10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
A very, very good MP3 player!
Date of Review: Nov 5, 2006
The Bottom Line: 2nd Gen Nano much better than last, and at a competitive price, wouldn't want to overlook it!
I personally didn't think I would jump onto the Apple Ipod craze that is going around, since I simply thought it was an over-hyped item, but alas, I was wrong. My previous MP3 decided to give it the quits, or not actually, but all of sudden decided to drain my batteries after playing one song, weird. Anyway, after looking at many choices, I decided to give the Ipod Nano a try, and I did.
I purchased the silver 2GB version as the others were $199 and had 4GB, which is overkill for my needs. It came in a nice little package, very space saving IMO. It didn't occur to me that I was purchasing the 2nd Gen model, because I haven't been keeping up with the Ipod series, but it wasn't a concern when I was buying it at the time. Well I get it home and did the opposite what most probably do, read reviews on it. Normally people read reviews about something they are potentially going to by, not the other way around. Anyway, from what I've read the 2nd Gen was much better than the previous black and white Nanos', so I said cool, opened it up, and gave it a whirl.
First thing to notice is how thin this thing is. Almost fragile like to a degree, but the Nano is built pretty well. Feels like it will survive a fall, but I am not going to test it out. The silver coating a nice touch, and is practically scratch resistant. Unlike the last gen of Nanos, this one isn't a fingerprint heaven device, as my friend has that one and it's mess with fingerprints. There isn't much to the design, you have the click wheel, the nice and bright LCD screen, on the top you have the hold button and bottom the USB port and headphone jack. Pretty simple if you ask me.
When you fire up the Ipod for the first time, you have to register it with Itunes before it will start working. I didn't realize this until owning for 3 hours, and just thought the battery needed a while to charge, silly me. Anyway, after doing so, you can upload MP3s, copy from a CD, or buy from Itunes directly. I opted to upload my already owned MP3s. It's not as easy as my last MP3 player, which was drag and drop, this one you have import them, sync the Ipod, then it's ready to go. Something I'll get used to I guess.
When listening to songs, the Nano does a great job. The included headset didn't cut it for me, even though some say they are better than before, they didn't provide enough bass for my needs. I have a pair of Koss in-ear headphones and they bring out the true sound of the Nano. Clarity and bass is nice and deep and clear. No problems in the sound department, very nice. Scrolling through songs is easy enough, but sometimes by accident I change the volume when skipping through songs, but it's nothing to be nit-picking on. The Nano has lots of EQ settings to change how songs sound, but I found just leaving it off is good for me. Another thing are the games, which are nice addition when listening to music, and probably will be using these a lot when flying or driving somewhere. Another neat feature is that when the headset jack accidentally gets pulled out of the Nano, the song automatically goes on pause, something I thought was pretty cool.
I'm actually kinda glad my last MP3 player gave it the quits, this Ipod is very nice. Now I know why it is so popular. At $149.00, the 2GB version is closely in competition with others this time around, making it a suitable option for those looking for a 2GB MP3 player. At 24hrs rated battery life, it will last you a bit. Overall I'm happy with my purchase, unlike other things I think I'm content on this one and will be keeping it for awhile.
