Introduction
What’s small, white, strung together and used as Christmas lights in China? Alright, maybe they don’t have Christmas lights in China, and maybe not all iPods are white, and maybe they aren’t easily strung together, and maybe that wasn’t even the best of analogies to imply how common iPods are right now, but that’s what I was going for at least. The point is that Apple is dominating the portable media player market with their line of iPods, and today we’ll be taking a look at the iPod nano to see if all the slick marketing campaigns are actually backed up by a quality product.
The nano is currently Apple’s mid-priced iPod solution, falling between the iPod shuffle on the low end, and the new iPod video on the high end. The nano integrates a color screen and the patented iPod control interface into a much smaller design than its bigger brother. Of course, you sacrifice the vastly superior storage capacity found in the full size iPod, going from either 30 or 60GB down to 1, 2, or 4GB of storage for the nano. The nano is for those of us that prefer a smaller, more convenient device and don’t require video playback or massive amounts of storage space.
First Impressions
Although the iPod accessories market is very robust (as anyone who has walked by the portable media section of a Best Buy can tell you), you won’t find much more than the essentials included with a nano right out of the box. Of course you’ll get your standard earbud headphones, a USB cable that serves as a charger and uplink cable to your Mac/PC, as well as a dock adapter for use with other iPod accessories (all of which are sold separately). You’ll also get a couple replacement foam earbud covers, and a little custom fitted cloth "pocket" to protect your nano from scratches and the like. (This is something Apple began including shortly after reports surfaced of people easily scratching the nano in their pocket. - Ed)
The disc includes Apple’s iTunes software, but since you’ll need to update to the latest version upon installation anyway, you might as well skip the CD and just download the current version directly from Apple’s site. When you first connect your iPod to your computer, you’ll also be prompted to update the software running on your iPod. The installation of iTunes, and the iPod software is all fairly straightforward although if you’re using a Windows PC you might run into a fairly common InstallShield error. I say "fairly common" because I experienced the problem - Apple has a page dedicated to the issue on their support site, and there’s even a website called "error1607.com" which references the InstallShield error code which is, if you can believe it, "1607." While it was pretty easy to find a solution to the problem on the Internet, it definitely ruined the whole "plug and play" experience I was hoping for from an Apple product. (I own an iPod nano as well and when installing iTunes on a few of my PCs, I never had this error. Maybe just the crappy PCs have this error? Hehe. - Ed)
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/275/Apple+iPod+nano/
