iPod nano 2nd Gen

From my previous post, you can gather that I have an iPod nano 2nd Gen. I bought it last November and just now getting around to writing my review. Before the iPod nano, I was using an RCA Lyra MP3 player which worked good, but I was running out of song capacity and it did not provide playlists.

After much thought, I decided to get the iPod nano. I ordered directly from Apple because I wanted to personalize my nano with a laser etch (see picture). This was pretty neat. I ordered my nano on Thursday and it arrived to me from China on Tuesday. Pretty impressive logistics! I wanted to get an 8G nano just to make sure that I had enough room for my songs, but the 8G unit only came in black at that time, now it also comes in red. I still don't want black or red, so I got a 4G silver nano. The 4G nano will hold about 1,000 songs. I have over 800 songs on my nano right now.

Why did I chose the nano over the regular iPod? Mainly size, weight, and mechanical issues. Although the regular iPod has a much larger capacity (30G vs 4G), the iPod uses a small mechanical disk drive where the nano uses flash memory. The nano has no moving parts to wear out. The nano is also very small and lightweight so I can wear it on a lanyard around my neck. You can also watch video files on the regular iPod which I don't need to do. I just want to listen to my music, making the nano the logical choice. There is also an iPod Shuffle which is similar to the nano in that it is a flash memory based player. The Shuffle is even smaller and lighter than the nano because it does not have the display. The Shuffle also does not have playlists which I wanted.

You get your songs on the nano by performing a sync with iTunes, so I downloaded and installed iTunes, then started ripping my CDs. You can buy songs, audiobooks, and other items from iTunes store and sync them with your nano. I tend not to buy downloadable songs since once they are downloaded, I have to keep up with them. If my hard drive crashes, then so do my songs. So I still buy CDs and rip them into my system. I did buy a couple of audiobooks from iTunes which I loaded up and played. Worked great!

When I rip a CD, I have iTunes set to get the ablum artwork. The artwork gets store in my nano when I sync, so when a song is playing, the album cover is shown in the display. Pretty neat! iTunes also lets me put the lyrics into each song, so with a little web search, then cut & paste, I have the song's lyrics stored on my nono too! While the song is playing, I can select the lyrics display and use the scroll wheel to read the lyrics on the display.

Yes, I like my iPod nano. I have not tried the Microsoft Zune or any of the players from the other vendors, so I can't really give any comparisons. My iPod nano, however, allows me to personalize my music listening and I like that!

Griffin iTrip for 2nd Gen iPod nano

Just picked up a Griffin iTrip for my 2nd Gen iPod nano at BestBuy and took it on a little road trip to Asheville, NC. A very pleasant experience!

This iTrip is a cradle design that the nano slips into. This meant that I had to take my nano out of the silicone skin I had it in and slip it into the iTrip. The nano is then securely connected to the iTrip. No chance of it slipping out.

Setup was easy! The iTrip recommends 87.9 as the default station to tune your FM radio to (I spent about 5 minutes tuning a static station and ended up on 87.9 before even turning the iTrip on, Duh!). You can store up to 3 preset stations in the iTrip so you can change stations when driving through an area with a local station at your setting. Sound output was good and with very little interference (at least on that trip).

There is a mini-USB port on the bottom of the iTrip for supplying power which means for longer trips, I will have to get the Griffin 12V power adapter kit. So, overall, my trip with the iTrip was a pleasant experience.