MacMost Now 449: iPod Nano 6th Generation

Take a look at the new iPod Nano. It features a touch screen and is smaller and lighter than the previous models. It also lacks many of the features of the previous Nano.
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Video Transcript: Hi this Gary with MacMost Now, on today's episode let's take a look at the new iPod Nano. So this is the sixth generation of the iPod Nano and it's a radical change from the fifth generation. The entire form factor is different, it's a smaller square device and the feature set is very different as well. Let's take a look.
Let's start by taking a look at the new features,and the biggest one of course is the touchscreen. Gone are the physical controls and the separate screen and it's all combined now in one touch screen. This has an app like interface so you tap on the icons to do various things like play songs or go to the FM radio, that kinda thing. But it's not iOS, it is just kind of this iPod operating system that is completely separate from the iPhone and iPod touch. It's very small and light, it's the tiniest iPod Nano, it's almost as small as the shuffle in fact at this point. And it's got a clip-on so you can clip it to your clothing. It'll be interesting to see if case manufacturers even bother to make a case for this because the clip on the back will make it difficult.
Let's look at existing features these are things that are on the fifth generation that are still there. One if FM radio, and not just regular FM radio, you can pause FM radio like you can with a DVR and basically skip forward past commercials if you've saved up enough time. It also shows song names and station names any data transmitted by the station. It's got the pedometer and it can also work with Nike+ accessories. You can sync your photos and view photos and photo slideshows on here, and also use adapters to output that to your TV sets. You also have your Genius playlists, they work on here, and you can also build your own playlists and a little bit better functionality than the previous On-The-Go building of playlists. You can actually visually see these now kinda like you can with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
So here are things that were on the fifth generation Nano and are no longer on the sixth generation. There's no video playback at all, you can't see any videos on the screen. Although things like podcasts that are videos do playback as audio. There's no video camera, some people loved it, some peopled hated it, I liked it. It was a nice standard definition camera on a really tiny device which made it really useful. That's completely gone and with it is the mic. That was not only used for videos but was also used for audio notes. You can still do audio recording with a set of earbuds that has a microphone though. Gone's also the speaker which I found very useful for listening to podcasts and other spoken word in quiet rooms. Gone is also the pretty neat search functionality that was on the previous Nano. And with the new one you get a very basic set of earbuds, so even though you can use things like volume controls, pause, and even the microphone on this Nano, the earbuds don't come with them, you'll have to buy a separate set of earbuds or use your old set if you still have them.
So the clock on the Nano is kinda interesting. You can set it to show the clock whenever it wakes up, so you can basically use it as a watch if you strap it on to your wrist. I don't see people doing that, I see people doing that on their backpack straps though. And even though this is really kind of a dumb feature, it turns out to be really interesting and useful, and it might be one of those little cool things that gets people to buy the new Nano.
I think if you look at what's missing from the 6th Generation new Nano and the new iPod Touch, I think it's pretty clear that the upgrade form the fifth generation Nano is to the iPod Touch, not to the sixth generation Nano. I think that's what Apple wants you to do. I mean it's not that much of a price jump from 149.99 to 229.99 to go to the iPod Touch, and you get everything, and the app store, and a whole lot more.
I don't see anyone going from the fifth generation Nano to the sixth generation Nano. Maybe if you have a much older one or a much older iPod or this is your first iPod, it would be a decent one. I think it's a neat device but the biggest problem is price. Pricing it at the same level as the much more capable as the previous Nano was a mistake. Maybe in the future Apple will drop the price but they haven't been doing that very much but it's possible that they could. I could see this being a really attractive device at around 99$, not at 149. So there's my look at the sixth generation iPod Nano, 'till next time, this is Gary with MacMost Now.
MacMost Now 449: iPod Nano 6th Generation

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