ipod nano reviewed

Yes I love it. I usually try to only post about more poignant things than consumer products, but I admit tonite I dont' have much to write about (here, anyways, I write much more elsewhere…) and just was tired of seeing my last couple blog posts that are mostly negative. This one is only a bit negative. I'm working myself back into constructive communication instead of ranting and off-the-wall denouncements. Alrighty,

compact

You might find this boring if you're not an ipod owner yourself. I realize I probably would have given two shits about reading something like this in past. But now that I have one of my own, it's time to indulge myself!

GOOD

1. Photos display for every song. I wasted several hours getting it to work correctly thru iTunes, but it was probably time well invested, cuz images make life more interesting.
   
2. Podcasts are actually kinda cool because the xml involved allows you to maintain a subscription. So instead of having to check your show for the latest link to the archive, it comes to you through your 3rd party software (iTunes in this case). Then I just drag the new shows onto the ipod and I'm happy. This isn't really about the ipod nano, but I doubt many products out there have the technology so well integrated at this point.
   
3. The scroll wheel is very rad. This invention should become the standard for volume control on all electronics (except maybe the alarm clock, I still haven't figured that one out!)
   
4. The photo slideshow with concurrent playlist execution is something I'll never get tired of. The first thing I did was transfer my entire collection of swimsuit photos onto it (149 tantalizing images) and then threw on a mix of Butthole Surfers and Manowar. I'm still cleaning up the stains…
   
5. The power management on this thing bewilders me. I can't see how it can stay charged for so long and do all it does. The battery life is outstanding. It last probably 100x as long as my work laptop's battery.
   
6. You can see your reflection perfectly on the back. Very useful to check what that annoying thing is doing on my nose, or how badly I need a shave. Calms the nerves sometimes to look!
   
7. The obvious 'good' points are its compactness and stunningly sexy sleek design. 'Nuff said there.
   

I bought same brand of protective skin, seen in this exuberant photo

BAD

1. The thing is so small – it's easy to lose. I lost mine in the first 24hrs of having it. It disappeared into the wash. I rescued it before the water had filled, and it was at the top of the washer. But it was brickified nonetheless. If you google for things about washing machines and ipods you see all these happy ending stories. Let me tell you here right now, don't get those wangs wet!!!
   
2. The ipod nano has a few critical bugs with the software. I'm willing to hang the problem on the fact that I have a Windows formatted ipod, which is a dubious setup to me in the outset. The freaking thing just resets itself whenever I go to the "Music" section of the main menu. Yeah, this is kind of frustrating, but I found a workaround. Need to probably read up on Apple's FAQs for this issue – nevertheless, it's a seriously critical software flaw. BAD!!!! Multimillion dollar failure bad. (I realize now why Apple software is banned from being used at my company...)
   
3. The external surface of the ipod is so beautiful to look at that you don't want to be in the same room with it sometimes. Until I finally bought a protective case for mine, I couldn't ever directly touch it because your fingers leave huge fingerprints. Also you have to be compulsive about where you place the ipod. Very few materials will not scratch it. The surface is sexy and attractive but it is not so practical in situ. Ipod always has been a conceptual high though hasn't it?
   
4. What is the deal with not being able to seek within a song or podcast? This can be frustrating. Update 02/15/2006: I found out how to synch just now by accident! The interface for this is not very good. When I'm seeking I want to here skipping sounds. Instead the Ipod just plays the song like normal until you're done scrolling the seek adjustment thing. dang.
   
5. Volume control adjustment can easily become a false track seek. So, instead of cranking up Manowar, you end up going to the beginning of the song or the end. Not cool!
   
6. I haven't found a way to charge the iPod while simultaneously playing it. I've heard from sources that it is easy, just do this–this–this… It's unfortunate because normally you need to recharge it while you're in the middle of listening to music. If you're listening to the music on your ipod at random shuffle (which is what I LIVE to do—embrace the randomness), then you lose your spot at this point - which is a bummer! I never get through all my music on random without having to recharge. What a bummer!
   
7. Alright, this won't make sense if you don't have your own ipod, so just skip it if you don't. It took me many attempts to get photos on the damn thing to begin with. When I got photos for the mp3s loaded, some strange behavior was exhibited by the ipod. You can toggle btwn having the song progress counting up from zero, or down from the length of the song. You can also toggle to have it show the song art photo take up the full amount of the screen. Ok. Well for some crazy reason, this was always temporary. The display would always go back to normal song progress view after a second or two. In this view you can barely see the image. Ok well, to my chagrin, the photos now stay up as long as you like! This was after I figured out how to get the photo library hooked into the iTunes. It should be unrelated to the images embedded within the individual songs. But it's not apparently. Very strange! Someone at Apple should fix this. It's totally weird! However, I would have never noticed it, if in the first place, hooking up the photo library to your ipod (and putting separate photos onto the ipod) wasn't so damned complicated and assuming.
   
8. It would be cool if the slideshow for you photolibrary gave you an option to view the song art from your mp3s. I wasted a bit of time trying to make this happen.
   

That's a lot of hot air from my pie hole. Oh well, it's always good to have both positive and negative feedback. It sure beats the alternative.