iPod Does anyone actually like the 6th Gen Nano?

pgewirtz · May 17, 2011

Hate the new nano

I hate the latest Nano and here's why. When I listen, I'm usually involved in other things that require my attention, and it's a pain to have to look at the iPod every time I want to skip a song, do a search, mess with the volume or any little thing like that. After so many years of using a click wheel, I know how to speed my way to shuffle, set it in advance to play an album I like once I tire of shuffle, and several other handy features. I can even do it while the iPod sits in my pocket. If I am listening in bed late at night, I don't want to look at the Nano in order to skip a song - which will cause my near slumber to be rudely disturbed by the screen light. If I use my iPhone, it also requires me to enter the passcode to do anything, including shut it off. And if I'm driving... well, forget it. I tried to use the iPod on my iPhone once in the car and quickly realized that was just a disaster in the making, so I went back to using the good old built-in Toyota radio.

I love my old click wheel Nano and the heavier Classic. I don't care that much about video on such a tiny screen, and the photos are just a nice bonus. What I really want is the same lovely little 4th gen 16 GB Nano I already have, but with quadruple the capacity! Then maybe I wouldn't have to settle for just my favorite songs from my music collection.

macingman · May 17, 2011

Simplicated said:
Is there really a 32GB iPod nano?

My mistake I meant 16GB, I swear when I wrote that post I thought my Nano had 32GB because I've put quite a bit of music onto it before. 16GB seems very low for the 1750 songs I can have on it at one time.

macingman · May 17, 2011

pgewirtz said:
it's a pain to have to look at the iPod every time I want to skip a song, do a search, mess with the volume or any little thing like that.

Have you heard of the headphone remote? Much easier then a click wheel. One press to pause, 2 to skip to next song, 3 to go back to last song.

pgewirtz · May 18, 2011

macingman said:
Have you heard of the headphone remote? Much easier then a click wheel. One press to pause, 2 to skip to next song, 3 to go back to last song.

Yes, I know about the headphone remote. It sounds like a reasonable solution at first, however, my headphones usually need to be replaced once a year, occasionally more. With that in mind, I don't want to be a hostage to Apple's more expensive, inferior sound quality headphones. As for driving, I listen through the car's speakers, so I would need an expensive car remote system.

The new touch screen Nano has its place, but so does the click wheel version. A lot of people love the button, and that's why the previous Shuffle (sans button) was not a big success. I hope that when Apple is ready to increase storage capacity, they bring the button back. It doesn't appear that physical size is a limiting factor anymore, so I can only assume that price is holding them back. If anyone from Apple management reads these forums - I, for one, would be willing to pay a little extra to get the previous style Nano back with added capacity, specifically 64 GB or higher.

MrXiro · May 18, 2011

pgewirtz said:
I hate the latest Nano and here's why. When I listen, I'm usually involved in other things that require my attention, and it's a pain to have to look at the iPod every time I want to skip a song, do a search, mess with the volume or any little thing like that. After so many years of using a click wheel, I know how to speed my way to shuffle, set it in advance to play an album I like once I tire of shuffle, and several other handy features. I can even do it while the iPod sits in my pocket. If I am listening in bed late at night, I don't want to look at the Nano in order to skip a song - which will cause my near slumber to be rudely disturbed by the screen light. If I use my iPhone, it also requires me to enter the passcode to do anything, including shut it off. And if I'm driving... well, forget it. I tried to use the iPod on my iPhone once in the car and quickly realized that was just a disaster in the making, so I went back to using the good old built-in Toyota radio.

I love my old click wheel Nano and the heavier Classic. I don't care that much about video on such a tiny screen, and the photos are just a nice bonus. What I really want is the same lovely little 4th gen 16 GB Nano I already have, but with quadruple the capacity! Then maybe I wouldn't have to settle for just my favorite songs from my music collection.

It sounds like your issues are with with the iOS touch screen controls. Which I agree are horrible for in car use... but the Nano actually has double tap of the power button for the next song and dedicated volume buttons. I preferred using the new Nano in my car over my iPod Touch. But yeah the clickwheel is much better in car in general though.

emaja · May 18, 2011

dmm219 said:
Sure...AFTER the firmware was updated to 1.1...for many months when it first came out, you could not turn it off. This feature was not added until Spring of this year...well over 6 months after it was released.

That is ridiculous. First complain about a missing feature, then after it is fixed, complain that it took them too long.

There are things to not like about the nano that actually matter. This is not one of them.

Personally, both the 5th and 6th gen have things that do not matter to me since I use it exclusively as a player in my car in the glovebox attached to my head unit. I don't need the camera of the 5th gen and don't care that the 6th gen is smaller, but I can see why that matters to some.

As to Apple deliberately crippling the nano to force people to buy a touch - of course they do. Offering different products for different purposes is smart business. No overlap of the iPod line like there was before.

