It's As Easy As M-P-3 (Apple iPod nano 4 GB)

Member Name: plipplop

Product:	Apple iPod nano 4 GB
Date:	14/12/07 (260 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Design, portability, ease of use

Disadvantages: Rubbish headphones

Ever since I was old enough to distinguish Abba from ACDC, I've had personal stereos. At school, I used to travel miles on buses and trains and my trusty Sony Walkman used to work tirelessly to keep me entertained. As an adult, I'm no different and the ability to have music to play in a portable format is pretty much an essential.

I haven't tried that many MP3 players; indeed, it took me some time to convert to the format. Only a few years ago, I was still buying compact discs (and even Mini Discs) and hence scoured the market for light portable CD players that didn't go berserk when I was running for a train. And then electronic music came into my life - and I haven't looked back since.

My first MP3 player was a fairly pricey Sony player that looked kind of cool, but in reality was heavy, awkward to use and almost impossible to synchronise with any kind of software. A couple of cheap ones came and went (pretty quickly) and I then went to the other extreme of investing in the Apple iPod Video, complete with 80GB of memory - enough for 20,000 songs. When I realised that I only actually had about 2,000 songs, that I never watched music videos and that the shiny cover scratched terribly with barely a glance, I realised that I'd overstretched and sold on the iPod Video before it devalued too much more. Finally, I invested in the 4GB iPod Nano - and I've been pretty satisfied ever since.

Of all the MP3 players on the market, the design of the Nano has also struck me as the most elegant. It's incredibly thin (something like 7mm I believe) and no taller than a packet of cigarettes. It has a compact colour screen and is available in a variety of finishes (several coloured metallic finishes, as well as shiny black and white). I chose the metallic blue finish, given that it looked rather more durable than the shiny black and also because it seems a little groovier than your average black or white. With six months' usage, I'm pleased I made the right choice. It's incredibly durable. It gets slung into briefcases, sat on, dropped on train platforms and pushed around countless hot desks and yet still it looks virtually as new. The metallic finish doesn't mark terribly easily and even the Apple logo on the reverse has stayed intact. The only real signs of wear come around the white thumb wheel (which controls the device) where endless grubby fingers have finally started to take their toll. The device is truly portable, too. It's so light that I often have to pat my pockets to establish that I haven't left it behind. It slips into the breast pocket of my jacket; the condom pocket on my jeans or any of the pockets in my trousers. I can strap it on my arm in the gym or whilst out walking.

It's easily controlled too. Like the rest of the iPod range, the control mechanism is the white thumb wheel, used either by clicking at certain points or by rubbing the wheel round (clockwise or anti-clockwise). These actions will direct you through the menu options, clearly displayed on the colour screen, through which you simply direct things by moving up or down. Playback options are as you would expect - by artist, by album or by play list - and you can advance backwards or forwards through the list with a simple click of the thumb wheel.

One problem for me is that I've got a fair few DJ mixes in my play lists, which, sadly, have been recorded as one MP3 file without any breaks. This means that to skip forward you have to press AND hold the thumb wheel, which can realistically be a bit hit and miss. If your thumb leans towards the centre point, you risk putting a break into the track (for it to continually loop round) and if you don't co-ordinate both keys, you risk forwarding to the next track. Forwarding in this way is also rather thirsty on battery power, and I'd prefer to see a more robust method of skipping through a track (maybe a quick double-click of the thumb wheel, stopped with another double-click?) Realistically, however, this is not something that will affect the masses, as most pre-recorded mixes are arranged with a proper track listing.

The iPod Nano was the first iPod to use flash (virtual) memory as opposed to a hard drive. This means great savings on space and weight (hence the Nano's incredibly tiny size) and also increases the average battery life. It also means that the device is impervious to being "jogged" in transit. Apple advertises a battery life of around 14 hours - I'd certainly go along with that and can charge the device maybe once a week, with a good few hours' usage every day. If your Nano is floating around in your bag, however, always flip the Hold button the top or else it can easily be turned on and off by colliding with other objects, and in a worst case scenario, could be playing all day without you knowing. Indeed, the Hold button (simply switched left and right) is an essential attachment to the device when in use if you want to avoid bending down and fast forwarding to the next song.

Sound quality is so dependent on the quality of the actual file (and where you got it from) that it's hard to comment on this for an MP3 player. What I can tell you is that the headphones supplied with the iPod range are universally rubbish - and the glowing white cable a virtual advertisement to would-be muggers. One of my first investments after I purchased the Nano was some new headphones and I really would like to see Apple invest in this for future ranges - I've seen few praiseworthy comments about iPod headphones.

As a Mac user, the iTunes interface with the iPod range presents very few issues for me. My music library is already arranged via iTunes and as such, my ability to synchronize with the MP3 player is exceptionally easy. As I've got more and more used to the menu screens on the Nano, I've started to customise the names of my play lists (and indeed some of the songs) as anything over a certain number of characters starts to scroll slowly across the screen rather like a ticker. The ID3 tag information contained with most MP3 files tends to be a little unreliable and in actual fact, by entering your own notes you can more easily customise your library. I arrange my music into play lists with an iPod prefix (e.g. iPod - Hard House) as the iPod tab in iTunes gives you the option to customise which play lists you synchronise with. This way, I can have en extended play list at home, or a shorter, more mood-driven play list for the iPod. Anything downloaded from the iTunes store is obviously compatible, but for files downloaded elsewhere, you will find that all MP3, AIFF, WAV and .aa files are compatible with the player. Bear in mind that files downloaded from Apple are ONLY compatible with iPods but you could then copy to disc and convert to a normal MP3 is you subsequently decide to use another brand of MP3 player. You can also store pictures and I've found that most formats seem to work. I've opted in some cases to change the artwork associated with an album in my iTunes library to something a little more exciting and this doesn't seem to cause any problems.

The manufacturers suggest that the 4GB of memory will accommodate around 1000 songs. This is a silly estimation, given that I think it's based on a running time of around 3.5 minutes - hardly a fair average. Nonetheless, the capacity is more than adequate to carry around a good variety of play lists. Artwork and pictures take up a small amount of the memory - the iPod tab in iTunes pictorially displays how much memory you have left. I seldom take up more than about 75% of what's available. The standard charger is a USB lead, which must then be attached to a PC or to an adaptor and you nee to buy one of these in addition to the Nano. The USB interface into a PC works fine for me - I plug it into my laptop and leave it for a couple of hours whilst working and it's ready to go.

The only real technical problem I've had (three times) is that the player completely freezes and cannot be made to do anything. To get past this, you need to reset the player, completed by holding the centre and top of thumb wheel together and flicking the hold button on and off repeatedly for a few seconds. It's fiddly, but it does work.

There is a wealth of accessories out there for your Nano, from covers and protective cases to car kits and chargers. If you purchase one with the metallic finish, there is no real need to buy a protective case, but the fashion-conscious will no doubt still feel the need to do so. At home, I use a BOSE docking station, which produces an incredible sound for such a small piece of kit and only costs around £200. The ability to co-ordinate your entire music collection electronically is therefore unlimited.

The Nano has recently been upgraded but the first generation models have surprisingly not decreased in price since the launch of the second generation models. I paid £149 for mine about six months ago and you can expect to pay a similar amount, probably because they're getting harder to find. The second generation models are cheaper, but the look isn't as appealing for me and I'm in no hurry to replace my current model. The original Nano is an excellent choice for anyone who is finding their feet in the MP3 market and wants to get something good without paying a fortune.

Highly recommended

Summary: Excellent mid-range MP3 player for most users

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