thoughts on purchasing an iPod nano?

[Deviant Ollam]

heya,

i'd like to solicit advice, hypotheses, guessing, or any insider info that people with ties to apple may have about the upcoming future of the iPod nano. i've never owned an MP3 player in my life (i've always been the sort of person who's reluctant to upgrade... never know how well new things will perform, never know when the next best thing will come along making what you have obsolete, etc) although i came close to buying an iAudio player from Cowon a little while back. it was either that or the iPod mini. i couldn't decide (mostly due to the fact that the iAudio unit has a line-in jack for recording* which i think would kick serious ass at live concerts instead of me lugging any large, bulky rig around) and ended up not opting for either one.

i'm really really hoping to get a player now (commute on the train feels longer and longer lately, with more days in the week that i spend riding the rails than before) and the iPod nano is looking pretty fucking amazing. however, what are people's gut reactions (or insider opinions) as to what we'll see with this player in the near future? as the holiday season approaches, will apple be dropping prices dramatically? will a 6GB or 8GB model come out soon? while the 4GB would be pretty alright, i'd like to get as much capacity as possible and would feel burned if a larger one appeared in the next couple months.

thoughts?

* just to be sure... there's no recording capability on any iPod model, right?

[skroo]

i'd like to solicit advice, hypotheses, guessing, or any insider info that people with ties to apple may have about the upcoming future of the iPod nano.

Probably pretty rosy. It's more or less tipped as the eventual replacement for the Mini, and has the benefit of zero moving parts.

however, what are people's gut reactions (or insider opinions) as to what we'll see with this player in the near future?

Going with what Apple's traditionally done with the iPod line, more storage capacity first. It already has a colour display, so likely the next upgrade will be video playback.

as the holiday season approaches, will apple be dropping prices dramatically?

Probably not dramatically, but if my experiences with the 20GB model I bought last year in Apple's day-after-Thanksgiving sale are anything to go by, there may be as much as a $50 price cut on that day. Oh, and surprisingly, the Apple store actually had the best price on it.

will a 6GB or 8GB model come out soon?

Guessing here, but I'd say give it four to six months.

* just to be sure... there's no recording capability on any iPod model, right?

Yes and no - there's no native recording capability, but there are quite a few aftermarket items for doing just that. I'd expect to see the same for the Nano very shortly, assuming that the existing ones don't already work with it.

[converge]

If you're going for hip and trendy iPod is THE mp3 toy. It also has the nifty spinwheel navigation thingy that everyone has fallen in love with (I think my buttons are perfectly find and easier to navigate blind with).

I opted for functionality instead and chose an iRiver. It is a little more bulky, about the same price, but is much more of a utility than iPod could ever be for me. The MysticRiver forums are a great source of info if the iRiver intrigues you at all. It does text, video, pictures, audio (mp3,flac,wma,applelossless,etc,etc), data storage (keys,tools,etc). It is also great for recording, allowing to record varying set qualities from internal mic, line in, or even from the builtin fm tuner. Now that I'm starting to sound like a marketing sheet, I'll stop there and let you consider things for yourself :p

The only thing that I think about now and again is a newer device like the Creative Labs device that plays video outright (my iRiver does it with Korean firmware), but also has a video out builtin. I then drift off into the realm of PSP.. and eventually realize that my iRiver is really all I wanted in a unit anyways.

[murakami]

Does anyone know the realistic battery life of a nano?

[astcell]

Does anyone know the realistic battery life of a nano?

When your favorite song comes on, it dies 15 seconds later.

[Dutch]

When your favorite song comes on, it dies 15 seconds later.

Dammit.. Another keyboard gone.
Quote named Astcell's law on MP3 player batterylife and added to my Murphy collection.

Dutch

[Quiet]

Does anyone know the realistic battery life of a nano?

During Toorcon, people who were using the Ipod Nanos have stated that battery life seems to be at Apple's stated 14 hour run time.

[Nebula]

It may be just me, but, I dont really like the Nano. Its too small, when i get something i want it to be fearly large and be able to find it. I mean look at it, its so small you could lose it rather than "use" it. And it only holds 1,000 songs, not to say that ive even got 1,000 songs on my computer but theirs always a limit :/ So my opinion on the matter is i wont make a large effort to get my hands on.


Ipod Nano

[jur1st]

I've got a 20 gb non-color iPod and would recomend that. It has the highest capacity for the price, and the battery life is pretty solid. What do you really need a color screen for? Are you going to go out and find all the album art for your music? Will all your music fit on a nano? My collection wouldn't even come close.

The nano doesn't come with an AC adapter. This means you must have a USB 2.0 port available if it runs down. There aren't many accessories for the nano yet...meaning no case. The back of the ipod scratches easily and the first thing I bought was a hard case to keep it looking nice.