“Just about a year after Steve Jobs first wowed the tech press (and much of the general public) with the ultrathin sleekness of the first iPod Nano, Apple has unleashed Nano number two into the world. Aside from a drastically different, iPod Mini-like casing and much-improved battery life, the new Nano isn’t much altered from its predecessor. Apple has done away with the 1GB version in favor of a $249 8GB model and adjusted the pricing on the 2GB and 4GB capacities down to $149 and $199, respectively,” Jasmine France reports for CNET reviews, giving the 2G nano and “Excellent” rating of 8.3 out of 10.
“The benefit is the uniformity of screen size and overall dimensions (the 2G is just a hair thinner and taller than the previous Nano: 3.56 by 1.6 by 0.26 inches): all the made-for-Nano accessories should work fine with the new model,” France reports. “If you want to listen to FM radio on the Nano, you’ll need to pick up Apple’s $49 Radio Remote…”
France reports, “We’re pleased to note that Apple had a stab at the original Nano’s rather paltry 12-hour battery life, doubling that rating to a respectable 24 hours (check back for lab test results). As far as sound quality is concerned, we couldn’t notice a difference between the old Nano and the 2G: it still sounds excellent across nearly all genres of music… The 2G Nano doesn’t really bring anything new to the table in the fast-advancing world of MP3 players, but the improvements over the original are certainly welcome. This player is sure to be a top choice among a wide range of users, and it’s a stellar option for first-timers. Just make sure you’re aware that the same $249 for an 8GB Nano will get you a larger but video-capable 30GB iPod.”
Full review here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Island Girl” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
High-quality photos of Apple’s new 2G iPod nano – September 13, 2006
Apple posts new iPod nano ad online – September 12, 2006
Apple intros new iPod nano with new aluminum design in five colors and 24-hour battery life – September 12, 2006
That 30Gig is looking more appealng to me every day.
I’m seriously considering a Nano. Video would be nice but a novelty and I really don’t need that much space. Even if I limit myself to 4 and 5 star rated songs I only get 2000 tracks and in a day, even with skipping I only go through 100. I sync it every night and have playlists that remove songs that I’ve listened to within the last month so that I try and get through as much of my stuff as possible. The nano’s look very much more interesting to me.
CNET has been iPod bashing for a while. I’m surprised to see that they actually wrote some nice things about the nano. Has anyone heard anything else about that 8GB SanDisk player?
*crickets*
I thought so.
I do believe this is the first time in the history of the iPod when two different models have sold for the same price. It will be interesting to see whether more folks spending $249 will opt for the smaller physical dimensions, no moving parts, and colors of the nano or the larger storage capacity + video of the regular.
Thinking about it, it would have been nice if apple would have taken the opportunity to maybe introduce a version with the nike dongle built in so that you wouldn’t have to tie up the port when running. Then they could just sell the things for your shoes on their own.
Hey MDN, no story on this site yet about all the problems people are having with Itunes 7.
Mine downloaded and updated perfectly and so did my iPod when I connected. I think from a quick look at the Apple site most are our iPod using PC friends. I also love the interface and the revolving album artwork. Groovy…
Keep us up with any stuff you hear OK?
Apple changed the target so that the wanabees still can’t compete. So much for all the idiot journalists’ whining about the iPod’s losing its place to those legendary iPod killers.
One wee problem, the article claims that existing nano accesories will work fine. Some but not all because they have increased the space between the dock port and the headphone socket. Crafty!
Were’s the Nano take-apart page so we can see if the port placements were changed due to technical reasons or just accesory refresh opportunities? I’d like it to be the former but…
Interestingly, the 8GB nano is only available in Black. And Black is only available as a color choice if you get the 8GB nano. That should lessen the $249 same price as 30 GB iPod factor.
Seems the iTunes glitches are in Austraalia and Noo Zeeland…
Mine’s certainly working as it should..
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I read elsewhere that the dimensions of the new nano are the same as the first except it is a little bit thinner. The article says it’s a shade taller – I don’t think that is true.