Good Things Do Come In Small Packages (Apple iPod nano 2 GB)

Member Name: Teena2003

Product:	Apple iPod nano 2 GB
Date:	22/11/05 (1478 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: it's small, lightweight, very cute

Disadvantages: it's small, scratches easily

The iPod nano was given to me as a thank you present. I had lent my car to a close friend who needed wheels for a few days while his own car was being repaired. I got the car back with a full tank of petrol, valet cleaned inside and out and a little wrapped and ribboned package on the passenger seat.

Before removing the wrapping paper I shook it to find out what it could be. From the size and weight of the box I guessed CD box set. There was something rattling inside but without opening I was none the wiser.

Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the box of the iPod nano 2Gb (white). We had been discussing mp3 players, as I had no idea what player to buy.

I was not familiar with the size of mp3 players in general so imagine my utter surprise when I opened the box. I looked at it, convinced that that couldn’t be all. It won’t surprise me at all if people didn’t drop the thing first time they took it out of the box. It’s THAT tiny, even in sensitive female hands.

The other half of the box contains the documentation, earphones, dock connector (USB 2.0 cable) and iPod Dock Adapter and set up CD for iPod and iTunes 6. But I have no idea why they included a sticker sheet with two Apple logos.

Setting up iTunes on the computer is very simple. If you haven’t got it installed it will only take a few minutes and you’re up and running. Insert the CD into your computer and follow the instructions, entering the minimum information they let you get away with (name and email address) unless you want to download music from the store, then you need to enter your full address, telephone number and credit (debit) card information at a later stage.

Then you’re ready to connect your iPod nano to the computer and transfer the music your want onto it. While the nano is connected to your computer it also charges. It is recommended that you charge for at least 4 hours when you first connect. Normal time to a full charge is about 3 hours and you then have approx 14 hours of play.

The 2Gb iPod nano can hold up to 500 songs (even if I transfer every CD I own onto the iPod I doubt I will fill it up – but that’s got more to do with the fact that I buy very few CDs) I put all my favourite songs from all my CDs on my iPod and so far have about 120 songs on there. A little over 25% of the storage space is gone, mainly due to the fact that some of the songs are not the average length of 4 minutes they work on when figuring out how many songs to put on. When you have songs that are 13 minutes long, of course the space fills up a lot quicker. But there’s still so much room.


*** *** *** *** *** INTERLUDE: Getting music onto the iPod using iTunes (basics) *** *** *** *** ***

There are a number of ways to get the music into iTunes and iPod.

* Transferring CDs to iTunes *
Just place the CDs you want to add into your CD drive. Itunes should open, loads the CD, you chose the songs you want click import. The songs are stored in the Library folder.

* Downloading music from the iTunes Music Store *
Single songs are priced at 79p; albums are on average £7.99. You can search by artist, song, album, genre until you find what you are looking for. Add anything you like to your shopping basket and when ready pay and download.

* Drag and drop *
If you already have music stored on your computer you can always import it into the iTunes software. Use your desktop to store the folder with the songs and then just import into iTunes.

There are other companies offering music downloads but check whether or not they are compatible with iTunes, not many are. For example, the Tesco site states that they are not compatible. But that’s where drag and drop comes in handy.

*** *** *** *** *** End of Interlude *** *** *** *** ***


I listen to my music mainly on the ‘shuffle’ setting. In my ‘shuffle’ are currently 66 songs – although I have about twice as many stored they are on ‘smart skip’ setting. I have a number of complete albums but don’t always fancy listening to every song on it. Nor do I necessarily like to listen to Vivaldi followed by Blink-182 or The Scorpions.

Smart skip settings can be made in iTunes and will be updated on the iPod next time you plug it in. Simply right click on the song you want to leave out of the shuffle, chose ‘Get Info’, click on ‘options’ and ‘skip when shuffling’ and you won’t hear it unless you pick it out another way.

The actual iPod nano is very easy to use, even for a dunce like myself. However, the click wheel is very touch sensitive and unless you like your music to change volume every time the iPod moves or rubs against something, I suggest you use the little ‘hold’ switch located at the top. It will stop you from accidentally changing any of the settings.

Navigating through the menu on the actual nano can be a little fiddly due to the small size but I have perfected it and can do it using just my thumb.

It doesn’t help either that the headphone jack is at the bottom and the player is always upside down. It takes a little getting used to. With the nano being so small, there was simply no room at the top to fit it.

The screen is tiny but holds all the important information, main menu and submenus, settings, set up, games (a waste of space if you ask me, no idea why they did that, people have to squint to actually see the games on the screen).

