Some nice improvement but incompatible with Bose

Some nice improvement but incompatible with Bose..., October 8, 2008

By	Joseph D. Snell "jsnell3388" (seattle, wa) - See all my reviews

Having 16GB of storage is a huge plus for the new version of the Nano.

The control wheel seems a bit "stiff" and it is not as responsive as past versions but it works fine.

The menus and setup choices have been improved. These are nice but don't make a major difference. "Shake" shuffle is a bit silly (in my opinion it is just as easy to push the advance on the control wheel) but it can easily be turned off.

BIG MINUS - Apple un-necessarily changed the plug on this version of the Nano. The unit will not charge using my older iPod chargers. The bigger issue is that my Bose and other expensive speaker units will play this Nano but they won't charge it.

Apple is beginning to act more and more like Microsoft - forcing its customers to make un-necessary software upgrades and expensive hardware changes in order to use their latest product versions.

Anyway - the Nano is a great product. If you already have a Nano the only justification I can find to upgrade would be the need for more storage or the desire to play video on a very small screen.

If you don't need the video or more music storage you should stick with your older Nano.

Apple iPod Nano

Great Sound Quality, Limited Functionalty, and Expensive

Great Sound Quality, Limited Functionalty, and Expensive, October 4, 2008

By	P. Heath (Hurst, TX United States) - See all my reviews

BACKGROUND: I am an experienced mp3 player user, and my current other unit is a SanDisk Sansa Clip 2 GB MP3 Player (Black). I bought a silver 1 Gb iPod Shuffle primarily to use at the gym; however, I will also comment about general usage as well. This is also the only Apple device that I have owned of any kind.

SETUP: There are two things to note about the setup process for the iPod Shuffle. Neither of them is complicated, but they are annoying. Unlike most other mp3 players that use a mini-USB cable for charging and transferring music, the Shuffle requires the use of a proprietary docking station. As such, I wasn't able to reuse any of the myriad of mini-USB cables that I have from other devices. So you either have to buy a second docking station or take the one that comes with the Shuffle with you for charging away from home.

The other thing about the Shuffle that I found frustrating was that you are limited to using iTunes for music transfer. Further, you can only transfer music from a single computer. This is a very restrictive requirement for such a low end device. Finally, I was surprised by how slow iTunes is. Believe me; the last thing I expected was for iTunes to perform slower (by a significant amount) that Windows Media Player. I am no Microsoft lover or apologist by any means (I actually prefer Linux).

SOUND QUALITY: This is the area where I give the Shuffle its best marks. The sound is great whether I am playing m4p formats from iTunes or mp3s that I have ripped from CDs or purchased elsewhere. It is equal in dynamics and range to my Sansa Clip, and it even sounds good plugged into the AUX jack for my car stereo.

Of note, however, I am not using the headphones that came with the Shuffle. I have never thought of myself as having small ears, but I found that the headphones that come with the Shuffle seem rather large and hurt my ears immediately after putting them on. For my workouts, I am using a pair of Skullcandy Buds Ink'd Earbuds - Dark Gray because they are inexpensive, and the in ear style have a secure fit while active. While these ear buds will not win any awards, the Shuffle still sounds good even using these.

USAGE/NAVIGATION: This is the area where the Shuffle is way behind the competition. Without a display, you essentially have one giant playlist that is in the order that you put songs on the device. You can either play straight through the list, or you can "shuffle" your music. However, I noticed that between 30 and minute minutes into shuffling, the first song gets repeated. This was with over four and a half hours of music on the device. Unlike every other CD or mp3 player that I have ever had, I was surprised to find that the Shuffle repeats songs before going through the entire list.

If you decide that want to find a specific song, best of luck to you. You have skip and reverse navigation, and you'll need a good memory of what order you synced things to your device. Ultimately it is not worth it to try to use the Shuffle this way. It seems that it is really geared toward the gym/active user who doesn't need a lot of control over their music. With this in mind, I can hardly see the point of even having a unit larger than 1 Gb. It would seem to make sense to have a 512k offering to better match the functionality.

In short, it's great for working out, but it would be extremely frustrating to use this as your portable music collection.

OPTIONS: Really, the only option that you have on the device itself is the toggle between continuous or shuffle play. From iTunes, you can update the software for the Shuffle and change a few settings that most people won't alter from their defaults.

COST: You are paying a premium for the Apple name, but you probably already knew that. Creative and SanDisk both have competing offerings with more functionality at a lower price.

CONCLUSION: The iPod Shuffle as an expensive offering that really only makes sense to a specific subset of mp3 player users. While the sound quality is good, it is really only for brand loyalists looking for a player to use at the gym.

Apple iPod Shuffle