Yes it's another bl00dy iPod question

Does anybody have experience of the iPod Nano player.

Have never used an iPod but my Son and Daughter are talking about the new player, I might just surprise them if they are any good.

Ken

 

As good as any iPod I guess... More robust than the disc-based iPods.

 

It looks great - but what if the battery fails due to being recharged too many times; what if the cable to connect it to the computer fails, etc etc. It's all proprietry (cr)Apple connections, so you're stuffed.

TOther than that - I love the reviews of it - can't deny I'm tempted - although not being able to bung AA/AAA batteries into a portable really puts me off.

 

i bought one in duty free last week, its my first entry into the mp3 player market. works well, using it with windows OS and seems to have no problems. using it mainly to get away from listening to commercial radio, (yes its as bad in sweden as the uk) so have loaded about 200 jazz tunes on it and plug it into the car system via a tape adaptor and away you go.

will get some new earphones at some point as not that keen on the white lead.

sound quality is fine and the user interface a real treat to use.

i have dropped it once and it works ok.

all in all i'm very happy with it. its the 2gb version in white

 

Err...you replace it? I doubt there are any battery "issues" with a non-HDD iPod as the drain on the battery is much less.

Hmmm...let me think...you replace it?

The PC FireWire connector is not proprietary. The connector on the iPod itself is but that's in order to fit the small device size. Cables don't generally "fail". They're also cheap to replace.

No you're not, you just replace the bit that needs replacing. It's very unlikely you'll ever need to though.

You really have come up with some ridiculous arguments to justify your anti-Apple stance. What if the screen in your mobile phone breaks? Or the keypad? Or the charger? Small electronic devices are full of proprietary bits.

If it used AA/AAA batteries it would be 3 times the size and ugly (and have terrible battery life).

Michael.

 

You can't replace the battery yourself; you can't plug it directly into a USB port (and AFAIC the Nano IS NOT Firewire compatible - check it out); also, AFAIC the thing will charge every time you download songs to it - which means that after 300 lots of uploading songs to it your battery will significantly start losing charge ability.

With something like this where the battery is NOT user replaceable, I'd be killing it off within 2 years. At £180 versus £15 for a Panasonic discman from Richers - that's not so hot, is it?

Not all of us dig the Apple "nick ideas and wrap them up in fancy clothing" style over content approach, Michael. I did state that I am " quite tempted" by the Nano - even with the caveats re battery life - try reading my post properly.

I have a Panasonic MD that uses an external battery pack for when the internal (replaceable, standard "chewing gum" style) battery dies; it's cumbersome and a pain in the arse. 14 hours on a Nano won't get me to Liverpool and back on the train without a recharge - and my sister doesn't have a PC, so can the thing be charged without access to USB?

As I say - from what I've read of this device - I love the look and appeal of it - but power is everything - that, rather than Apple itself, is the one stumbling block I currently have.

BTW - is there a way of using an iPod without using iTunes - or have they solved the DRM things yet? IE, if I make shedloads of MP3s, can I keep them seperate from iTunes and only use that to dump the files across?

 

If it isn't an HDD device its rather big for a memory stick isn't it?

Bob

 

It needs to be that size for the screen

If you can drive a car over it and it'll still work - it might work OK for me (read on to page 3 for car test ).

Yep - as I said - it will NOT handle firewire.

 

Check out http://www.ipodbattery.com/, I'm sure you can get at the batteries some how, when the iPods first came out people used the "you cant replace the batteries" comment

http://www.musicmatch.com/ <- crap TBH

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlipod <- never used it as iTunes works just dandy

MP3's are stored on your PC as Artist/Album/Song.mp3, you can do what the hell you want with them, I copy the file structure directly from my PC to CD-RW's for the car and it works fine

 

You use the supplied dock connector to USB cable, what's the problem?

My bad. You're right there but USB is even more commonplace than FireWire.

It charges whenever it's connected to a powered USB port. Just like my SonyEricsson K750i and many other similar devices.

You've just pulled that number out of thin air. The battery probably is user replaceable (just like on the bigger iPods) but even if it isn't Apple provide a battery replacement service.

Yes. With the mains adapter (not supplied as standard with the Nano) - it costs $29. A replacement dock cable costs $19

Yes. EphPod and many others but TBH why would anyone not want to use iTunes? If you use it to transfer your own MP3s it doesn't mangle them or DRM them or anything else.

Yes. The only DRM "issue" with iTunes is that you can't use it to copy songs off the iPod but that's easily done with software like EphPod above.

Bob - it uses compact flash memory. I don't think you could fit a CF card + screen + clickwheel into something much smaller!

Personally, I love the looks of the Nano but it doesn't have enough storage. I'm already close to the 20Gb limit on my gen 3 iPod!

Michael.

 

Why would anyone want to drive a car over it? Unless you are some kind of radical, commie, anti corporate apple hater ... or Bill Gates (mind you he can afford a BIG car I guess )

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/reports/consumer/consumer_20050920.shtml

I have a £50 512MB pen drive, it sounds fine has an FM radio and a single AAA battery last 10 hours. I am more than happy with it, there is no driver issues either so it will work fine with my 9 year old Linux laptop, my XP system and my Fedora Core installation.

 

just got a nano (the black version). a design tour de force, easy to use and sounds mighty fine. at $199 a bit of a bargain really.

 

An extremely intelligent comparison.

Imagine having a bulky discman with 100 CDs (ok... 50 CDs, just to make the load a little lighter) Vs a pencil thin nano?

I think at £180 Vs £15... nano is still hot.

 

I can heartily recommend Shure earphones with the iPod models. I am using the cheapest model and that already sounds very good and isolates you from all outside sounds, so you can play less loud and not annoy any others. Don't use them in traffic though! Also, some people will find the 'in ear' feeling a bit awkward. Me, I like 'em!

 

It is when I'm considering SOUND QUALITY - if it can match that AND store 100 CDs, I'm interested. If not, no dice.

Michael - any idea if the Nano comes with the dock then? I thought it was a plug-in lead?

Also, I take it the player can be turned OFF to conserve power, as well as having the keyboard locked?

As I say, I like the look of the Nano - and if it can handle a car being driven over it, it can handle being dropped or sat on (my two concerns on a portable this small!).

EDIT - I take it iTunes can rip CDs - if so, how well can it do it?
EDIT2 - I've had NiCDs AND NiMH batteries fail after less than 300 charges FROM FLAT - if the inbuilt battery is anything like that, and I recharge the machine from half-full midweek, at a rough Dom-stimate, that gives me less than 2 years of battery usability - if it's another £49+ to have a new battery fitted after 2 years, that's a hell of a lot.

 

Dunno if its too late but there was a thing in the paper this morning about loads of returns of the nano pods because the screens are breaking. Appes 'useful' advice has been for people to 'just buy a new one' rather than returning them.

 

Really??? That's nice of them... (would be looking to buy early next year anyway, so this isn't an issue for me)

 

Thats what was in the times

 

No idea about the Nano but my Gen3 20Gb iPod is at least as good as any discman (I use 320Kbps MP3).

I don't think it comes with a dock but all the dock is is a base with a dock connector and a 3.5mm line out socket. As long as you've got the USB to dock cable (supplied with the Nano) then that's all you need.

Yes, it can .

Very well. It has been able to rip copy-protected CDs that even EAC couldn't handle.

Michael.