“Thanks to the rise of smartphones, portable media players are practically nonexistent. Apple is the only maker of portable media players that remains successful in the U.S., thanks to three products: the iPod Touch, the iPod Nano, and the iPod Shuffle,” James Pikover reports for VentureBeat. “Along with the iPhone 5, Apple revealed the latest generation of the Touch and Nano at a media event in October, both remade after a year hiatus.”
“The iPod Touch is the best handheld media player ever,” Pikover reports. “The iPod Nano has finally been perfected. And after spending time with both, I’m infatuated.”
Pikover reports, “As much as the Touch has (or hasn’t) changed, the iPod Nano is completely new. It took Apple seven years, but it has finally perfected the miniature media player. And it’s so cute who could resist?”
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Much more in the full review here.
Related articles:
PC Magazine reviews Apple iPod nano (7th gen): ‘beautifully crafted,much-improved player, easily our Editors’ Choice’ – October 11, 2012
PC Magazine reviews Apple iPod touch (5th gen): ‘The most elegant device ever handled – and yes, that includes iPhone 5′ – October 11, 2012
Why the iPod – yes, the iPod – still matters – October 8, 2012
Apple unveils all-new iPod touch and iPod nano – September 12, 2012
“Apple is the only maker of portable media players that remains successful in the U.S.,”
I guess probably the rest of the world as well, but who’d know from the relentlessly US-centric nature of many of these reports.
The Touch is great, but compromised by having far too little capacity; anyone who has a true interest in music would use the Classic, but Apple have neglected that line for some years, leaving it at a miserly 160Gb. There are HDD’s up to 350Gb that would fit, so why no upgrade? A Touch will only have appeal to real music lovers with extensive music collections when it has at least 250Gb. My Classic only has 32Gb free, a friend has over 200Gb of music in iTunes, and has to be choosy about what goes into his Classic.
C’mon, Apple, you’re supposed to be all about music, lets have portable devices that reflect the extensive music libraries that music lovers have.
I’m only guessing, but I believe we’re going to begin to see consumers migrate to the iPad mini vs the iPod Touch as a media manager. Give the iPad mini a couple of years of improvements and it will dominate the sub $400.00 market.
Completely weak argument. At least as far as music is concerned… But who really watches constant video on their iPod anyway. No one on earth will need, use or be capable of listening over 10 gb of music on a couple days charge. Why raise the cost of the device for useless storage.
It seems that everyone has conceded the portable music device market to Apple. I doubt that miniaturization over the next few years will permit users to store more than 520 MB and keep the size of the devices small enough to fit in one hand and slip into one’s pocket. Perhaps Apple’s database centers will provide users with massive cloud storage for those with gargantuan music and video libraries.
I’m still wondering if we’ll reach a point where devices will have enough capacity that we won’t have to bother compressing music any more. It seems to me that would be the next big transition for music as media: from 256 kbps files to full, CD quality ones. The music cartels will be able to milk us one more time.
My only beef with the iPod (nano) is the lack of compatibility with the iPhone & iPad in regards to Bluetooth. I very much dislike the fact they limit the Bluetooth profiles to just headphones, speakers, & some fitness equipment. In the age of wireless you still have to plug the nano into your computer. This device has Bluetooth and I should be able to transfer a photo, songs, from one device to another if I want. From friends who have photos on their nano a Bluetooth profile transfer would be great. For songs, I have brought from iTunes they should have the ability to Bluetooth to my nano. For ones I didn’t buy I can understand the limitation on that. I hope Apple in the next update in software for the nano will include more Bluetooth profiles.