Apple iPod nano 16 GB Orange (4th Generation)

Sound quality:
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is sound quality. Because of variations in a person's physical hearing abilities, location acoustics for external speakers, quality of earphones, and even awareness and knowledge of sound quality, many people will have different interpretations of what sound quality is to them. Sometimes, spending a few extra dollars on good earphones will make any player sound 100% better. Even so, you have to remember, you're not spending the * thousands * of dollars for equipment that real audiophiles demand for true sound reproduction. For goodness sakes folks, it's a portable, personal, music player that you're paying, at most, a few hundred dollars for.

I've always found the sound quality from my iPods to be extremely good - for what it is - whether connected to my home stereo or using decent $75.00 earphones. Is it as good as playing a CD or LP from my very expensive Sony receiver and Bose speakers? No, not really, but I don't expect it to be. I'll believe charts and graphs showing frequency response, SNR, dynamic range and other factors... but for someone to tell me Brand X sounds better than Brand Z, on their opinion alone, doesn't mean a thing to me.

Battery Life:
With any device that is produced in the millions of units, you're always going to get some defects. It's very likely that early production models had issues, and those users have my sympathy. Obviously, in relation to the number of units sold, I believe that only very few users were affected, and probably even less now with the improvements in firmware. I can say battery life is not an issue for me, and I use mine for several days without needing a recharge. When it arrived, I needed to break in some new earbuds also, so I turned off the energy saver feature, turned the screen brightness and volume to maximum, turned on the song repeat, and placed in in a drawer until the battery died. I did this twice, and each time, I got about 21-23 hours of constant, high-volume playing time.

But recently, I may have found why some users are experiencing poor battery life. A co-worker received a new Nano for Christmas and has been complaining of poor battery life. She also said her battery icon never shows more than about half a charge. In talking to her about how she used it, we discovered that except for a small amount of time connected to her computer for sync'ing music files, she mainly kept it in her iPod-equipped home stereo or her car's docking station. As mentioned before, neither of these accessories were built for charging the new iPod's battery. Once we convinced her to start leaving it attached to her computer overnight for at least one or two nights a week, her battery issues went away, and the battery icon was now showing a full charge. This may be what's happening to other users with poor battery life.

Problems?
While I think most users rarely have problems, naturally, some will. I would suggest, first, spend some time reading the manual. I know, I know... who has time for manuals... but you can really learn a lot. Should you still have problems, go to the Apple support website and follow the links to the iPod support page. There, you'll find a procedure called the "Five R's". It will basically walk you through the most common trouble-shooting procedures, and for many people, that's all they need. If not, visit the iPod Discussion Forums, also on the Support page, and search for the problem you're having to see if others have posted a fix. Also, you can leave a message there with as many details as possible, as there are some really smart people in those forums that are glad to help.

If you have a local Apple store, you can actually take your iPod to them for troubleshooting and warranty issues. But, if not, they do have technical support by phone. Try to be in front of your computer, and jot down all the details of what's happening. Most of all, be nice. You'll get much better support by understanding it's not the technicians fault you're having problems, and they are only trying to help. As someone that works in IT, and has been a long time Apple user, I will say Apple's support is much better than the average PC company, and places like Consumer Reports, year-after-year, give them high marks for just that. If you find you're not happy with your support person, you can, politely, ask to speak to a higher level technician. Be firm, but nice.

Note:
One common problem I have found is from attaching iPods to USB hubs. Some have intermittent connections, while others don't charge the battery properly. Many hubs are cheaply made, but even well-made hubs have shown to be a problem. If in doubt, always try connecting your iPod directly to the USB port that is on your computer, not the USB hub.

Conclusion:
I'm very happy with my purchase (Blue - 16GB). Even though my older 80 GIg iPod can hold over two weeks of music and video, with the creative use of playlists, I was pleasantly surprised of how much music and video I can take with me. It's so much nicer having a very, very small and lightweight player, with no moving parts, that can be dropped and abused with little worry. (see my other reviews for a good, protective skin)

The screen is very sharp and bright, and playing videos is a real treat. If you're a little geeky, you can learn to rip your favorite DVD movies to your iPod for watching while on the go, something I've done since owning the 5th Gen model. Most of all, I love the new firmware. It's has a lot of "eye-candy" with a scrolling bottom row, showing cover art, photos, etc. Setup is very configurable, and extras like CoverFlow, the accelerometer and "shake-to-shuffle" can be turned off if it gets in the way. My iPod FM Radio adapter and my SendStation adapter still works, so I can connect it to my larger speakers when indoors, or to my car stereo through the AUX jack, and charge it with a standard 12v auto USB charger. You can also purchase additional games for it at the iTMS App Store, although I have not done so.