I changed the backlight setting to no more than 5 seconds I think. The light is incredibly bright and will light up the bedroom like a Christmas tree when you’re listening at night and under the covers.

The screen shows you the track number, any other setting (shuffle, repeat), name of song, artist, album and if stored, a teeny-tiny picture of the artwork (if you want it on). Only the downloaded songs from iTunes show the artwork automatically. If you want your own CDs to show it too you will need to find a picture on your computer you can then drag into the software to update on your player.

I don’t know if my experience is unique or if other users have noticed the same. On occasions I seem to ‘lose’ half a song. I don’t necessarily notice it unless it comes up in the shuffle and the next one starts when I know it should have been a lot longer. I can repair the damage when I plug the iPod to the computer but it’s irritating when you’re out and about. I will keep an eye on this to see it if is a design fault or just a blip.

I may be missing something but I don’t quite understand why I can store photos on the nano. Unless you are using it to transport the photos from one computer to another, I can’t see any sense in having that facility. The photos are so tiny on the little screen; it’s a waste of perfectly good storage space that could otherwise be used for more music.

Within minutes on handling the iPod it looked all grubby and dirty with fingerprints all over it – shiny front and silver back. I am glad I got given the white iPod – despite preferring black for most items. It’s available in black and white at the moment with highly polished and shiny facia. I think black looks a little goofy (cheap and tacky actually), in particular with smudges and fingerprints all over it.

I regret pulling the protective film off the front when I first unpacked the item. It would have helped keep it clean and scratch free. But I improvised. The iPod itself was wrapped in cellophane, almost like a little bag and I was careful enough not to rip it. I slid it back in there to protect it from the elements. But for the past few days my nano has a proper neoprene sleeve (with belt clip) and is protected from further damage.

Some of the sleeves, wallets or other accessories are still fairly difficult to get hold of, as the nano is still a new product. If you can’t get accessories in the shops near you or online you might need to wait until they become available. Unless you live near an Apple Store (or have a friend working close to one) you can always get the necessary accessories there.

I may have had the iPod nano for only a little while but I have certainly put it through its paces. It comes everywhere with me. When it’s not out and about with me it’s connected to my computer. I have added and cleared song at an alarming rate, sometimes I just load and clear songs just for the fun of it to see what it is capable of.

My computer has approximately 250 songs stored at the moment, I don’t want all of them on my iPod, only a select few are actually ticked on the list to go on. But I know that if I wanted I could just get the lot on plus a few number of podcasts and even audio books on if I fancied more variety.


*** For those who only read bullet points ***

The Good:
*It’s tiny (9 x 4 x 0.7cm)
*43 grams light
*14 hours playback on one charge
*Good sound
*Easy to use
*Stores your 500 favourite tunes
*Stores photos
*Easy to use with iTunes

The not so good:
*It’s tiny
*No mains adapter
*No pouch or belt clip
*Scratches VERY easily
*Click wheel very sensitive when iPod not switched to ‘hold’
*Battery loads only when connected to the computer
*Flimsy looking, uncomfortable earphones that plug in at the bottom (I replaced them with my own in-ear Philips that have a much softer, rounded sound)


*** In Conclusion ***

The iPod nano is my first mp3 player and I am thoroughly happy with it – after all it was a present and you have to be grateful for those. But joking aside, it’s a pretty little thing that can play music on the go. It looks as if it can do almost as much as its big brother the proper iPod (minus the video) but at much reduced storage. So you have to pick and chose what you want to put on. It may be difficult if you have a large music library or want to store other information like photos. But for the casual user it will be fine.

If you are after a lot of storage then this is definitely not the player for you. There are other companies out there providing mp3 players in a similar price rage but with vastly increased storage capacity.

What you are buying with the nano is the Apple image. It’s the smallest on the market at the moment. It’s a gimmick. The serious music lover with his or her thousands of songs will not even bother I reckon.

The question is would I have chosen the iPod nano for myself if I had bought it? I had no prior experience with any kind of mp3 player and found this one very easy to use. I probably would have looked around a little more but what would have ultimately put me off buying the Apple iPod nano is the price. It’s a lot of money for a fashion statement.

But I am shallow and easy and yes, I love this little bit of technology to pieces. It’s my pride and joy and I do show it off at every occasion.


With the Christmas sales coming up, a lot of shops seem to run low or totally out of iPod nanos (or any iPod for that matter). Available at the price of around £134-£139 from all major electrical stores (including Argos and Tesco).


©Teena2003/Minnitee

Summary: it's Apple's latest and smallest mp3 player yet

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