iPod Nano with Video Camera

Yes, Apple updated iPods again. The Touch is faster with a larger capacity. The Classic is has more capacity. The Shuffle can be had in more colors and at a lower price/capacity. All pretty boring. The only iPod that cornered my attention this September is the Nano. Let's look at the 16gb version:

- Lower price. $179 down from $199.

- Video camera.

- Pedometer. Coordinates with Nike+ if you use it.

- Microphone. No headphone microphone required for voice notes.

- Speaker.

- FM radio with RDS and song tagging for later purchase (Zune ripoff) and 15 minute buffer (iPod original).

- Voice prompts (optional).

- Larger screen. Always a good idea.

- Polished colors. Yes, more fingerprint prone.

If all you do is the math, the new Nano is by far the best iPod value you can find today. Compare to the 4gb Shuffle at $79. Add $100 to get 4 times the capacity and all the features I listed above.

This Nano is nearly a miracle from Apple. FM radio? That was a "pigs fly" moment. Not only did it get a radio, but that 15 minute buffer makes it THE best FM radio out there at the moment. Of course it's not the first player to have an FM radio. It doesn't have FM recording capability. It doesn't have HD radio like the new Zune HD does. There are other players with these features if you need or want them.

In case I forgot to mention, the Nano also plays movies and music and podcasts, displays photos Contains a calendar, Contacts list, Notes display, 3 games, clocks, and a To Do list. It's also beautiful. I'll leave complaining about the camera lens placement to others. I'm skipping an audio quality comparison. No grades for individual apps.

Should you buy yourself a new Nano? There are dozens of other players that cost less money. There is nothing else on the market with this mix of hardware and features though, so YES. I bought the blue 16gb Nano, engraved. Last thing I needed. The only new iPod I wanted.

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wiREVO A100 Review. A Bluetooth Stereo Adapter for your iPod.

I'm a big fan of Bluetooth technology. When I see a good value on something I can use I find it hard to resist. There is not much to say about this little Bluetooth adapter except that it works well, is inexpensive, and will eliminate the wires from your iPod. Apple doesn't seem to know the value of Bluetooth, but fortunately a small investment will overcome that shortfall. The wiREVO A100 is small, but is a holdover from earlier iPod design trends. It works just fine with my iPod Touch and Nano, but isn't the most stylish compliment to either. At 3/8" thick by 1.o625" by 1.5625" and only 12 grams in weight, you'll notice but not feel much addition to your iPod.
The A100 has it's own lithium battery and will charge from your iPod cable. You can charge it alone or charge both the iPod and A100 at the same time. Pairing is easy. The first time it is plugged into an iPod it will go immediately into pairing mode with it's led flashing blue and red. I had a little more trouble pairing it a second time to a different device, but it just took more careful timing. Once connected your Bluetooth headset will have control over the iPod. You can toggle between Play and Pause, and also go forward or backward one track at a time. Your headset will have volume control as well. Instructions are complete and easy to understand. It was well packaged.

I found mine at Buy.com. No tax and free shipping kept the final price below $20. MSRP was originally $99. I'll just warn you that free shipping wasn't the default choice, so make sure you look for it when checking out.

Sound quality is great. I challenge anyone to tell the difference between this adapter's wireless audio and the same source through a cable to similar headphones. Signal strength is typical. I could walk about 40ft away from my iPod outdoors with no obstructions before the signal dropped out. Indoors this adapter is the same as all others I've tested. The number of walls and your orientation to the source device will affect the signal distance. When signal is lost there is a quiet break, and the audio resumes once you move back into range.

I recommend the wiREVO (wireless Revolution) A100. It's a tremendous value at $20. You won't be disappointed.

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5 Great Reasons to Pass on the New Nano.

The Apple iPod Nano 4th generation may have your attention. Let it go!

1. It is not the best value for the money.
2. iTunes.
3. No Radio.
4. Not available in White or Black.
5. Non expandable Memory

Value. Simple math. What features do you get for your money? What is each feature worth? One place to compare is between the new Nano and the Zune. Each sells for $149.99 in an 8gb version. The players are nearly the same size. For that money the Zune includes wifi and an FM radio with RDS. The Nano's only unique function is the accelerometer, which has some owners wishing it could be disabled. The Samsung T10 also has a Radio, and adds Bluetooth wireless headphone(s), Phone pairing, File sharing, and gameplay between players.

iTunes. Ok, iTunes itself isn't that bad. I have it. I like some of the features. What is bad is that it is my only choice with the Nano. My Samsung P2 or T10 can use their equivalent Emodio software, or Windows Media Player, or Media Monkey, etc. I can simply drag and drop media onto either within Windows Explorer. iTunes needs to pay attention to the competition. Have you seen the new ZUNE software? It is quickly becoming my favorite with MixView and the optional music subscription plan.

