Apple IPOD NANO (4.GEN.) > Reviews (5)

Remember those old iPods which died after a year? Well, it seems Apple has improved the planned obsolescence in our favour. I've packed mine with music and videos, while it has provided me with a reliable, stable device. I do have to watch battery life, but I've only run out twice in the many months I have owned the device.

The software in the device is relatively easy to use and quite stable, unlike previous incarnations of the iPod I have possessed which would crash or corrupt my music files. Certain features are quite annoying, such as when the software scrolls through albums when I want to change the volume as I am strolling through town. I presume that this "feature" is due to the iPod responding to the device's orientation. This can be useful. If you're watching a video and turn the device around 180 degrees, it can flip the image and compensate. As I seldom watch videos, I personally could do without this oft annoying feature, but I will not penalize it.

The circular scrolling mechanism otherwise has not failed me. Cheaper MP3 players often break down or cease to function when the scrolling/selection mechanism breaks down. Oh well. Despite being the bargain whore that I am, the Apple iPod is one of the products for which shelling out actually stands out as the "correct" choice. It's a false economy to pay £50 every 6 months for the knock-offs when £130 will do for 18+ months. Amortizing the cost, it's quite affordable.

Finally, I want to consider taste. I am a fan of traditional/folk music, so I add songs as I find them, which is to say, slowly. 8 GB of music represents years of collecting (as I also hunt for rare recordings, I consider it collecting). For someone who follows trends, this probably is nothing.