4th Generation iPod Nano: Accelerometer, Genius, Colors, Taller

[Quillz]

I think I liked the third generation iPod nano better.

Also, I find it dumb that Apple reduced the capacity of the iPod classic from 160 GB to 120 GB. Now, the classic is only equal to the Zune 3, not superior. I thought for sure Apple would have kept 160 GB as a major advantage over the Zune 3.

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

I may consider getting one of these when I go over to the US on holiday next month. I really like all of the colours. Not sure what one I would go for.

An I absolutely love the new nano ad.

 

[nemaslov]

How do you listen to that much music? I have over 5400 songs spanning six decades, and my collection is barely 20GB. I could maybe see that doubling if I got all the music I ever wanted, but as it is I can barely listen to my entire collection over the span of a year. This is not a criticism, I just wonder what music you have that is so extensive.

OK here goes: I am 54 years old. I was in the music/record biz (remember that?) from when I was 18 to 33 and still collect today. LPs, CDs. I rarely download since I love the best quality when possible along with the design and packaging. I would even rather buy a used CD later on than download something from iTunes that almost does not exist (yeah I know).

Anyway I have a HD at home and so far I have loaded about 34,000 songs. Rock, jazz, classical, soul alternative, Bavarian Yodeling, whatever. I mean those Miles David Box Sets alone are maybe 60 CDs!! Jeez. I have a 160GB classic at my office which is full. I am self emplyed so I can play it loud some of the day. It plays all day through a stereo and I travel alot and most hotels have something I can play my pod through.

Yeah maybe each day I listen to a couple hundred songs, but the point is I have with me a HUGE library to choose from. If I am gone a week or two you never know upfront the mood you are going to be in. I have ever BEatles album, Dylan , REM Miles, John Coltrane, Bethoven, Philip Glass full catalogues, electronica, Country, Indian Sitar. Every Ry Cooder Album and all those soundtracks he made. I could go on and on.. My 17 son loves it and introduces me to new bands too.

There are many music freaks who don't care about watching anything on their pods. It's the music baby!

I have nothing from and past present or future American Idol winner or loser except Rocket Man and Hotel California by that bad Asian singer from the second or third seson...

I know photographers, artists, DJs etc who want a huge capacity on the go and not to commute or jog to.

Not for everyone but a big enough audience who can't fit it all on 120GB iPod!!

 

[nemaslov]

You whining crybabies!. Who gives a @@@@ about hard disk based iPods?. Move on, and get over your spoiled selves. So what?... so nothing!. If you have that much music in your pocket, you have serious issues with being able to choose. Oh did you forget that - at home - you have this device called a "computer", from which you can copy music as and when you need it; duh!.

Boy you must think that Sarah Palin is ready to be President too!!

You don't have to buy a HD large capacity iPod and most of us don't have them in our pockets. We use them at a stationery location other than home. Studios, work spaces, hotels, long trips.

We simply want the have all of our music available to us at any time. Music moods change, especially if you are on the road for days or weeks and you can't get back to change playlists.

Some people eat meat some don't. Some drive some don't. Why would you want to limit choice? I am pro choice!!!

Real music freaks like me are not that unusual. It's not simply about the lastest hit song on the go!

 

[Anonymouslives]

Generally ladies, if you have a problem with an additional 3 ounces and less than 1" each way, while exercising, I'd say you have some serious problems.

Different products for different people. Someone who runs a lot would be stupid to get a hard drive player.

I am and so are may other individuals. The ipod nano is smaller and is flash memory. I had an ipod with the 1st gen and the damn thing would skip all the time and was bulky. The ipod nanos are featherweights, dont skip, and fit everywhere.

 

[johnmcboston]

No demand, no ability for new features. The iPhone, Nano, and iPod Touch sell more. It's the only one with a traditional hard drive, so no accelerometer will work well which means no new UI. The classic form of the iPod is slowly going away as it's abilities change.

Well. Are you sitting down? Hold on to your hat? Some people actually use their ipod to... get this... listen to music. Music of all things, can you imagine.

 

[johnmcboston]

How do you listen to that much music? I have over 5400 songs spanning six decades, and my collection is barely 20GB. I could maybe see that doubling if I got all the music I ever wanted, but as it is I can barely listen to my entire collection over the span of a year. This is not a criticism, I just wonder what music you have that is so extensive.

19.5K songs at 99GB and still haven't ripped everything
613 or 30GB worth of podcasts
another 3GB photos/movies

And this doesn't even include TV shows, et al that people have.

 

[MacTravelerBoi]

I'm buying a 16 gb orange nano. Love it!

 

[FreeState]

Just dawned on me that the colors looked familiar... tribute to CA Maybe we should call this version the equality nano...

