Apple hits the sweet spot!

Although I have owned a number of MP3 players, I haven't been attracted to the IPOD line because most of the larger capacity players had spinning hard discs in them, and the smallest ones (Shuffles) didn't have any display.

FEATURES
The Nano offers some excellent features that make it a very attractive purchase.
* 2GB & 4GB capacity (Up to 250 & 500 songs or more, depending on sampling quality)
* Extremely small form factor
* Black! case option
* USB Charging (integral battery)
* Ipod docking connector
* Color screen
* No spinning hard disk.
* Speedy USB2.0 transfer

Nano represents an evolutionary leap for the Ipod Mini. You really have to hold one to believe that Apple packed this much technology in such a small package.

While it's undoubtedly a music player first, you can transfer images to the device and display them in color! They come up the size of postage stamps, however, so the chief use for this feature is to put up some nice album cover icons. It's unrealistic to believe that you'll have friends gather around for an impromptu slide show on your 1" screen.

SOFTWARE - FIRST TIME ITUNES USER!
Nano ships with the latest version of Itunes software. It's a versatile package, but you better like it because the way Apple has things rigged, it's about your only option for transfering music to the Nano. This is the one feature I miss from some of my non-Apple players, that offered drag&drop capability for MP3s. It's clear here that Apple's goal is to get you plugged into Itunes and using it on a regular basis so they can offer you the opportunity to download music from their online store.

As a first time user, I found that Itunes was fairly robust. I was able to pull in music from my My Music folder and select music to transfer over to the Nano. With the speed of USB2.0 it doesn't take long to download your music. I did about 50 songs in around 2 minutes. The hardest part was having to squint to read the 10 digit serial number on the back of the Nano in order to get the software validated.0

GETTING IT JUICED
The manual recommends allowing the device to charge fully before use, which can take up to 3 hours. Mine took only about an hour before it reached full charge and I was able to take it off the charger and try it out. Since the Nano doesn't have any spinning hard disk, it is ultra quiet. I didn't notice nor couldn't imagine how it could have any problems with skipping during shaking or vibration.

IS IT FRAGILE?
One of my biggest concerns was the fragility of the Nano. I have read recently there have been issues with the display scratching and even breaking. I've kept the little clear plastic screen protector in place. It might have been nice if this were applied with some care. It came with a couple bubbles under it. I figure they expect you to remove it immediately, but it's pretty common to protect your PDA device with a thin layer of plastic like this. I'm looking forward to getting a case for mine for additional protection, and I expect to be able to use one with a lanyard that I can tuck inside my sweater.

SOUND QUALITY
Sound quality was very good. I even plugged the Nano in through my car stereo system using a little stereo-phono-plug-to-dual-RCA cable. The headphones were a touch uncomfortable. They design seems a bit more stylized than some of the more ergonomic kinds I've worn, and although the Nano is black, the headphones are still white (as is the docking cable).

I found that because the docking connector provides very little clearance for the earphone connector, you really need to remove the earphones every time you dock the device for charging or transfer.

SOME WORDS ON THE NEGATIVES -
1. I would have preferred black headphones and cables. I know the white ones are Apple's trademark, but they should match the player. This is probably all marketing.

2. The front bezel is black and the back of the unit has a mirror finish. This is no exaggeration. It really is highly polished chrome. I know this is supposed to look cool, but it looked terrible after holding it for about 3 minutes. I don't know what they were thinking here!