPTIONAL charger!!! For the price, who are we kidding.
IMO, the Nano is not worth its value. Apple should be very proud of the campaigning job they've done with the Ipod.
Digital camera Review: Almost perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
I just got back from a trip to Europe and I must say I love almost everything about my nano. The battery lasted the entire 12 hour journey with room to spare. The size is terrific for travel--no larger than a small stack of business cards. Sound is great and the flash allows for near instant response and mega durability.
The only negatives are that it scratches a tad easily and I wish the screen was a bit bigger or it had video out...next version I hope. All in all, I'm really happy I bought my nano.
Digital camera Review: Amazing technological leap doesn't even look real!
Summary: 4 Stars
You have to physically handle and hold the new iPod Nano to believe it is real. It is approximately 1 ounce in weight, so almost unnoticable on your person - whether it's in a pocket or an armband. The small color screen is stunningly brilliant in brightness and color definition.
The black iPod shows fingerprints more prominently than the white version - but ooh la la, it is most sexilicious to look at! I'd personally love to see one of these in red as well.
Because they are so new, third party vendors haven't had much of a chance to make cases and other products for the Nano.
There are only a handful of already existing products out there that are already compatible with the Nano...
Available FM Transmitters:
Forget the iTrip and those of that ilk - current versions won't work with the Nano. Your choices for now are the Belkin (which is buggy) and the Monster iCar Play Plus. The Monster version isn't cheap, but it's an integrated charger and FM transmitter and is one of the best out there.
Available Cases:
The Apple branded armband - looks like a glorified bandaid in the case, but looks decent when you wear it
Apple branded Tubes - good luck finding one, most Apple Stores still haven't gotten any in stock
Apple branded iPod Socks - designed for the older iPods, they work fine with the Nano - but can cause minor scratches
Available Speakers that Charge:
The JBL OnStage - fits fine, sounds great
The Bose Sound Dock - is visibly off-center, but fits fine, sounds freakin' awesome
Altec Lancing's IM3 for full and mini - fits but sound is lackluster
Klipsch - sounds great... Nano is greatly dwarfed, however by such large equipment... akin to building a superdome around a book of matches.
By the time you read this review, 10 other vendors will have probably already submitted their patents and copyrights to lawyers for new gizmos.
Apple has announced that the new configuration of how the Nano connection is set up will be the NEW standard for all forthcoming iPods... this will help vendors make products more quickly and without quaking in their boots that by the time they get something to market, it will be outdated - and should encourage lots of new development like we have yet to have seen thus far in the iPod accessory industry.
The Nano adds a World Clock, a stop watch and a combination lock to the "extras" menu. The famous silver back collects scratches and fingerprints exactly like its counterparts - but this is a known - get a case to protect your investment. Contrary to what another reviewer posted, the Nano is not "fragile" - far from it. There are no moving parts - so you could probably use this as a hacky-sack for an hour without fazing it.
At least one consumer has published their own abuse study of the Nano, running it over with a car and throwing it from a moving car at 55mph before finally rendering it useless after a 40 foot drop onto cement. The screen makes it a tad more vulnerable than the shuffle... but it's a sturdy piece of industrial art.
My less than perfect rating is for the following:
1.) No firewire support - even if you have a dock connector to firewire cable, you won't be able to use it - it is USB 2.0 only. What is Apple thinking? Hello! Remember your loyal Mac users who prefer FireWire?
2.) Sole earphone jack is too close to dock connector - using a splitter probably precludes charging it at the same time.
3.) No extra jack or connector on flipside so remote can be added while it charges... so if and when the vendors make recorders, remotes and other goodies for the Nano, you won't be able to use them in tandem with a charging solution.
4.) No bluetooth. Why is this an issue? More and more items are becoming BT enabled. One application I can think of right now is a Nano finder. The Nano is almost weightless and very thin - if you misplace it, how are you going to find it? If it had BT and you had (for example) a Nano finder on a keychain, clicking it could send a signal to your Nano to make audible clicks. Just an idea. This review loses a star for the other reasons, however, not this one... but come on, Apple!
5.)Still no way to get custom logo engraving via Apple unless you're a corporation with a large order... third party vendors are now doing laser engraving so you can put photos of pets, kids, yourself, your logo, etc. on the back of your iPod - but Apple offers no such solution. Considering that stamps.com allows you to make your own legal US postage with a photo of your pet, and they are able to prevent porn and other objectionable imagery through, there is no reason why Apple cannot make this accommodation.