 

[johnmcboston]

You whining crybabies!. Who gives a @@@@ about hard disk based iPods?. Move on, and get over your spoiled selves. So what?... so nothing!. If you have that much music in your pocket, you have serious issues with being able to choose.

Actually I have better things to do with my time than to sit around and decide what to put on my ipod today... it's all just there. how much time do you spend trying to decide which songs or playlists to put on your ipod??

 

[tjcampbell]

So the new nano is the old nano plus a few features and a bigger screen? Lame. I prefer the "chubby" nano as it's actually small.

 

[twoodcc]

looking forward to trying these out in the apple store next week

 

[jeremyrader]

I think those with the 10,000+ library of songs will be pleasantly surprised by the usefulness of the "genius" feature in iTunes, allowing them to make smart playlists of songs that go well together, since they probably haven't taken the time to make any sort of playlists themselves and insist on carrying around about 8,000 more songs than they would listen to driving from California to Florida and back (yes, I did the math). You don't need an iPod, you need a Drobo.

The Classic still has a place, but that place is getting smaller. As WiFi and WiMax access becomes more prominent over the next few years, and particularly if cell phone w/data access becomes more realistically priced, the Touch and iPhone, coupled with file sharing apps already available, give you access to your hard drive or server back home. Mine's 1.5TB of mostly movies and TV shows that I can quickly download and watch from the convenience of most hotel rooms on my MBP. On a long trip, I think I could survive with a mere 16GB worth of music to choose from from one Starbucks to the next, synching a new cool playlist or three each stop.

I love that the Nano has gone back to the tall form factor. I picked up a 3G Nano not all that long ago to replace my dying 1G and use it daily for biking to work, running (Nike+), working out, and keeping the latest family photos (so much cooler than plastic-clad wallet versions, and easier on my right butt cheek). But Nike+ was the only thing that kept me from buying a Touch when I did. I won't be rushing out to buy one tomorrow, or even next month. But it's on my list now and the Nano is off, cool orange color and all.

Let's just clarify for Anonymouslives why those of us that actually exercise use flash based drives... again... it's not the friggin' size or weight. If you still don't get it, I'd be happy to stop by your place of residence or work and jog/jump in place with your computer (turned on) on my back for an hour or so and see how happy the hard drive is. My guess is that the computer will crash (permanently) long before I do.

The most disappointing thing about this event for me was pricing. Yes, it's fantastic that Apple can double the storage capacity and keep the price. But I bought into the idea/rumor that there would be a bigger pricing dip to further separate the iPods from the iPhone. I guess the $2k in "hidden fees" should be enough... but a $99 8GB Nano and $149 8GB Touch shouldn't have been that hard to do, right?. At least I get EPP and/or student discounts, which takes care of sales tax. Glad I'm not in the market right now, but it would have been a nice draw with the holidays coming up.

FWIW, a company's stock price is not generally tied to the opinions of a few disappointed rumor site fanatics' expectations for public announcements. In fact, a company's stock price has an odd trend of going up on expected announcements (good or bad) and then dropping when the announcement is made (good or bad) no matter who the company is. Long-term price is driven by a combination of company performance in the marketplace (market share, profit margin, growth), general impressions (ethics history, consumer satisfaction, ecological considerations) and dozens of other factors. If anything happens to Apple's stock today, it will have virtually zero reflection on this event's reception, even by those that actually own stock.

 

[sdhar23]

Wait, the headphone jack is now on the bottom! WTF?

No the fatty nano's headphone jack was on the bottom too

 

[Marlor]

Just dawned on me that the colors looked familiar...

Well, yeah. If you want to offer a range of colours, then it makes perfect sense to offer it in all the colours of Newton's rainbow.

Perhaps they can call should have called this the "Roy. G. Biv" iPod.

 

[thedragonden]

Now we can make an old multicolor Apple logo out of iPod Nanos.(Or is it Nanii?)

I will wait until someone verifies the Shuffle/Shake feature has an OFF setting. (edit: Someone did. Thank you danny_w)
The first time I bounced down a flight of stairs and the song changed, that shiny new iPod would be eBay bound. (I guarantee you that I would shake a Nano harder on all three axes than the shuffle feature requires.)


Nike+ built into the Touch and not the Nano. DUH! The Nano has no RADIO built in. You have to attach the Nike module to receive the signal from the sensor!


As for the Classic/120 GB situation. The 160GB drives are becoming old tech.
Toshiba just announced 120GB(1 platter) and 240GB(2 platter) drives today. So the 80GB(1 platter) iPod got updated to the new higher capacity 1 platter drive and the 160GB(2 platter) iPod might be gone.
A 240GB iPod Classic could be arriving in the future. Apple introducing a 240GB iPod before Toshiba introduced the drive later that same day would have been a big No-No, even for Steve.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/toshiba-announces-18-inch-hdd-family/story.aspx?guid=%7BB3E5CCAC-F529-4966-B972-263D9754B666%7D&dist=hppr


http://gizmodo.com/5047611/toshibas-120gb-and-240gb-18+inch-drives-appear-just-after-ipod-announcement

What would you do with all that capacity? You'd get an iPod dock in your car to play VIDEO. Video systems in minivans could use iPods instead of carrying around all of those SpongeBob DVD's.

