Apple iPod nano

Damien Virulhapen | Sep 12, 2005 3:16 PM

Apple | http://www.apple.com.au

RRP: $359 (time of review)

Ultra-desirable, a delight to behold and it locks Apple in deservedly as the kings off the portable music player market.

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Hello nano. Won't you be mine? Nano is the sexiest bright shiny object we've seen for a good while.

In one swoop Apple has created yet another wonder of design and engineering, and made its own predeccessor product obsolete.

Who in their right mind would buy an iPod Shuffle now? Who did anyway? If Marketing really did convince you to buy a Shuffle and somehow manage your music without a display, we’d suggest you eBay it ASAP and put the proceeds towards the impossibly gorgeous iPod nano.

What’s not to love? It is quite stunning in the flesh. Like the PSP, it is only when you actually get your grubbies on one that the prettiness of the design strikes home, and you must have one. The switch away from a hard drive to flash memory has enabled the designers to create a sliver of an object that weighs practically nothing. The inclusion of a colour screen is the icing on the cake. While the screen is small, it’s in perfect proportion with the rest of the unit and is perfectly useable.

Add an updated version of the truly excellent iTunes and it’s all the MP3 player you’ll need. Which begs the question – who will buy it? Existing iPod owners will already have at least as much storage space, if not considerably more. iPod Mini owners may feel a little gipped by a superior product so soon after they bought theirs. Many, we expect, will upgrade purely for the style. It is a fasion article, after all. Newcomers to the joy of MP3ing will surely flock to the nano.

Available in 2GB and 4GB versions, pricing starts at $299 for the 2GB versionand $359 for the 4GB nano.

This article appeared in the Online issue of PC Authority.