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Some thoughts on the iPod nano
Apple released the iPod nano last week and having now seen the photos and read reviews of people who actually got it in their hands (and destroyed and dissected it), I've got some thoughts about it.
I wasn't very impressed with the looks at first. One of the things that struck me was the proportions. It is narrower than the iPod mini it replaces, thus the scroll wheel is smaller and it just looked odd. Having said that, I have to admit it is growing on me. It is amazingly thin and looks more like a remote control rather than a player itself. This photo made my jaw drop, as to how small it really is. I personally think the black one looks really classy and sleek. A bit of a departure from the trademark pristine white and chrome look of all other iPods before (yes, I know about the black and red U2 special edition!).
When the iPod mini came out, although I liked the size and colour anodized aluminium casing, it was the capacity that put me off. The iPod nano has the same 4GB capacity. While it has the looks, physical size and colour screen that blows the iPod mini out of the water, I think I would still want a full-sized iPod that carries my entire music collection. My current 2nd Gen 10GB one is still chugging along, but my music collection has far exceeded the capacity of the iPod and I occasionally get annoyed when I think of a song that I JUST have to hear, right there and then, and to find that it's not synched onto the iPod for lack of space.
The other deal-breaker for me is the lack of Firewire in the iPod nano. It is USB 2.0 only. I sync my iPod with my Mac and it's an older one with only USB 1.1 ports, so it will take forever to fill up even 4GB. When the very first 5GB iPod came out, it only had a Firewire connection and the marketing spin was that over Firewire, even 5GB worth of songs could to be transferred in a matter of minutes, and subsequent syncs would take hardly any time at all. Apple was one of the co-creators of the Firewire standard and had been endorsing it fully, but of late, it's been drifting towards USB 2.0, even though in practical tests Firewire is still faster for sustained data transfers. How is it that now all new iPods (not just the nano) come with a USB cable instead of Firewire?
I've some speculation to the iPod roadmap ahead. While the iPod shuffle has been a fair success, but now it seems to me it was created merely to test the waters for a flash-based iPod. First of all the shuffle was never a 'real' iPod in the sense it doesn't have a screen nor the scroll wheel, both hallmarks of the iPod which set it apart from the other MP3 players (oops, digital music players) in the market. I suspect the iPod shuffle won't be around for very much longer, instead, Apple might bring the price of the iPod nano down to the shuffle's entry-level $99 (perhaps a 1GB nano?) Also, there is still that huge gap between the high-end 4GB nano and low-end 20GB HDD-based iPod. Perhaps another 8GB iPod nano is forthcoming at the current price point of the 4GB one?
I also will go out on a limb and suggest that they took the iPod mini off altogether and replaced it with the nano, so they could have time to rework the mini form-factor and somehow squeeze the existing 'big' iPods to that size. I wonder what's the largest capacity Microdrive is at the moment?
Then there's that big gap between the two remaining iPods, which makes it a tough choice since I'd be keen to get one of those. 20GB seems just right for what I need right now but without much room to grow, and 60GB seems like overkill. A 40GB iPod with colour screen would be perfect for me.
But then again... I saw the iPod nano TV ad today and damn... doesn't it look sweet! Oh, and the TuneWallet nano case to go with it too...
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Comments
perhaps you might want to consider the following review?
September 13, 2005 4:47 PM | SY said:
Well, I've always wanted the classic white and I told Jen that I want that when my mini dies. It will die one day, I assure you. White, goes with everything. Of course, if I can have my cake (with all the pretty flower icing) and eat it too, i'd want a 8GB nano. Photos and music to go along.
September 14, 2005 11:37 AM | RaYz![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jonathanpoh.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
said:
Apart from the firewire limitations i.e. tranfer via USB (which in my opinion is Apple's strategy to push sales to the PC user market - firewire ports are only still picking up speed in PC world), the absense of video output support (like the current colourr iPods) means you can't view your photos directly on another medium.
My first impressions of the black nano was that the click wheel colour tones blended in with the black, but after having seen real life pictures taken by the eager beavers - I must admit it's a pretty slick baby.
Either way, black or white works for me. Just have to stop myself from whipping the plastic out for this one here.
Must. Resist. Nano.
September 14, 2005 11:44 AM | jonathanpoh said:
Apparently, in a Time Magazine interview, Jonathan Ive mentioned that the texture on the click wheel is slightly rougher so even though it's black-on-black, you will know where the scroll wheel is without even looking.
The lack of video output is a bummer too.. considering how small the screen is, I don't think I'd be showing off photos on a nano very often. Not that there's much space for them anyway, if you have a large-ish music collection like me.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1103572-2,00.html
September 16, 2005 4:18 PM | SY said:
Jon, remember the lanyard headphones too for ipod Nano. I might just purchase those earphones because tehy are SO DAMN YUMMY! :)
September 21, 2005 4:45 PM | yeekor said:
I am finally an apple owner... in this case an iPod nano. I'm glad I didn't buy the shuffle and decided to wait because this is perfect for me.
September 13, 2005 4:20 PM | Inquisitor said: