Slashdot Mirror
A Review of the iPod nano
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Walt Mossberg has been testing the iPod nano for a few days, and he says he is 'smitten.' Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal, 'The nano has the best combination of beauty and functionality of any music player I've tested -- including the iconic original white iPod. And it sounds great. I plan to buy one for myself this weekend, when it is due to reach stores in the U.S., Europe and Asia.' Among other things, it has surprisingly good sound: 'Despite its small size, the nano sounded as good as any other iPod, and is packed with plenty of audio power. Plugged into my car speakers, it was able to belt out the new Fountains of Wayne rocker, "Maureen," loudly enough to be heard perfectly, even though I was going 70 mph in a convertible with the top down.'"
...is packed with plenty of audio power. Plugged into my car speakers, it was able to belt out the new Fountains of Wayne rocker, "Maureen," loudly enough to be heard perfectly, even though I was going 70 mph in a convertible with the top down.
:)
...Its your car's amplifier doing the job, not the Nano. The nano has a line-level or headphone-level power output... Nothing impressive there, other than that Apple didn't goof up, right?
Wow, the Nano has a built-in power amplifier with enough power to play that loud in your car? Cool
I'm your huckleberry
I was able to hear Dvorak's Enter the New World crystal clear on nano's lowest volume setting while jackhammers busted up the street outside my window and parrots squawked within a meter of my ear.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
The iPod audio out is very good. Much better then may other portable players. Of course you can't tell this with the earbuds they come with, but that's another issue.
So with a good set of headphones or speakers, and the right music, you can easily tell the difference.
[bitter]If I see one more Nano story I will smash my keyboard over my crappy CRT. Nano can go fuck itself.[/bitter]
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
that evaluating an audio products signal to noise ratios, total harmonic distortion, audio algorithms and audible compression artifacts, frequency response and sound pressure levels at 70mph with the roof down gives us a more than accurate reprensenation of the audio reproduction of a mass produced Taiwanese digital audio player
glad we have such experts making these evaluations for us so we can base our now informed purchasing decisions based on the results of these tests
I've actually found it hard to get a good idea of how big iPod nano is from the photos, because my brain wants that color screen to be larger than it really is. I finally stumbled onto Apple's iTunes sync webpage which overlaps iPod nano with a regular iPod to put its size into perspective a bit.
Why is he wasting paragraphs on trying things out that are there in black and white in the specs?
... or subjecting it to repeated drops to verify that it wouldn't skip. It's flash memory. Shocks and vibration are not going to be an issue.
"It has two GB of disk space. I tried putting 1.5GB of songs on, and there was room for another 0.5GB of data to spare!"
It does look like quite a nice gadget -- but I wouldn't personally buy anything with less than 20GB for songs.
Seriously, has anyone ever read anything by Mossberg about Apple products that wasn't either glowing, stellar, or outright raving?
Sure. He finds the "Mighty Mouse" inferior to the Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000. Check out this article.
Creative Zen Nano Plus Is Apple losing creativity or did I miss some division getting bought by someone else?
Even today, there are still lingering attitudes about Apple. How many articles have we seen in the last two years predicting the imminent arrival of devastating viruses to the Mac? How many articles have we seen explaining why Macs are no more secure? How many articles have we seen trying to play up the nonexistent virus threat while downplaying the simple fact that there isn't a single virus for OS X yet.
And yet, people compain that someone in the media might be too nice to Apple.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
it's smaller.
battery lasts longer.
its more dependable.
has more space than shuffle, but smaller size.
color screen.
And thus we see why slashdot people are not in marketing.
It's all about form, not function. iPods are functionally inferior to most other MP3 players- no radio, no voice record, no optical outputs, no OGG/WMA support, too expensive for the size, only work with iTunes- but they have a form factor that has yet to be equaled let alone beaten. They look good and feel good. That is what sells. Scoff all you want.
And yes, form matters, even beyond just selling more. I have an iRiver device with a clicky joystick control. It sits at home, unused, because the joystick is a pain to use. My shuffle get carried everywhere and used all the time because it has a simple interface that works.
This is the best iPod yet, though of course I do need more capacity. I think it's silly for people to complain about $199 for 4GB, though. You know, it's like looking at a Mercedes and saying, "$50,000 for four seats?!" Of course, there's more to a car than how many people it can hold. And the iPod is certainly the finest music experience out there - by far.
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
It's called a product review, dufus!
Sometimes Mossberg's reviews are negative. Sometimes they're positive. In this case, he obviously really liked the iPod nano.
He's a well respected journalist and doesn't just write puff pieces promoting any product he gets sent to him (not even if it's from Apple). I have no idea where you're coming from on this "embarrassment" angle. There is legitimate and valuable journalism in credible reviews, and you're nuts to say otherwise.