Radio. Apple seems to be afraid of putting a radio receiver in their iPods. Yet EVERY OTHER player I own has one built-in. With the Zune you can "Buy from FM". With my Samsung players I can record songs from the radio. A Radio in your pocket media player will keep you connected to the outside world. Those white ipod earbuds lock you in, shut you out.

Colors. This year's Nano comes in 9 colors. No white. No true black. Not a bad choice, but there's the trouble. Those nine colors are so great looking it becomes hard to pick just one. That is Apple's evil plan. You're SUPPOSED to want more than one, turning them into fashion accessories. Buy one to match each outfit or mood. Coordinate with your shoes. Buy MORE. The Zune comes in a few colors, but they are such that you're lucky if you like one of them. There is always the safe black though, except in a Nano. "Wait!", You proclaim. "The Nano comes in Black!" I thought so too until I bought one. The Nano's black is a pretender, easily spotted in lighter contrast to the truly black click-wheel.

Memory expansion. This is only a minor infraction given the new lower price of the 8gb and 16gb Nanos. Yet with an SDHC slot my 8gb Insignia Pilot has been expanded to 24gb. That 16gb SDHC card cost me $40.99, and with the $99 price of the Pilot leaves me with an amazing 24gb player for less than $150. The Pilot also has FM radio with recording, a microphone with voice recording, Bluetooth for wireless headphones, and more.

Sure, all your friends will have an iPod. What is also true is that they spent more money than they needed to for the few features they got.


Style, you say? Yes. Apple goes out of the way to make their players sexy and desirable. The new candy colors even appeal to your taste buds. They have to, since on a feature-by-feature comparison they don't compete well. The Samsung T10 oozes with style, and you can customize the interface to be unique to you.
You get the same size screen as the Nano, with an optional and entertaining animated interface. The controls are touch sensitive and disappear into the sleek smooth face of the T10. Even the 8gb Zune has some sex appeal. The touchpad is more efficient than the Nano's click wheel. The brushed aluminum back is a nice contrast to the conservative front. The Zune's 1.8" screen is a little smaller than the Nano's, but the Zune interface is easier to read (IMO).


My Point? More than eighty percent of the people who buy MP3 players buy an Apple product. I'm sure most never considered an alternative. We can't all be swayed by style over substance. Be a smarter shopper. Get your money's worth. Do NOT buy an iPod Nano.


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MP3 Player Sales Observations.

I've reviewed many players in this blog. I have my favorites. America has it's own. Curious about what people are actually buying I've stumbled across some interesting sites, and here are my observations:

CNET Shopper lists the 100 best selling players as far as it knows. It is not surprising to see the new iPod Nano appear 4 times in the top 8, with positions 1 (Silver 8gb), 5 (Silver 16gb), 6 (pink 16gb), and 8 (orange 8gb). The iPod Touch takes 2nd, 4th, and 10th with it's 8gb, 16gb, and 32gb variations.

A pleasant surprise is that the hard-drive based Zune models take 3rd (120gb), 9th (80gb), and 21st (30gb) position from the top 25 while the new ipod Classic 120gb model is 20th.

The Samsung T10 is 7th, and the top selling 4gb flash based player. The Samsung P2 8gb is 13th, and the second best touchscreen player behind the iPod Touch. It is the only other touchscreen player in the top 25.
For clip-on players, it does not surprise me to see Sansa Clips at 15th (red 2gb) and 24th (black 1gb), with no iPod Shuffle in the top 50.

Amazon.com's best seller list is nearly the same, except that it is updated hourly. In any given hour the new iPods will show up on top, with the new Zunes and Archos being in the runners up as hard drive based models, and the Samsung P2 sneaking in there in various colors and capacities as the runner-up touchscreen flash model.

Rather than compare sales, it is more interesting to compare players by ratings. In almost every case, the new iPods will not appear anywhere near the top of a "ratings" list. I'll agree that this phenomenon may be due to their popularity, with a higher number sold creating a large pool of reviews, and a greater likelihood that dissenting buyers will feel the need to review. Still, with several players getting 5-out-of-five stars, and the iPods always getting less, it points out that buyers don't buy iPods based on the reviews.

