I got my
green third generation iPod Nano for Christmas in 2007* from my parents (Thanks Mom and Dad!), so I'm uncertain about the price - I think it was around
$200. After several years of lugging around my old
Creative Nomad Zen Xtra, the lone fact that the Nano was not a self-contained laptop hard drive was enough to have me giddy over the thing. Eventually I got over the Apple culture shock and began to appreciate how the product functions rather than how hip it is in appearance.
Form:What can I say? It's an iPod. It's pretty. It's sleek. It's - well - green.
In contrast to its frosted green anodized aluminum front, its steel back is polished to a mirror finish which makes it a huge thumb print magnet. The back and screen also scratch very easily, so it's best to purchase a protective cover for it if you can ($25~$30 at an Apple store, or much cheaper online).
The dimensions are very different from the tall, statuesque iPod Nanos of past and present - it's squatter and sturdier-looking. If you want specifics, it's
about 7 cm tall, 5.2 cm wide, and 6.5 mm thick. I've heard others complain about this aspect of the 3gen, but I rather like it. It fits well in your hand or pocket, and doesn't look goofy if you're wearing it with an armband.
The OEM earbuds that come with the Nano are the standard Apple earbuds - white, trendy, and of average quality. They stayed in my ears quite well compared to cheap aftermarket earbuds. Unfortunately my ex's dog found them to be quite tasty, so I can't speak to the quality too well anymore.
The screen, despite its 2" size, is really nice. I have not yet used it to watch video, but the menu, Cover flow, and games are all very pretty. The
resolution is 320x240 (QVGA) with a dot pitch of about 0.127 mm, so the images are very crisp. Though I don't use the video capabilities of the 3rd generation Nano, I do on occasion play games on it, and constantly take advantage of the Cover flow feature, so I feel the screen is worth it.
Function:There are four main input mechanisms on the Nano: the click wheel, the lock switch, the headphone jack, and the dock connector. Being a first-time iPod owner, I found the click wheel to be a very neat navigational tool. Simply glide your finger over its surface and voil , you're in command of your entire playlist. The only real problem I have with the click wheel is that it will sometimes take a few tries to get the iPod to turn off. You have to hold down the Play/Pause direction so on occasion rather than shut down it will begin playing a song or pause the current one.
The locking switch is pretty basic - white is unlocked, red is locked.
The USB data cable is about 2 feet long which should be long enough to reach any pesky ports behind your computer. Unless of course your case is a hideous behemoth like mine, but that's what hubs are for! As it goes with other iPods, it's charged via the data cable.
The 3rd gen Nano charges fairly quickly, a couple hours or so. I've never really killed the battery, so I can't say how long a full charge would take.
Firmware:One neat thing about the 3gen Nano is the Cover flow. Oh, wait. One not-so-neat thing about the 3gen is...the Cover flow. With a lot of my music collection, I've had to manually add cover art to each album which can get pretty tedious once you get to a few dozen albums or so.
I'll admit, I can't really speak to the navigation of the Nano aside from the Cover flow. It is also possible to navigate by artist, album, genre, and a myriad of other categories, but I'm a visual person so I stick to Cover flow (plus it's the first option on the navigation list).
One thing I'm not too crazy about with the Nano is the lack ways one can customize its appearance. I suppose I'm used to cell phones and PDAs with their own wallpapers and color schemes, but I think it would be nice to be able to change the menu color palette or...something. Sure, you can customize what appears on the menus from a preset list and which language the menus are in, but that's about it. The lack of customization is a very minor issue, though.
Software:
I'm currently using Ubuntu which, unfortunately, is incompatible with iTunes and Wine is a bit sluggish on my computer. The solution? I use SongBird to manage my iPod instead. It is pretty comparable in functionality to iTunes.
Conclusion:I'm a bit sad to see the 3rd generation Nano phased out so quickly, but that's how modern consumer electronics go. Apparently not many people were fond of the stout Nano. I'm still a fan, though.
The little Nano serves me well as my personal jukebox on campus, as well as a loyal running buddy, so I won't be replacing it any time soon. If you're in the market for a mp3 player and want something user-friendly, stylish, and reliable, take a look at the Nano.
*I realize it's a little late to be writing this review since Apple has already released the 4th generation Nano, but better late than never! Considering the 4th generation Nano is quite similar to the 3rd except in dimension and the accelerometer, I'd like to think this review is still somewhat relevant.
