Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New iPod Nano or Shuffle?

ddrueckhammer

ddrueckhammer

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 8, 2004
1,181
0
America's Wang
Well my 4G iPod just died and I'm depressed because it is only a year and a half old despite babying it. I am getting the sad face start up and have tried every trick in the book including:

Resetting
Turning Off and On
Restoring Using iPod Updater
Reformatting using Disk Utility

When I reset it you can hear the drive going whir click whir click and the firmware hardware tests on the iPod get stuck on the hard drive test so I'm pretty sure this baby is dead or at least damaged beyond repair.

I'm a broke college student right now but I have to have my iPod for studying so I want to get the most bang for my buck and I don't want anything to do with a HD player right now cause I'm sick about my old one dying. I saw the 512 Mb Shuffles on the Apple refurb site and am wondering if anyone has experience with these? Really even if I could scrape together enough for a 4 Gb Nano I can't justify spending the $229 edu on it....The only benefit of getting a shuffle besides price is the autofill feature. Right now my iTunes library has about 20Gb of music on it (all legal) and I used to love carrying my whole library around with me. Are the screens on the 1 Gb Nano's that much worse than the 2 & 4GB ones? Also, if I do get a Nano 1 or 2 GB what kind of scratch protection would your recommend. I really don't like covering my beautiful hardware up so I would really like to just use the decals and maybe a sleeve for when I'm not using it...What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance for your replies...
 
ddrueckhammer said:
Well my 4G iPod just died and I'm depressed because it is only a year and a half old despite babying it. I am getting the sad face start up and have tried every trick in the book including:

Resetting
Turning Off and On
Restoring Using iPod Updater
Reformatting using Disk Utility

When I reset it you can hear the drive going whir click whir click and the firmware hardware tests on the iPod get stuck on the hard drive test so I'm pretty sure this baby is dead or at least damaged beyond repair.

I'm a broke college student right now but I have to have my iPod for studying so I want to get the most bang for my buck and I don't want anything to do with a HD player right now cause I'm sick about my old one dying. I saw the 512 Mb Shuffles on the Apple refurb site and am wondering if anyone has experience with these? Really even if I could scrape together enough for a 4 Gb Nano I can't justify spending the $229 edu on it....The only benefit of getting a shuffle besides price is the autofill feature. Right now my iTunes library has about 20Gb of music on it (all legal) and I used to love carrying my whole library around with me. Are the screens on the 1 Gb Nano's that much worse than the 2 & 4GB ones? Also, if I do get a Nano 1 or 2 GB what kind of scratch protection would your recommend. I really don't like covering my beautiful hardware up so I would really like to just use the decals and maybe a sleeve for when I'm not using it...What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance for your replies...
Click to expand...

As a proud owner of a 1 GB nano, I had no idea the screens were any different then the 2 and 4 GB nanos?
 
If you'll abuse it - get a shuffle

I have a 512 shuffle, and I absolutely love it. I use it while biking mostly, so having a screen is pretty much useless to me. It can take any abuse, too. It's got bike grease in it, it's been thrown on concrete a million times, the dang thing won't break, and barely dents. Only time it's screwed up has been when I ran with it and sweat got in it, apparently. It dried out and works fine again, though.

Anyways, if you feel you need a screen, get the nano. I like the shuffle because I can set up a playlist and play it straight through or shuffle it. The only advantage to me with the nano is not having to know what you've put on the dang thing, since you'll have a screen. But it will be much more fragile.
 
Personally i'd go for a 1gb Nano or a 2gb if you can afford, for protection get one of the films from a company like decalgirl.com they really do make a huge difference as they stop all scratches and make the screen more readable...

having a screen makes a huge difference when using an iPod and makes it a far better experience, hence the reason i reccomend the Nano..

ShadoW
 
Having put in several months of 8 hour study days leading to Board exams, my experience is that the 512K Shuffle is perfect. It holds over 8 hours of music: enough so there is no repetition, not enough to make you waste time searching your collection. I autofilled it everyday from my Study Music playlist, looked at what it selected, and then threw the thing in my bag. No worries about scratches or cracked screens. At the library, it just hung around my neck and let me concentrate on my work.

The key words in your post are "poor" and "study". If you are really poor, and really buying it for study, the 512K Shuffle is good enough. Now, can someone explain to me why librarians never shut their mouths or their doors?

Best wishes.
 
I don like the shuffle, i much prefere the nano. I have a black 4GB (i think) nano and its great for biking and when i hit the gym.
 
emptyCup said:
Having put in several months of 8 hour study days leading to Board exams, my experience is that the 512K Shuffle is perfect. It holds over 8 hours of music: enough so there is no repetition, not enough to make you waste time searching your collection. I autofilled it everyday from my Study Music playlist, looked at what it selected, and then threw the thing in my bag. No worries about scratches or cracked screens. At the library, it just hung around my neck and let me concentrate on my work.