For flash memory based Touchscreens there appears to be only two major players. Amazon rates the year-old Samsung P2 second only to the new iPod Touch. Samsung's S3, a sexy little player that only has a touch sensitive control pad, ranks third among bestselling touchscreen players in the same poll.

There is no science expressed here. The lists/polls I've linked to will change over time. What sells and what is "best" are often different things. I am impressed that the rarely-advertised Samsung players appear so high so often. Owning both a P2 and a T10 I can see their value and compare them directly to my iPods and Zunes and other players. I can also understand why the Zune does well, particularly with it's latest 3.0 firmware update. The Zune software is great, and the players are more efficient to get around on than any iPod except the Touch.

What does it all mean? There are great alternatives to the Apple products. Some people get it. Fortunately for Apple most people don't.

What do YOU think? Leave me a comment.

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New iPod Nano Battles New Zune

Updates. OK, so the updates are here. Apple completely overhauled the iPod Nano, changing it's shape and updating it's software at the same time. Microsoft updated the Zune but as far as I can tell the new hardware looks the same as the old hardware. I picked up a black Nano 4th generation and a 3rd generation Zune, both 8gb versions. They appear to be the same length and width, but the Zune is a little thicker and a hair wider. The Nano's screen is also a little bit larger. The Zune sells for 99 cents more than the Nano. I installed the same music on each. Now it's time to see which is the best media player for the money. Nano Specifications HERE. Zune Specifications HERE.Looks. The Nano is clearly prettier. It has an anodized aluminum shell with a flat elliptical cross section. The Zune has an aluminum back and a plastic front. It remains a little brick. The weight difference between them is evident, yet barely of consequence in the hand.Both players play Music, Videos, and Photos. The Nano adds text files as Notes. You can't create them on the Nano, but you can read them. Both players have games. The Nano comes with three, and the Zune comes with two. There are more for each which can be downloaded and installed through their respective desktop software.

Shake! Here is where hardware starts to differ. The Nano has the same accelerometer in it as the iPhone and iPod Touch. It comes into play with music where tilting the Nano switches to cover flow and back. One of the included games uses it. Photos can be rotated to fill the screen by simply rotating the Nano. Lastly you can enable a shake of the Nano to advance the music app to the next song.
FM. The Zune has FM Radio including RDS data display. You can auto-seek or manually scan for stations. Stations can be saved as presets. Radio is incredibly useful, particularly in severe weather conditions. You get local news, sports and weather, and depending on what stations are within range you may have access to dozens of genres of free music to enjoy. Why Apple resists putting FM Radio in it's iPods is a mystery to me. The Zune 3.0 firmware goes one step farther with radio. Keep reading.

WIFI. The Zune has wifi, and with the 3.0 firmware takes more advantage of it than ever before. You can send a song or photo to any other Zune you're within wireless range of. I have to confess I've had my 80gb Zune for several months and haven't bumped into another Zune owner. With the 8gb Zune I can now verify that media sharing does work. Music transferred this way will play for three days before deleting itself. Four apps take advantage of the Zunes wifi. Marketplace is much the same as the iTunes store is on the iPhone. You can browse, sample, purchase and download songs directly over wifi. Social also uses wifi to find and connect you to other Zunes. The FM radio player now has an "Add to Cart" option. If a song has RDS data with it you can add it to your cart. If within wifi range the song you've tagged will download automatically. Lastly, the Zune can sync wirelessly with your PC once you've set it up.

UI. User interfaces are almost identical. Both players have a touch sensitive center controller. The Zune adds a Back/Home and a Pause/Play button. The Nano and other iPods are famous for their click wheel, but I found the Zune touchpad to be more sensitive and simpler to use than the Nano's wheel. You've got to run your finger in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion to move about the Nano's menus or volume control. The Zune pad is more intuitive with an up stroke moving you up a menu and a down stroke moving you down. Left and right also do the obvious moving you backward and forward through files or across categories to sort in the music player. The Nano gets a little more obvious with a dedicated Menu/Back and forward/back button zones on the wheel, but travelling up and down using the click wheel is more complicated. I recommend the Zune for ease of use.

Extras. The Nano comes with an Extras menu option. It includes alarms and a sleep timer, Calendar(s) with To Do's, World Clock, Contacts, Notes, a Stopwatch, and a Screen Lock. The Zune is more about media and sharing. It's Social and Marketplace menu options connect you to friends and the Zune marketplace. There is a penalty for all the extras. The 8gb Zune only has 6.41gb of media space after all the firmware and games. The 8gb Nano does a little better with 7.4gb free. The Nano wins the Extras battle if it's array of extras is useful to you. You can't enter Contacts, ToDos or Notes directly on the Nano, so their usefulness is somewhat compromised.

