Apple’s new iPod Nano, iTunes 5 reviewed

It’s a been a good week for Apple. Not content with releasing iTunes 5 (more on that later), Steve Jobs revealed the new iPod Nano, an mp3 player with a colour screen, 2-4Gb of space and as thin as a pencil. In the US the iPod Nano starts at $199, £139 in the UK. As someone who’s just bought an iPod shuffle for the missus, I’m a little down about it but I guess that’s just my luck.

Of course, the eBay fiends have already started selling the nano in the UK. There are some QuickTime VRs on the Apple Site if you fancy a look, and there’s a first look review over at Playlist. From the review:

Although the iPod nano can display pictures and slideshows like today’s color iPods, it doesn’t have all the capabilities of these iPods. For example, you’ll find no TV Out commands in its Slideshow Settings window because it can’t project pictures to an attached television. Also, it doesn’t work with Apple’s iPod Camera Connector or Belkin’s Media Reader, which means you can’t upload pictures to it. And although the Diagnostic Screen shows a LineIn test, current iPod microphones require a connection to the Remote Control port as well, which is missing on the nano.

Another feature touted by Steve Jobs was a screen lock function, using a 4 digit pin. Of course the interface is as slick as the rest of the device and once activated you can pause and play but nothing else. If you lock the screen, unlock it, then return to the screen lock it shows you the combination there and then. This sounds like the screen lock feature is more for aesthetic effect rather than to deter would-be thieves – although that could just be my cynicism kicking in.

Of course, the extra Gigabyte (or a few) isn’t necessarily going to make a blind bit of difference for some. According to recent research in the US, 50% of mp3 players have less than 100 songs on them, with the average being around 375.

Maybe the new iTunes 5 could help change that. It’s new ’streamlined design’ is, at least in my humble opinion, somewhat overrated. Some say that it looks like an old Mac Media player called SoundJam. Of course, what does it for me is the ditching of the area up at the top which although utterly redundant, reminded me a lot of finder. Now I have to get used to sorting in what used to be the bottom pane (or should that read pain?).

Of course, it’s not only the main GUI that has been redesigned. According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, the iTunes shop supports tabs. I haven’t had a chance to see it (I don’t use the iTunes shop). If upgrading a shop front end is listed as a feature, then marketing spin has truly overtaken reality at Apple HQ. So what other features are there? Well, according to the apple site there are:

• The aforementioned ‘Streamlined Design’
• The Search Bar (hey, wasn’t that in iTunes 4.5?)
• Smart Shuffle (Random playback manipulation)
• Sync from Outlook (what, as opposed to iTunes?)
• Playlist Folders (As opposed to being able to save playlists as files, in real folders?)
• Parental Controls (Cool)
• Album Reviews … I guess it’s less clicks than going to Amazon?
• ROKR and Nano support
• Err… that’s it

All very erm… standard, if you ask me. Actually using the thing offers a slightly different experience to before, but is it really a major version jump? What are your thoughts on the new iTunes?