Forget the rest and buy the best; forgetting about the voice command, this sleek beauty is HOT!

The addition of camera, video capture, FM, voice recorder makes this Nano 16GB SWEET!

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My wish list for improvements:

Once Apple allows us to use voice commands and includes built-in bluetooth then another HUGE wave of folks (that are “tech challenged” will LOVE to purchase these iPods!

The one in the Nano is excellent, and easy to tune. I’ve had a lot of small FM radios, going back to the old Walkman that was only small for its time. The FM radio in the iPod Nano is the best “small to tiny” FM radio I’ve ever had. [Much better than the Sansa Clip's, a player I keep around for WMA "only" content ]

Why have a radio in the Nano? I do like to pick up the headline news, and other NPR shows. Sometimes I just get tired of what I’ve put on the iPod myself, and enjoy scanning through the available FM stations just for something different.

I don’t find any use for the video recorder. I don’t find any personal use for the ability to record part of a radio show, and turned that option off as it seemed when I wanted to simply turn off the radio, I was recording.

This one is worthwhile because of the radio, and its 16GB capacity. I prefer the “form factor” of the older “FAT BOY” 8 GB. This new one has noticeably shorter battery life than the “FAT BOY.” Who says skinny is always best?

The iTunes EcoSystem is excellent. There are cheaper options, there may even be “fancier” options, there is no better option.

But if you are contemplating purchasing a 1G iPod Touch, you will be missing what the more recent generations have: a speaker and a microphone. Unless you have some very restricted uses anticiapted, i strongly recommend getting a later generation.

Additionally, there are a few things the iPhone has that the Touch line currently does not have (as of this writing):

- camera

- web connectivity even if wifi is not present (by using the cell system)

- gps

- magnetic compass

The last two items are generally needed if you want to play with the new “augmented reality” apps. And lots of mapping and location aware apps (e.g. where is a nearby pizza restaurant?) are disabled on the touches (though there are a few exceptions, e.g. Gaia GPS). However, the touch does triangulate locations based on wifi signals, so if you are in an area with decent wifi coverage, it can figure out where you are anyway (e.g. Paris or Santa Monica California).

Here is a trick for getting and receiving email when you are in a place where you don’t have a wifi account. Using the app WifiTrak, set the “Connect and Check” setting to ON. Then as you walk around the area, if it detects an open wifi connection, it will connect and check your email (even if in sleep mode). Then when you sit down for coffee or lunch somewhere, open up your touch, and you will see mail received and sent automatically while you were walking around.

As soon as they release iPod Touches with decent cameras (e.g. better than the nano cameras), I plan to upgrade. If that doesn’t happen, I will instead get an unlocked iphone, so that I don’t have to pay monthly service fees for it. But in the meantime, the touch is great and has been very useful to me.

First, the plus.

There are many improvements in the 7th generation comparing it to the 5th, although I think most of them were introduced with the 6th Gen. The whole Cover Flow/Genius capabilities are definetly an improvement to the previous software. The games are a nice bonus. I’ve only had it for three days, but I can already see that I like the new interface a lot more.

And the disk space, I mean, WOW! The ipod is basically the same size as my 30 Gb one, but it’s capacity is over 5 times bigger. I am an avid music fan, have tons of music, and my musical taste ranges from ambient to heavy metal, but I think it’s going to be a long time before I fill this one up. I think this is the best feature of this iPod, and by itself, the reason you should buy it.

There are also video capabilities, which have always been a plus, and some other stuff, but I didn’t see a major difference from the previous versions.

But then, why did I give it 4 stars? I wanted 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn’t let me do that.

Here are the cons.

First, as previous reviewers have stated, the sound quality seems to have downgraded from the 5th Gen iPod. The sound lacks depth, the songs sound more flat. I don’t mean to say that the sound is bad, because it still has a very good sound, and I’ve tested it with headphones, computer speakers and my car stereo. I’m just saying that the 5th Generation iPod sounds better, and the difference is quite noticeable.

The other thing, which might be just my iPod, because I didn’t see other reviewers mentioning it, is that the click wheel seems to be less sensitive/responsive than the 5th Generation one. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is annoying sometimes that you try so select a song or an option on the menu and the wheel doesn’t respond right away.

