Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation) [Previous Model]
by Apple Computer
![Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation) [Previous Model]](/images/Apple-iPod-nano-8-GB-Black-4th-Generation-Previous-Model-B001FA1NCI-L.jpg)
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Our Price: $238.98 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $64.99 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation) [Previous Model]
Customer Review: I Love The Ipod Nano 4th Generation!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have an Iphone 3g, a fantastic piece of technology, but I prefer to use a standard Ipod as my primary music player. I have been using my 5 year old 20gb 4th generation ipod for that purpose until the hard drive recently fizzled. The technology in ipods has changed a lot in the last five years so I decided to get a new 16gb 4th Gen Nano to replace my old 20gb clunker. The 16gb is plenty big enough since I only used 7gb of the 20gb I had before.
The Nano is great. It's thin, light (barely feel it in my pocket), sharp color screen, and it looks really cool. It plays video (although I will probably never use that feature). It has a shake to shuffle feature that shuffles the entire music list on your Nano.
I got the black and it looks great. The menu selections, click wheel and volume controls work the same as my old ipod with added features like maximum volume control. It plays many hours of great music and the battery life is decent so far.
The Bad:
Unfortunately, the new Nano is not totally compatible with my old ipod accessories (nor is my Iphone), and that includes my car stereo and my portable speakers. As previous reviewers have said, it will play but not charge and worse yet it does seem to suck battery juice at a faster rate playing through the dock connector. This is a very big disappointment however five years in computer tech is a very long time and considering how much more advanced these ipods and iphones are it may not be so unreasonable that they don't play nice with ancient technology.
Also I don't like that the headphone jack is on the bottom of the Nano right next to the dock connector. The reason is that if you wanted to plug in an extra backup battery (which I have) you can't plug in your headphones.
I don't understand the shake to shuffle feature. It shuffles you right out of the playlist you are listening to and it only works while the screen is lit up and active. If you have to press the touch pad to activate the shake to shuffle you might as well click forward to the next song.
Conclusion:
So why do I give the small, light, cool looking, great sounding, little Nano five stars even though my old accessories are not compatible? Well, the Nano is a beautiful piece of technology that makes my old ipod look bulky, heavy, fragile and expensive dinosaur in comparison. It seems logical that anything designed to work with that dinosaur is probably outdated too. In other words incompatibility is the price of moving forward.
PS: Since writing this review I found out that you can buy an adapter that will allow the Nano to work with the car stereo and hopefully my portable speakers. I ordered it from Amazon.com and can't wait to see my old accessories live again. Type "IFWA" in the amazon search window to find this adapter. It is made by Scosche but you won't find it searching that name.
Customer Review: Apple's iPods always excel
Summary: 4 Stars
After trying another little mp3 player from a different company, I bit the bullet and got the black 4th generation iPod nano, which was on clearance at a department store. I wasn't keen on getting the newest 5th generation, as I don't need to record video, I don't really listen to the radio, and though the pedometer is a clever little feature on the newest iPod nano, I can't see myself ever paying that much attention to it. So, the previous 4th generation version was perfect for me.
First impression, right out of the box: Holy crap, this thing is TINY! And thin as all get out. It feels/looks to me as though if you're a tiny bit too rough with it, it'll snap in half. I'd recommend some sort of silicon, or, better yet, hard case to go with it. This way if you are less than extremely gentle, your iPod will be protected. A screen protector would do well also to keep your screen from getting scratched, if you go with a silicon case. As many reviews have already stated, dump the proprietary Apple earbuds that come with your iPod and go with your favorite, better earphones. (Make sure they are compatible, of course.) The sound is crystal clear and very, very nice - best I've heard from the iPod line so far. The graphics and color on the iPod are also amazing; I was happy with the ability to increase the font size on the display, which is good for perhaps older folks with limited eyesight. I can't comment on photo quality as I don't have any stored on my iPod yet, but, as far as movies go - VERY nice. The picture quality is once again crystal clear, audio quality is amazing. The only drawback I see is that the screen is small so I wouldn't recommend watching a lot of movies or tv shows on your iPod, but as a good time-filler or a distraction for the kids on a long car or plane ride... go for it.
A lot has been said about the quality of the iTunes software or folks not wanting to be locked into a specific program to manage your music... fact is, you're not locked in. Use Google and I bet you can find 1 or 2 alternate programs other than iTunes that you can use to manage your music. I'm not using iTunes ;) I've also seen complaints about how the iPod Nano 4th Generation is difficult to use without more information than the little insert provided by Apple; again, Google is your friend. If you don't know how to do something, Google it, and the answer will pop right up. I've had to do that once or twice for minor questions, and I found the answer each time. Plus Apple's website has an 80-page manual for the 4th gen which will surely answer most of what you need to know.
All in all, I'm very pleased with this little player, and I think others will be too. Call me an elitist, but if you're looking for a player that's easy to use, has great sound, and is made well, Apple's iPods are top of the line.
Customer Review: Overpriced, can't use with non-ipod speakers etc...go for the Sony Walkman MP3 instead.
Summary: 3 Stars
I got this Ipod for my husband for Fathers day..and the Sony Walkman MP3 for myself last year. If you are struggling with the price on Ipod...let me share my reviews on both:
First, I got the Sony Walkman MP3 for myself and love it!! It's so easy to use, clear hard cases available rather than creepy rubber skins, it's slim but not too slim, a very big screen, easy to connect and load songs. I never even read the (disk) manual that came with it.
Then I got my husband an actual Ipod. I don't know what I was thinking. I just thought I'd go 'more expensive, top of the line' for Father's Day. Well, I wish I had gotten him the same Walkman and here is why...