The scroll wheel is comfortable for me to use, and has a nice, smooth action. I have large hands, but thin fingers (adult male). But, if you have large hands and large fingers, you may find the scroll wheel harder to use. I personally prefer the feel of my larger 5th Gen model's scroll wheel, but to get a player this small, some compromises must be made. To be sure, you may want to go a local store that sells the iPod and actually try it out yourself. But Amazon has the best price and the best return policy. And, I had mine three days after ordering it, with free shipping and no tax!

If you're in the market for a PMP and the iPod fits your requirements, I can highly recommend the new 4th gen Nano.

Pros:
+ Incredibly thin. I cant even tell its in my pocket.
+ Aluminum casing and glass screen offer excellent scratch resistence.
+ Very light.
+ Very competitive pricing: 16 GB for what the nano offers is the most affordble nano ever. The Apple reputation has never been so attainable.
+ Accelerometer: This adds a few fun touches to operate without pressing buttons, is very useful for rotation on the screen when viewing pictures or watching videos. Games are now actually very interesting.
+ Screen clarity.
+ Simplicity of use.
+ Lots of colours to choose from.

Cons:
- iTunes: As usual iTunes is very frustrating and needs redesigned. iTunes 8 is dependent on quicktime! any quirks at all with it and your back to reinstallation. Expect to encounter problems.
- Battery life: Below average for me so far, no big deal though. Just dont mess around with the thing so much.
- Everything is automated: When I put the headphones in the jack, or disactivate the hold button, it shouldn't automatically turn on.
- Apple is NOT doing the 3rd party crap. all Apple accessories for iPods here on out must be Apple brand or Apple certified. depressing...

I will try to bring out the important and useful information in this review:

- The design is cool, very slim and good looking and the variety of colors is also great.
- The increased capacity of 16GB is the most important improvement over older nanos.
- The rest of the features are there (Genius, Shake, etc.), but that is not so important from my point of view.

Based on this only, I would rate this product 5 stars. However, I have given 3 stars based on the most important low point of this new iPod. This new 4G nano is not compatible with car stereos and speakers. I bought one for my girlfriend and she had a 2G 8GB nano which worked perfectly with a Sony Car Stereo (playback, control and charging). When we tried the new nano in the car it doesn't charge or playback! Then, we tried in my car (another Sony model) and it does play but doesn't charge. The Altec Lansing or Logitech speakers did not charge the iPod either. This is just not acceptable!! I hope Apple can fix this in the next software version for this iPod.

If you do not own speakers or don't mind to buy new ones (I don't know if there are versions for this new iPod yet) and you like the new iPod then buy it. It is a good product. But be adviced that it will not be compatible with most speakers or car stereos.

With introductions like the accelerometer, genius, redesigned interface, and an even smaller package, who couldn't love Apple's new iPod nano? While these sound like great additions, they really don't result in a better iPod. While the new interface, genius, and size, don't hurt, the accelerometer really ruins the whole package. The accelerometer might work well in the iphone and iPod touch, in the nano it is just really annoying. It is way to sensitive and causes problems with simple things like volume. The accelerometer often changes the now playing screen to the cover flow which keeps the volume from being changed without the iPod being pulled out and flipped. The shake to shuffle also causes problems, it is to sensitive as well and will activate when it is not intended to. At least the shake to shuffle can be turned off, I just wish the the accelerometer as a whole could be turned off. If it had that capacity this review could have easily turned from a 2 to a 5.

The new 4G nanos are NOT compatible with any of the old accessories: speakers, car cables, clock radios, docking stations, etc. If you routinely listen through one of these devices, please be aware that your new nano will not charge through these items. They will also burn through your battery because they prohibit your iPod from going into "power saver" mode- and the only way to charge the new iPod is through the USB cable on your computer. Apple does not tell you this anywhere. When I complained Apple told me "too bad." They told me all accessories that were compatible are listed on their website. WRONG- my products are not on the website at all- but is compatible with 4 other iPods we have in the house (including a new 80GB). The tech also mentioned "currently we have no speaker systems compatible with the 4G nano." Nice of them to make this public knowledge before everyone upgrades.

Besides that, the new wheel feels cheap, is smaller and more difficult to use than the wheel on my old 2nd generation nano. Should have stuck with that- but needed the bigger memory size. Nice look, good screen colors and viewing, but I just can't get past that all my old systems are useless for this new and improved iPod.