Apple of My Eye. Review on Apple iPod Nano

It was early 2005 and I had seen a lot of advertisements about the iPod. At that time Apple had the mini, and the photo. The mini was for around Rs. 11, 000. At that time itself I had my heart set out on the iPod. Two of my friends were able to acquire iPods one took a 4 GB mini the other a 20 GB Photo. I loved ‘em both and at that point of time, I was cursing apple as to why it did not have a color iPod in the Rs. 10, 000 range!! As if an answer to my prayer the iPod nano was launched by apple. I was overjoyed at first, but the thing was still not available in India. So I had to get it from abroad, my Pop was going to America so I asked him to buy it. Had told him to buy on the west cost.

It was supposedly cheaper there according to web site listing of the price. I was half tempted to get it delivered to where dad was staying. But I resisted the temptation, which turned out to be a bummer, because dad did not buy it. Then another chance came forth where in one of Pop’s colleagues was in the UK. But even then the opportunity was missed and I did not get my iPod. Had to coax dad for months and months and finally when he went to Thailand a few months later he got me my iPod nano 2 GB for Rs. 9, 800. At that time the price for the iPod Nano in India was around Rs. 15, 000 so we were both very happy. I started fiddling with it right away.

First thing I remember about the iPod nano is the sleekness which I really liked, and the screen was beautiful, the software was pretty easy to use. It was basically an iPod and iTunes pack. The same is available for download from the net. In fact I think you no longer get the CD handy with the new iPods. But you do get ear phones, which I found terrific, but you have to take a lot of care with them, they are very delicate. Also you get the USB cable, which if you have not got a separate charger also doubles as a charger when connected to the PC/Laptop. My iPod nano was black, since I love black, and black looks extremely sexy on the iPod Nano.

On the iPod Nano you have games, you can store up to 1.8 GB (On a 2 GB iPod Nano) of photos plus music plus contacts plus notes. There is a feature wherein you can lock the screen. The screen will open, either if you give the right combination or when you connect your iPod through your USB cable to the first PC you ever connected your iPod to. The interface is very easy you can prepare play lists on the iPod itself. For putting songs into the iPod, you first hook your iPod via USB cable to the PC. If this is the first time, make sure you have installed iTunes, then simply drag and drop your songs on the iPod icon in the left pane of iTunes.

Alternatively you can go for automatic management of music. Meaning that you maintain a library in iTunes, and if there are some songs that are there in the Library that are missing on the iPod it will automatically add them, subject to the space available on the iPod. The catch however is that if you have some songs on the iPod which are not there in the library, iTunes will delete those songs from your iPod. So it is better to go for the option of Manually Managing Music, especially if you are adding your songs from your friend’s computer.

The iPod does not come with a charger but I recommend that you buy one. You will need it, because you might not always have a computer in sight, but you will definitely find a power socket. You can buy one of those chargers not made by apple. It should come for around Rs. 500 – Rs. 800.

*The Good

*The music quality is quite good, I love the interface and the automatically created play lists like the 25 Most Played, Recently Added Files, 90’s Music are all quite helpful. The songs are all classified either according to the album, artist or genre. Alternatively you can browse through all the songs. You can also save notepad files on your iPod which you can read (if you can read extremly tiny font size..). You can also save your photos run a slideshow with it too. Unlike a CD Player the iPod does not have any moving parts, so you will not experience any skips while jogging or exercising, as you would in a Portable CD player. All in all the iPod is quite a handy device and now if you have any friends going abroad you can get yourself an iPod Nano for as much as Rs. 5, 600. I love this little gadget; it satisfies all my music needs.

*The Bad and the Ugly!

*1. Very delicate. You sit on it by mistake and you could end up screwing up your iPod’s screen. Your iPod screen will not be repaired, and your iPod will not be replaced, if you are very luck perhaps you can get it through the apple guys, but I remember reading an article that said Apple has shut shop in India, so I don’t know if that’s possible anymore.

1. Global warranty is not accepted in India in any case. So if you have bought it from outside and it gets spoilt you will have to get it repaired outside, preferably the country you bought it from in the first place.

   
   




2. Also the earphones tend to get spoilt with usage. But if you are careful enough they will run for a long, long time.

   
   




3. Batteries for the iPod cost Rs. 1, 000.

   
   




4. There is no equalizer in the iPod. Be careful not to put large files on the iPod as it eats up a lot of battery life.

   
   




5. KEEP IT THE HELL AWAY FROM WATER!! Do not take it along, even inside your bag when it is raining! Your battery and screen both will get screwed.

   
   




6. Also no charger is provided along with the iPod, you have to buy your own, if you buy Apple's own charger, its around Rs. 1, 500. But there are cheaper alternatives, which come anywhere from Rs. 500 to Rs. 800. As I have already explained you do need a seperate charger.

   
   

All in all if you are a music lover you might consider buying this.

But you are a heavy or a rough user than you might consider other options. Let me assure you music quality is excellent. Its just that it’s a bit delicate. But all in all just be a little careful and this baby promises to give you the treat of your life. The apple iPod Nano is definitely worth even Rs. 9, 000 since that would be the minimum price for it in India. If you are buying here of course make sure you buy with warranty. Will help if anything goes wrong with your iPod, screen, battery, hard disk whatever. Not that anything has gone wrong, but you never know.

All in all enjoy this little piece of hardware, the APPLE of my eye… ;)