In 2001, when Apple
introduced the iPod,
there was just one model—the only decision you had to
make was to iPod or not to iPod. But in the past four
years, the company has made things more complicated by
adding several members to the iPod family.
Apple currently offers
three versions of its diminutive music player—the iPod
shuffle, the iPod nano, and the color-screen iPod—at
prices ranging from $99 to $399. Which model will best
serve you? Well, I’ve had my hands on every iPod model
Apple has released—and here’s my advice on finding the
right iPod for you.
iPod
Not long ago, Apple
offered the fourth-generation iPod (a model with a
monochrome display) and a separate iPod photo (a model
that could not only play music but also display color
pictures on its screen, on a TV, or via a projector).
In June 2005, Apple brought color to all its full-size
iPods (including the iPod U2 Special Edition) and
dropped the word photo from the iPod photo’s name.
The change doesn’t mean
that the iPod has lost any of its photo-display
capabilities. As with the previous iPod photo, you can
use Apple’s $29 iPod Camera Connector accessory to
load pictures from a digital camera onto the new iPod
without having to first process them in iTunes.
(Normally, you need to load your pictures onto your
Mac, where iTunes processes them for iPod
compatibility, and then sync your iPod with your Mac.)
The new iPod can also take advantage of the Apple iPod
AV Cable (now a $19 accessory) to connect to a TV or a
projector.
While the new iPod offers
more storage than the iPod nano (capacities of 20GB or
60GB, versus the nano’s 2GB or 4GB), it takes an hour
and a half longer to fully charge (5 hours versus the
nano’s 3.5 hours). And because the iPod uses a hard
drive rather than solid-state flash memory, it’s
susceptible to skipping (though it offers 17 minutes
of skip protection). It does, however, offer greater
play time for both music and slide shows—15 hours of
continuous play for music and as long as 5 hours for
slide shows, versus the nano’s 14 hours for audio and
at least 4 hours for slide shows. And the iPod has all
the music and storage features turned on. Unlike the
nano and the shuffle, it lets you record voice memos
with a third-party recorder such as Griffin
Technology’s $40
iTalk or Belkin’s $35 Voice
Recorder for iPod with Dock Connector.
Capacity and Price
A 20GB (approximately 5,000 songs) iPod costs $299; a
60GB (approximately 15,000 songs) iPod, $399; and a
20GB U2 Special Edition (approximately 5,000 songs)
iPod, $329. Check out our reviews of the 20GB iPod
(
)
and 60GB iPod
(
).
Ideal Usage and User
If you’re looking for the ultimate in an iPod—a large
color screen, the ability to display pictures on a TV
or a projector, long play times, and enough storage
for a very large music library—you and the full-size
iPod are meant for each other.
iPod nano
When Apple introduced the
iPod nano, it killed off the much-beloved iPod
mini—and many people wondered why. It didn’t take
long, however, to understand that the nano was more
than just a more miniature mini—it was the next
logical step in the midpriced iPod line. Out went the
mini’s monochrome LCD and in came a color display
similar to the one on the larger iPod (though half an
inch smaller). Gone, too, was the mini’s hard drive,
replaced by 2GB or 4GB of flash memory. The mini was
cool, but the nano is a far cooler way to shove a
thousand tunes into a very tiny pocket.
The iPod nano has many of
the same features as the full-size iPod, but it also
suffers from some of the same limitations as the mini.
As mentioned earlier, like the minis, the iPod nano
doesn’t support voice recording and media storage via
third-party peripherals. And although the iPod nano
has a color screen, it doesn’t offer as many
picture-related features as the full-size iPod. For
example, you can use neither Apple’s iPod Camera
Connector nor a device such as Belkin’s $50 Media
Reader to load pictures onto a nano. Also, the nano
offers no support for viewing pictures on an attached
TV or projector—instead, you’re stuck watching slide
shows and viewing photos on the nano’s bright but tiny
display. And any accessories that depend on the iPod’s
Remote Control port—FM transmitters and remote
controls, for example—won’t work with the nano because
it lacks this port.
When you consider the
price-to-storage ratio, the nano isn’t as good a deal
as the iPod. Cost per megabyte for the $199 2GB iPod
nano is nearly 10 cents. And a megabyte on the $249
4GB nano costs just over six cents. Compare this with
about two cents per megabyte on a $299 20GB iPod, and
you’ll see that people who want the most storage for
their money may pass on the nano’s cool form and handy
size in favor of the higher-capacity iPod.
The nano’s flash memory
does offer some advantages. As I mentioned, flash
memory eliminates skipping. Because the nano has no
moving parts, it’s also more likely to survive a fall
than a full-size iPod. And since there’s no hard drive
to spin up, the nano is quite responsive—zipping
through a screen full of songs and easily dashing from
one photo to another.
Capacity and Price
A 2GB (approximately 500 songs) nano costs $199; a 4GB
(approximately 1,000 songs) nano, $249. See our review
of the iPod
nanos (both
).
Ideal Usage and User
The diminutive nano, with its white or black case, is
Apple’s most fashionable iPod. If you have a sense of
style and want to store a goodly number of songs on a
small, portable music player, the iPod nano may be
hard to resist. And unlike the shuffle, it offers a
display (with color, to boot) and the iPod’s signature
Click Wheel.
iPod shuffle
Apple’s least-expensive iPod offers a host of advantages: it’s affordable
enough to be an impulse buy; its sound quality is as
good as that of any other iPod; like the nano, it
never skips (it, too, has flash memory rather than a
hard drive); it’s highly portable; and it holds more
than enough music to get you through a long drive or a
marathon run (and with up to 12 hours of play time,
the battery will last longer than your playlist). It
doesn’t, however, include a screen for navigating to
specific songs. And its capacity is limited, so only
people with very small music collections will be able
to store an entire library on it.
Capacity and Price
A 512MB (approximately 120 songs) shuffle costs $99; a
1GB (approximately 240 songs) shuffle, $129. See our
review of the
iPod shuffles (both
).
Ideal Usage and User
The shuffle’s nonskip nature and minuscule size make
it the perfect companion for exercising. And it’s
easily inexpensive enough to become your second, “just
kickin’ around” iPod. It’s also a good choice for kids
(or adults) who tend to misplace their
valuables—losing a $99 shuffle is a lot easier to bear
than misplacing a $399 iPod.
[Contributing Editor
Christopher Breen is the author of Secrets of the
iPod and iTunes, fifth edition (Peachpit Press,
2005), and the editor in chief of
Playlistmag.com.]