Audio. I spent the day listening to both players. The Nano has a crossfade feature that the Zune doesn't. Both have gapless playback. Sound quality using the same Sennheiser HD595 headphones was equally pleasing. The Zune Marketplace option opens up broader exposier to music within the player itself. The Nano offers Genius Playlists. The Zune will also generate Autoplaylists, but not so easily on the player itself. I'm calling the music experience a wash between these two devices. Each has it's unique benefits, and each wishes it had features from the other.

Video. Movies look great on both players, despite the tiny screens. The Zune has low, medium, and bright screen settings. The Nano has a 15 step brightness slider for more subtle control. Audio is comparible. I can't determine if subtitles are available on either device. In the end I have to give the Nano a small victory in this category, even though the tiny screens would not be my first choice for movie enjoyment.

Photos. Both players will display photos on their screens. The small size makes it not the best justification for either device. Both can zoom and pan around a photo. Both can play slides with variable timing between images. Both have a nice transition between images in a show. This category is a tie.

Conclusion? While tempted by the extras offered on the Nano, I have to confess I prefer the Zune. FM and Wifi, along with the more direct touchpad interface make the Zune a good deal more entertaining than the Nano. The Zune is not as cute, but both are easily pocketable. Yes, there will be more accessories for the Nano, but by not changing in two years the Zune can use existing cases while the accessory industry ramps up brand new cases for the completely new Nano. For the moment the 8gb Zune actually has more available cases than the Nano. Apple pushes me even farther toward the Zune with their policy of charging for firmware updates (iPod Touch) while Microsoft updated and improved my old Zune for free.

So what should you spend your $150 on? You'll get more life and more enjoyment out of a Zune.

Downloads:
Zune 3.0 Desktop Software
iTunes 8.0 for iPods.
Nano 4th Generation User Manual
Zune User Manual

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iHome 2Go Review

My wife got an 8 gigabyte iPod Nano for Christmas. Of course I added a $50 iTunes gift card, a belt-clip case, and an alarm clock/dock for it. She seems to enjoy waking up to music. I was so enamored of the dock/clock that I picked up an iHome 2Go for myself and my iPod Touch.

iHome 2Go
$79.99 at Target and comes with a nice padded vinyl case, an AC power adapter, an 1/8" stereo patch cord, and a few dock adapters for various ipod models. There was no adapter for my Touch, but the adapter that came with my Touch does work. Other adapters are available through an 800 number included in the literature. I am extremely dissappointed that the 2Go didn't come with a remote control. The box contained a "special" offer for the optional remote for "only" $19.99. I can get a great universal remote with learning ability for less. The markup on the remote for the 2Go is extortion. The 2Go itself only has simple controls for the ipod on it. You can play or pause and control the volume up or down. The remote would add mute, next and previous song, scan forward and back, and control over the snooze function and alarm reset of the 2Go itself. Speakers fold up to face forward and fold down flat to let the 2Go fit in it's portable case. The 2Go will run on 4 AA batteries, with an additional small watch cell to maintain the clock setting. Sound is pretty good, although the small speakers don't do bass frequencies at all. Packaging advertises an SRS sound feature. It can be activated with the remote control or by pressing a button on the right side of the unit. SRS adds a little depth to the sound, but the effect is more a gimic than a useful feature. Small speakers are small speakers. You get only what they are capable of. There is an audio/video output and an auxiliary audio input jack on the back. The A/V jack can be used for just audio output using the included patch cable, but a special cable will be required for outputting a Video iPod's video and audio to a TV. It also appears this iHome 2Go doesn't support my Touch's video output.

As an alarm clock the 2G0 has a seperate play/wake-up volume setting. You can have the music at a louder or softer level when waking up than you do when the 2Go is in sleep mode. It's not hard to set, although the buttons have more functions than they are labelled for. The user manual does provide fairly clear instructions. There is no radio or other option. If no iPod is attached the iHome 2Go will buzz like any ordinary alarm clock. Other media sources can be played through the auxiliary input, but not if an ipod is attached as the ipod uses the same amplifier channel.

I'll give the iHome 2Go a 7 out of 10 points. It loses 2 points for not including a remote control, and another point for not having onboard buttons for the functions available on the remote. The 2Go appears to come with the remote if you buy it from iHomeAudio.com. Of course it will be $20 more expensive. I suspect Target negotiated for a lower price and iHome responded by removing the remote control from the boxes Target sells.