There’s also the fact that using Cover Flow seems to make the iPod proccess slower, but then again, loading the covers of literally thousands of records is not a quick task, and you can always not use Cover Flow, so I won’t hold this against the iPod.

To sum it all up. If you have a lot of music and want to carry it all with you; if 30, 60, 80 or 120 Gb is just not enough; if this is your first iPod purchase, or if you just really, really like the new interface and games (I know I did), then I highly reccomend it, and you won’t be dissapointed. To me this is definetly the best music player on the market. You will need to sit down and learn how to use iTunes, but when you do, you’re just going to love this little gadget.

However, if you have a 5th generation iPod that’s working just fine, and you prefer sound quality to disk space, you might not want to buy this one. Just try to be more more picky with the songs you put on it, I guess.

First, the plus.

There are many improvements in the 7th generation comparing it to the 5th, although I think most of them were introduced with the 6th Gen. The whole Cover Flow/Genius capabilities are definetly an improvement to the previous software. The games are a nice bonus. I’ve only had it for three days, but I can already see that I like the new interface a lot more.

And the disk space, I mean, WOW! The ipod is basically the same size as my 30 Gb one, but it’s capacity is over 5 times bigger. I am an avid music fan, have tons of music, and my musical taste ranges from ambient to heavy metal, but I think it’s going to be a long time before I fill this one up. I think this is the best feature of this iPod, and by itself, the reason you should buy it.

There are also video capabilities, which have always been a plus, and some other stuff, but I didn’t see a major difference from the previous versions.

But then, why did I give it 4 stars? I wanted 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn’t let me do that.

Here are the cons.

First, as previous reviewers have stated, the sound quality seems to have downgraded from the 5th Gen iPod. The sound lacks depth, the songs sound more flat. I don’t mean to say that the sound is bad, because it still has a very good sound, and I’ve tested it with headphones, computer speakers and my car stereo. I’m just saying that the 5th Generation iPod sounds better, and the difference is quite noticeable.

The other thing, which might be just my iPod, because I didn’t see other reviewers mentioning it, is that the click wheel seems to be less sensitive/responsive than the 5th Generation one. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is annoying sometimes that you try so select a song or an option on the menu and the wheel doesn’t respond right away.

There’s also the fact that using Cover Flow seems to make the iPod proccess slower, but then again, loading the covers of literally thousands of records is not a quick task, and you can always not use Cover Flow, so I won’t hold this against the iPod.

To sum it all up. If you have a lot of music and want to carry it all with you; if 30, 60, 80 or 120 Gb is just not enough; if this is your first iPod purchase, or if you just really, really like the new interface and games (I know I did), then I highly reccomend it, and you won’t be dissapointed. To me this is definetly the best music player on the market. You will need to sit down and learn how to use iTunes, but when you do, you’re just going to love this little gadget.

However, if you have a 5th generation iPod that’s working just fine, and you prefer sound quality to disk space, you might not want to buy this one. Just try to be more more picky with the songs you put on it, I guess.

Listening to and using the new Nano Gen5 now for several days, all I can say is “very impressive indeed”. I had to have one, but was highly dubious of all its bells and whistles, however the unit more than delivers.

The radio is FAR above expectations, really well done, damn well in fact. The video quality was far better than expected. And the unit is, well, microscopic.

Did you know this unit has a tiny speaker in it! Yes, you can play back songs, and video audio, and recordings to a small group! Apparently the speaker is lodged somewhere inside the docking port!

I havent seen a worthwhile gadget I “had to have” in nearly 6 years, but this baby takes the cake. Thats saying a lot from someone like me who hates most everything. Good ‘Job’ apple freakz!

The short battery life is something I expected of this generation, since they included video and a larger screen, which are both great pros for this iPod, and make the short battery life livable with.

However, taking away the compatibility to charge with non-Apple products is unnecessary and disrespectful to clients. I rarely plug in my iPod to the computer – I only do so when I have to add new music. I use my iPod mostly with other devices which have charging capabilities – like the Griffin RoadTrip, the JBL speakers and the iHome – none of which can charge my iPod, making it very inconvenient for me to recharge it, specially when the iPod dies in my car because RoadTrip can’t charge it and I’m forced to listen to the crappy radio. We already buy your damn ipods, which are essentially the same as every other goddamned mp3 player out there, but you force us to get rid of our now obsolete systems so we can buy your crap. Damn I do hope your market share goes way down.