MrXiro · May 19, 2011

emaja said:
That is ridiculous. First complain about a missing feature, then after it is fixed, complain that it took them too long.

There are things to not like about the nano that actually matter. This is not one of them.

Personally, both the 5th and 6th gen have things that do not matter to me since I use it exclusively as a player in my car in the glovebox attached to my head unit. I don't need the camera of the 5th gen and don't care that the 6th gen is smaller, but I can see why that matters to some.

As to Apple deliberately crippling the nano to force people to buy a touch - of course they do. Offering different products for different purposes is smart business. No overlap of the iPod line like there was before.

Agreed... people just like to bitch... even after a device has been fixed.
I miss my Nano...

dmm219 · May 20, 2011

emaja said:
That is ridiculous. First complain about a missing feature, then after it is fixed, complain that it took them too long.

There are things to not like about the nano that actually matter. This is not one of them.

Personally, both the 5th and 6th gen have things that do not matter to me since I use it exclusively as a player in my car in the glovebox attached to my head unit. I don't need the camera of the 5th gen and don't care that the 6th gen is smaller, but I can see why that matters to some.

As to Apple deliberately crippling the nano to force people to buy a touch - of course they do. Offering different products for different purposes is smart business. No overlap of the iPod line like there was before.

WTF are you talking about?? Can you not read?

I never complained about it. I said is was a reason I did not buy the nano when it came out, once it was fixed, I bought it and I'm happy with it.

This is why people hate these boards...too many a-hats here...

emaja · May 20, 2011

dmm219 said:
WTF are you talking about?? Can you not read?

I never complained about it. I said is was a reason I did not buy the nano when it came out, once it was fixed, I bought it and I'm happy with it.

This is why people hate these boards...too many a-hats here...

No need to be uncivil and call people names.

dmm219 said:
The biggest problem was the almost year people had to deal with poor battery life because you couldn't turn the thing off. Apple took WAY too long to fix that blatant screw up.

As of today tho, I like it.

I quoted you clearly making the complaint that I addressed. I never said you didn't buy one or like it. I merely pointed out that there was a problem that people didn't like, then it was fixed and people complained about the fix or that it took too long.

It's not personal. Lighten up Francis.

DOMCHO101 · May 21, 2011

Scuby said:
My only complaint is the clip. Given i'd mostly put it in a pocket rather than clip it onto a belt or anything, the clip pretty much doubles the thickness without providing any benefit. A removable clip would be ideal.

David

Problem solved: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iPod-Nano-6th-Generation-Clip/3605/1

Ungibbed · May 29, 2011

dmm219 said:
Sure...AFTER the firmware was updated to 1.1...for many months when it first came out, you could not turn it off. This feature was not added until Spring of this year...well over 6 months after it was released.

Hmm. I never knew about this issue, mine must have shipped with the 1.1 firmware out of the box.

I only bought it a couple weeks ago now from this date and bought it from Apple online. The more I use it the more I notice it's benefits despite some lost features from the previous generation.

I had a 4th generation 16GB nano which was showing it's age, Despite it's ability to play videos, the screen was so small, it hurt my eyes just to watch it, even my BlackBerry outclassed it in both size and resolution...

Both models can display photos but I didn't care using either for viewing or showing photos as they were the size of a postage stamp on both. Sure the 4th gen had a true 4x3 screen which was ideal for most pictures.

I mainly used my old Nano for listening on the road both audiobooks and music and perhaps the only thing is I can't have my Strongbad Trogdor video for laughs on the 6G but it's a small loss to me. The huge gain is half the size, same amount of memory so I didn't have to fiddle with my playlists (bought a 16GB of course) and the best part about it all is that it has yet to take a trip onto my tile floor thanks to the much hated clip.

When I don't feel like goofing off with my iPod Touch and just feel like listening to my audiobooks, Audible support is there for my older books I didn't buy from iTunes and a surprise feature I liked was the text to speech feature when using my iPhone 3GS headset with it.

Sure I do wish it had a camera like the 5th generation, as it seemed like a handy tool for quick clips for iMovie or Youtube but I was annoyed the 5th gen could not capture stills, only video.

Guess you can't please everyone.

MrXiro · Jun 5, 2011

Ungibbed said:
Hmm. I never knew about this issue, mine must have shipped with the 1.1 firmware out of the box.

I only bought it a couple weeks ago now from this date and bought it from Apple online. The more I use it the more I notice it's benefits despite some lost features from the previous generation.

I had a 4th generation 16GB nano which was showing it's age, Despite it's ability to play videos, the screen was so small, it hurt my eyes just to watch it, even my BlackBerry outclassed it in both size and resolution...

Both models can display photos but I didn't care using either for viewing or showing photos as they were the size of a postage stamp on both. Sure the 4th gen had a true 4x3 screen which was ideal for most pictures.