6.) Limited (still!) photo capabilites. Compact Flash cards are like diamonds - the bigger they are, the more they are per carat (or rather, per MB). The iPod Photo camera connector connects a camera just fine - but not to the Nano! There is no explanation for this - it still uses a dock connector, but won't work w/ the Nano. The camera connector isn't that great to begin with, because you can ONLY use it to connect an iPod to a camera, not to a compact flash or multi reader... so if you're out in the field taking photos, you can't take them until your photos download and you waste your battery in your camera. If you could attach a card reader to the connector and download photos for storage on your iPod while simultaneously shooting more photos with your camera using a different card so you can swap without losing precious shooting time. Camera connector shortcomings notwithstanding, it doesn't work with the Nano. I know I already stated this, but I'm still frustrated.
The part of me that loves Apple's innovative technology and design wanted to give this incredible gizmo 5 stars - but there is still overt room for improvement and I know Apple can do this!
Digital camera Review: Amazing technology!
Summary: 4 Stars
First the good, then the bad.
After using this for a week I still cannot believe the incredibly tiny size!! I know it's hardly any shorter than the iPod Mini and not that much narrower, but believe me... the thinness of the device REALLY makes it feel small and it is incredibly lightweight. I can have it in the shirt pocket of my SILK shirt and it isn't even noticeable!
As for durability, I haven't had it long enough (or tried dropping it) to find out, but I read an online review of the iPod Nano recently and they put it through all kinds of abuse and it still worked. Anyway, even though it is so tiny and lightweight, it actually still feels like a well constructed, solid, good-quality device. It doesn't feel cheap at all.
Just so you know... THE SCRATCHING ISSUE IS NOT A PROBLEM anymore. I was told that it was just the first run of iPod Nanos produced that had this issue. The one I bought is fine. I've been carrying it around for days now and there are no scratches. There are, however, a multitude of fingerprints all over it (they are most noticeable on the silver back) but no scratches yet (knock on wood!) At least the fingerprints are removable!
Now, I can't really comment too much on the battery life because I never use it for more than a couple of hours before I connect it to the computer again (and of course, this charges it). But just as a test I tried setting the screen backlight to "always on" and setting it on repeat play, and it still took several hours to drain the battery. And I usually have the backlight turned off (set so it only turns on when I hold down the menu button) because the color screen is actually still reasonably visible under average lighting conditions (like on the bus, etc.) without using the backlight at all. This should extend battery life significantly.
But... there are a few things I don't like about the iPod Nano. First of all, I find that if I use any of the EQ effects (especially Bass Booster), over half of my songs are distorted. And I know that this is not a result of the MP3 files being ripped improperly because they have always played fine on any of my previous MP3 players (non-iPods), with various sets of headphones. I bought a 20GB iPod about 2.5 years ago which had this same problem so I took it back and decided not to buy iPods for a while. When I bought the iPod Nano I was assuming that they would have fixed this problem by now, but I guess not. But, since I REALLY love the tinyness of the iPod Nano and can't resist it, I've decided to live with keeping my EQ effects "off" to avoid the distortion. I'm going to see if I can get some better headphones with more bass.
Another thing I don't like is that the iPod Nano cannot play regular AAC files that were created with another program. It will only play AAC files (.M4A) that were either purchased online through the iTunes store, or ripped from a CD using iTunes. This normally wouldn't be such a big deal except that I had prepared the AAC files ahead of time. Since I had to wait a couple of weeks for a 4GB iPod Nano to be in stock, and I had read that the iPod Nano could play AAC files, I spent a lot of time converting all my 128kbps MP3 files to 64kbps AAC files (so I could still fit most of my music collection on the Nano). After all this work, I discovered that the iPod Nano couldn't play them and am in the midst of re-encoding them from CD. And to make matters worse, since all my original CDs are in storage since I moved, for each album I have to burn an audio CD-RW first, then label all the tracks manually and rip it again through the iTunes software. I would think that for any previous iPod owner this probably won't be an issue if you've already got your AAC files, unless you want to change to a different bitrate. Personally, I can hardly notice a difference in the sound quality between my 128kbps MP3's and 64kbps AAC's, so having this option is a definite plus for me.
One thing to keep in mind if you purchase an iPod Nano: it will still cost you more money after you buy it! First of all, the battery will only charge through USB or an optional $30 accessory adaptor so you can plug it into the wall. So, you're either going to be spending $30 to buy the adaptor to charge it from the wall outlet, or spending more money on your monthly power bill for having to keep your power-hungry PC turned on all night while the iPod Nano charges off the USB.
Other minor problems:
- volume can only be adjusted from the "now playing" screen (a dedicated volume control wheel on the side would be nice!
- you need to connect it to a PC (and leave PC on!) to charge it
- most songs have distorted sound if you use the EQ effects
Anyway, it's still a good player and I still can't believe how TINY IT IS! I still recommend it as long as you can get past the minor shortfalls I mentioned above.