 

[Eric S.]

I think those with the 10,000+ library of songs will be pleasantly surprised by the usefulness of the "genius" feature in iTunes ...

I have given it a try now. The playlists it generated are ... interesting. Not exactly what I would have selected as matches for the songs I tried, but they did seem to have some cohesiveness to them. Of course, the matches are supposed to get better over time as more people opt in and everyone's data is accumulated. It will be interesting to see how things progress. (And allowing Apple to collect my personal information makes me uncomfortable, even though it is supposed to be quasi-anonymous.)

The "Genius Sidebar" appears to have limited utility though. A significant number of the suggested iTunes purchases are songs I already have, just under different album titles. I'm surprised it is not able to figure that out. And I don't buy enough songs from iTunes to make it generally worthwhile.

The Classic still has a place, but that place is getting smaller. As WiFi and WiMax access becomes more prominent over the next few years, and particularly if cell phone w/data access becomes more realistically priced, the Touch and iPhone, coupled with file sharing apps already available, give you access to your hard drive or server back home. ...

But that presumes that your hard drive or server is always on, or can be awakened remotely. I think that idea has a lot of merit but may not be practical until storage capacity in the "cloud" increases enough to allow the music database to reside there, maybe in some combination of individual and shared forms.

I love that the Nano has gone back to the tall form factor. ...

I don't; it's not a nano, it's a mini. I would rather see a true nano-sized music-only player offered, like the 2G nano. The Shuffle (I have one) suffices for short listening sessions but is too limited in capabilities.

 

[milzay]

Now, I'm pretty sure Apple will give the option to turn on the motion activated shuffle option, although even if they didn't surely it would just mean that the shuffle option activated/deactivated, meaning the song wouldn't just change.

Secondly, if you've used an iPod Touch (I own one), you do realise there are significant advantages to the touch wheel system. Like when Im on a crowded train and the touch is in my pocket, its annoying to have to take it out of my pocket, unlock it then forward the song. Again its the same with changing the volume and adding songs to on-the-go playlist. So if you purely want a music device I would actually recommend a nano over the iPod Touch.


Not to mention the clear difference in size.

________

 

[ge3kd]

I like 'em. Will probably get the blue one around Christmas.

 

[danny_w]

I will wait until someone verifies the Shuffle/Shake feature has an OFF setting.
The first time I bounced down a flight of stairs and the song changed, that shiny new iPod would be eBay bound. (I guarantee you that I would shake a Nano harder on all three axes than the shuffle feature requires.)

According to the 4th generation nano user's manual (available at Apple Support) it can be disabled:

Chapter 3 Listening to Music 39
To shuffle songs while a song is playing or paused:
m Shake iPod nano from side to side. A new song starts to play.
Shaking to shuffle doesn’t change your shuffle settings, whether you set them by
choosing Settings > Shuffle or by using the shuffle slider.

To disable shaking:
m Choose Settings > Playback > Shake and select Off.
To turn shaking on again, choose Settings > Playback > Shake, and then select On.
Shaking is also disabled when the Hold switch is in the HOLD position, or if the display
is off. If iPod nano is off, you can’t turn it on by shaking it.

 

[PCMacUser]

It looks a bit like my remote control.

But smaller.

 

[Fast Shadow]

This is massive win for Apple simply because they put DATAROCK on the orange one! I love Datarock.

 

[johnmcboston]

I don't; it's not a nano, it's a mini. I would rather see a true nano-sized music-only player offered, like the 2G nano. The Shuffle (I have one) suffices for short listening sessions but is too limited in capabilities.

wow - blast form the past. I remember my mini... My personal problem with the Fattie and previous nano is the 'unstable' click wheel. it jsut feels cheaper than the classic, and it either doesn't pick up your movements, or it's ultra sensitive. The new nano is nice, but seems built more for video than music.

 

[DaveWonders]

So I'm gonna answer my own question.

I posted before about wanting to know if the new Nano charged via USB or FireWire. I read on Gizmodo's hands on that it indeed does charge via USB.

I didn't follow this too closely when it was an issue with the new iPhone. Does this mean that my Blitzsafe will still transmit the audio through the dock connector but most likely won't charge it?

I might be able to live with that. If it indeed does have a 24 hour battery life that's about 2 weeks of commuting...and I have to sync it with the computer twice a week for podcasts.

 

[majordude]

Just dawned on me that the colors looked familiar... tribute to CA Maybe we should call this version the equality nano...

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