First, the ipod is WAY more expensive. (I got him the set, Ipod with cords, crummy small speaker, rubber skins included from Walmart package)
Next, in the short run, the worst part about the Ipod for me is it only works with other Ipod stuff!!! He has a cord to listen to his Ipod in the car...but mine wont connect to that cord. Only Ipods connect with Ipod cords. Also, I can't use his speakers...same connection problem.
Then the real, long term issues...it's NO BETTER as far as sound.
The Walkman has a BIG screen with very easy to maneuver controls. The Ipod has that annoying wheel thing, which I don't care for.
Also, the Ipod took us nearly two hours to connect to the pc, navigate the pages and Ipod website...and get to where we could finally load songs. It took us even longer to delete the junk songs that automatically comes with the Ipod. THEN when we deleted the songs from our pc...get this...IT DELETES ALL THE SONGS FROM YOUR IPOD!!!! No kidding, look it up on yahoo answers..a real pain in the katookus! Both of these progblems are discussed over and over...this is not a user friendly item as far as plug and play.
Lastly, I connected my Sony Walkman and figured out how to do everything I needed to with no directions and within moments. For the Ipod we had to read how to 'eject' it from the computer before disconnecting it. With the Walkman, I just unplug it from the pc/cord when I'm done...everything is fine. I can load songs into my Walkman, then delete them from my PC and THEY STAY ON MY WALKMAN until I choose to delete one or all of them. Also, the walkman feels more solid and less cheap than the Ipod as well. And anything that says "works with almost any mp3' will work with the Walkman, because of the connection openings...but with Ipod..you must look for 'works with Ipod."
Trust me, go with the Sony Walkman. This particular one is a bit bigger than the one I got my niece..she got the smaller Walkman version they sell at Walmart currently. Other than that they are both about the same...get either.
LOVE my Walkman, thanks Sony!
Customer Review: Good improvement but not perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
To start, I owned one of the 2nd generation ipod nano, not the smaller 3rd generation square version. So with the newest one I really enjoy the larger screen, the close to full screen cover art, the cover art on the older version was much too small to make out much detail. There are many upgrades to the software of the newest nano that makes it much easier to navagate through individual songs, albums and bands or groups. There are mant of the original features, on-the-go, most played, top rated. The games that are already on nano are much more elaborate and colorful. Now the bad parts. The battery doesn't hold it's change as long, or that what it seems to me. While the sceen is on, just the sceen within a minute or less the battery meter starts to move, it get worse if you are scrolling through using the cover flow feature or just skipping through songs. There is a power saver setting but that only kicks in when you are not actively using the pod. The new "genius" feature is okay, but it doesn't work on all songs, the songs it selects can be a bit strange and or confusing. The last thing is that it is oval, not flat like the 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation, which at first was not a problem to me. Then as I used it in my car, which as only a auxilary channel and not a UBS connection, that the trouble with the oval design became apparent. As I connet my ipod to my car's sound system with a mini jack cord I also connect it a USB adapter to charge it while driving to work or other places. Because of the new design I could not plug both into the ipod because of the proximity of the two input cavaities. So for a week I used my ipod but could not charge while driving. Finally, I was able to locate another mini jack cord that is much skinner than the first cord I had purchased and used with my older nano, which did not interfere with with UBS. Good improvment on the original but not perfect.
*This is an update to what I wrote previously, there is a software update available for the i-Pod nano 4th gen. This update will reconfigure the cover flow feature so it doesn't kick in when you are listening to music on you i-Pod and turn it on it's side. What it does is made the cover flow a completely seperate settle that you can choose to use(or not)at your own leisure. No more annoying shifting back and forth while using your i-Pod. Last thing to remember is that you can set up your i-Pod the way you want it to be, it just takes a little time and alot of patience especially if you deciede to download and print out the manual from on-line, easier to just fool arouind with the settings and go from there.
Customer Review: Cheap-Cheap-Cheap...Did I say Cheap!
Summary: 2 Stars
After my very well made IPOD Classic 30 GB hit the floor and died, I decided to downsize (who really needs 30 GB to thumb through). I was impressed with the Samsung and almost ditched the Ipod completely since I no longer buy from Itunes (one too many agreements to read). I finally bought a NANO on impulse because it was pretty and I fully expected Apple quality.
Pretty is as pretty does. From the get go it was obvious that the docking port on this lighter than air unit was flimsy and would not last long. The first few times I docked it to my computer, it worked. After that it worked after being removed and plugged in again several times. Now I get a "restore" command almost every time and yesterday it froze in connected mode and I had to let the battery completely discharge before the image would disappear.
The next morning I rebooted my system and plugged in the Nano. Windows failed to recognize it and Windows declared it broken! I left it connected and opened ITunes. Nothing happened. Much later I noticed the IPOD screen had appeared. The system didn't appear to know anything about it, no name, size or other information but at least Itunes now knew it was there. I told ITUNES to restore it and it completely froze Itunes and my laptop. Now the "plugged in" symbol is still on the face of it though it no longer lights up. The thing appears to have died completely and is trying to take my laptop with it.
I looked around the net and found that this is NOT unusual. Lots of people are having that happen and this unit hasn't been dropped or abused in any way (though at this point its tempting to give it one good heave!!). I have an appointment (no you can't talk to a real person) at an Apple store 45 miles away on Saturday. I'll report back after their Apple Genius looks at it. Hopefully this Genius will retire it and give me another...not that I have great hopes of that working for long (given what I've been reading).
I paid exactly $149.99 for mine plus tax and added a plastic case which apparently could not protect if from itself. Remind me not to buy pretty things on impulse! Even at the new reduced price, it isn't worth it. It is no better than the other cheap MP3 players and you are probably better off buying your music from Amazon in true MP3 format and leaving the protected Apple format in the dust.
Cheap aluminum junk with an Apple logo...don't buy it.