The key words in your post are "poor" and "study". If you are really poor, and really buying it for study, the 512K Shuffle is good enough. Now, can someone explain to me why librarians never shut their mouths or their doors?

Best wishes.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of the advice...I think you are right...When I'm studying I don't really want to be looking for the songs on my iPod because if I am doing that I'm not studying. I used to almost always listen to my 4g iPod on shuffle anyway. The autofill, durability, and ability to use as a flash drive without a cable make it appealing to me. I guess if I don't like it I can always give it to my younger sister or girlfriend and get a nano...
 
w8ing4intelmacs said:
You can get a 512MB shuffle refurb from the Apple website for $49 (of course, shipping is free on orders of $50 or more).
Click to expand...

Good point! The 512 Mb shuffle is $56.71 with shipping and tax, and the 1 Gb shuffle refurb is $84.53. I think maybe the $27.82 is worth it for double the storage for me. I still think the form factor is slicker on the Nano but I think the shuffle is more practical for me...especially at these prices!
 
I like my 1gig shuffle; I feel like I'm carting around a precious commodity with my 4th Gen 20gig iPod -- and I am.

The nano is too scratchable and precious. The shuffle is an amazing little thing for the gym and yes, also a flash drive. No worries about scratches or anything. Love mine. Who cares about a screen? When the video iPods get cheaper and better, I'll buy one -- but for now -- 1gig shuffle and my nine month old 4th Gen 20gig that I ONLY use for voice memo-ed interviews.
 
ddrueckhammer said:
Good point! The 512 Mb shuffle is $56.71 with shipping and tax, and the 1 Gb shuffle refurb is $84.53. I think maybe the $27.82 is worth it for double the storage for me. I still think the form factor is slicker on the Nano but I think the shuffle is more practical for me...especially at these prices!
Click to expand...
I love my 1GB Shuffle.

Get the 1GB and have your music (512MB) and a thumb drive (512MB) in one.

Lightweight. Simple and easy to use. Don't need extra cables to connect it to a computer. Durable.

And it has the best screen of all the iPods -- your computer! :D Seriously, it is so easy to set up your contents with the computer.

The only down side to the Shuffle is that it is hard to select something. But if you random play, it's sweet.
 
I would go with the refurbed 1 GB Shuffle myself. I own a 30GB iPod Photo, and use it all day at work. But, i rarely ever listen to more than 120 songs, so i think this would be a good choice for you.
 
I vote for the shuffle as well. I had a 3g 20 gb ipod before and I actually prefer my new shuffle. It's way more durable and carefree. It was such a worry whenever I took out my old ipod, the shakeable harddrive, limited battery life, and theft. In retrospect, it was a bit cumbersome too.
 
I used to own a 1 GB shuffle, and now have a 4 GB nano. There's no comparison. The nano is better in basically every way (except price of course). I have an invisible shield on it, so I'm not worried about it getting damaged. It's still so small I can take it running and hardly notice it. And it really is nice to be able to select songs.
 
Toshiba had announced a 32GB NAND Flash, you can bet that in due time the Nano will increase to 8-16GB and Mac OS 10.X will be loaded on a 32GB or less Flash drive that will boost response time in general.

Not sure if its true, however I have seen a 64GB Flash USB 2.0 drive around the net. It is only time. ;) :)
 
WAAAAIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!! before you buy ANYTHING FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS!!!
the very same thing happened to me with my 4G. same clicking noises, same iPod sad Face and i tried the very same things you did with no results. i felt all was lost so i proceeded to open my ipod with directions commonly found on the internet. i used an old credit card to open mine. i was just curious. anyways the hard drive is easily unplugged (i was amazed at how small it was) and after looking at all the inner workings of my iPod i plugged the HD back in and made sure everything was the way it was before and closed it back up. (the shell of the iPod snaps back together nicely. and low and behold my iPod is working!!!! it has never given me any trouble in the month or so since the "operation" ;) i really hope i'm not too late:( but you should really try this, you will at least get a few more months out of this iPod, then you can wait for them to update the line, and be the first on your block to have the new oneS!!! please let me know if this works for you!
 
Xander562 said:
WAAAAIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!! before you buy ANYTHING FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS!!!
the very same thing happened to me with my 4G. same clicking noises, same iPod sad Face and i tried the very same things you did with no results. i felt all was lost so i proceeded to open my ipod with directions commonly found on the internet. i used an old credit card to open mine. i was just curious. anyways the hard drive is easily unplugged (i was amazed at how small it was) and after looking at all the inner workings of my iPod i plugged the HD back in and made sure everything was the way it was before and closed it back up. (the shell of the iPod snaps back together nicely. and low and behold my iPod is working!!!! it has never given me any trouble in the month or so since the "operation" ;) i really hope i'm not too late:( but you should really try this, you will at least get a few more months out of this iPod, then you can wait for them to update the line, and be the first on your block to have the new oneS!!! please let me know if this works for you!
Click to expand...

I'll try this and get back to you...Sounds like its worth a shot...

Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back