I mainly used my old Nano for listening on the road both audiobooks and music and perhaps the only thing is I can't have my Strongbad Trogdor video for laughs on the 6G but it's a small loss to me. The huge gain is half the size, same amount of memory so I didn't have to fiddle with my playlists (bought a 16GB of course) and the best part about it all is that it has yet to take a trip onto my tile floor thanks to the much hated clip.

When I don't feel like goofing off with my iPod Touch and just feel like listening to my audiobooks, Audible support is there for my older books I didn't buy from iTunes and a surprise feature I liked was the text to speech feature when using my iPhone 3GS headset with it.

Sure I do wish it had a camera like the 5th generation, as it seemed like a handy tool for quick clips for iMovie or Youtube but I was annoyed the 5th gen could not capture stills, only video.

Guess you can't please everyone.

I love using it for pirated Howard Stern Show broadcasts... but that said... I could do the same with any iPod... It was just nice to have one so tiny and the ability to navigate.

iEvolution · Jun 5, 2011

I like the nano if I want to listen to my favorite songs but due to the capacity constraints the iPod Classic is still my favorite.

If it was 32GB, I'd love it as a primary player but 16GB just doesn't give me enough breathing room to add songs I haven't rated yet.

As far as the turning off thing goes mine ran fine with firmware 1.0 and its not a new concept that you couldn't turn an iPod off. The iPod Classic (+ previous generations) and all previous generations of the nano couldn't be turned off either.

h1r0ll3r · Jun 6, 2011

It's grown on me. Initially I thought it was really slick looking and OOOOOOOOOOHHHH a touch screen. After using it for a lil bit, it' was very nice, very compact however the touchscreen doesn't work well with something that's so tiny. It took me a my pudgy fingers a while to get used to the new functionality of the nano and, in time, I got used to it. I neither love nor loathe this thing but I'm pretty content with it now. What I'd really LOVE to see is the 3rd gen nano with a touch screen. THAT, I'd buy in a heart beat.

Menge · Jun 6, 2011

I love my 8GB iPod Nano! It's great for jogging since it weights near to nothing and has a nice Pedometer!

I couldn't care less for playing videos on such a small thing or even taking pictures. It's a great MP3 player!

rgarjr · Jun 8, 2011

Would be nice if apple would take advantage of the touch screen and come out with gestures like swipe left to go to next track while the screen is off.

pagansoul · Jun 8, 2011

I think all of them are interesting but I have only purchased a Gen 5.

PinkyMacGodess · Jun 8, 2011

I have stayed away from the new Nano because of the screen. I couldn't care less if it has a camera or not, I want something that is consistently easy to use.

I have a collection of Touch's, Nano's and even Shuffles. I do love the 'stick' shuffle with no controls on it because it's simple and I can ski with it and not be afraid of it freezing and/or losing battery life because it gets cold.

But I'm still not sold on the new Nano. I will keep my older square pre-rectangular/curved glass Nano as long as I can. The radio feature is a non-seller for me because I use the iPod BECAUSE of the radio stations around here. I'm not going to get a glorified 'Walkman' with a radio because I'd never use it.

BTW, I thought that the 6th Nano had a pedometer and Nike+ built in? No?

LizKat · Jun 8, 2011

I like that nano because it and its earbuds together take up so little room in my purse as a solution to the "Damn, I forgot to bring my iPhone / iPod touch" problem. They're in a little quilted case smaller than an Altoids tin.

So I keep a few playlists of the month on there, maybe a couple albums purchased around the time I last sync'd it. It's just a fallback for me, but it has come in handy more than a few times. The clock is charming.

Sometimes I leave the nano in the kitchen's speakerdock for a couple days after I've charged it up again. I generally prefer to have old TV shows to watch while I wait for something or other to boil, so I usually have an iPod Classic docked in the kitchen for that purpose. But that tiny little square nano looks so cool sitting there belting out jazz or rock. It makes me smile even on rainy days. Mine is orange!

SactoGuy18 · Jun 9, 2011

I almost bought a 6G iPod nano 16 GB last fall, but since at where I work they allow me to listen to an iPod, I needed something with a lot longer battery life per charge. That's why I have a 4G iPod touch (32 GB).

Bye Bye Baby · Jun 9, 2011

the 6th gen nano blows chunks

emaja · Jun 9, 2011

Bye Bye Baby said:
the 6th gen nano blows chunks

Now THAT would be a feature

Seriously, it does what it was designed to do - play music. How bad can it be?

Padraig · Jun 10, 2011

iEvolution said:
As far as the turning off thing goes mine ran fine with firmware 1.0 and its not a new concept that you couldn't turn an iPod off. The iPod Classic (+ previous generations) and all previous generations of the nano couldn't be turned off either.

kppolich · Jun 10, 2011

new firmware lets you turn it off. i love mine and my iwatchz band. light, functional, and decent battery life, could be better.

ESPN · Jun 12, 2011

No. it was too bad they took away the clickwheel function but people buy ipodtouches now anyway

iPod Does anyone actually like the 6th Gen Nano?

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