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iPod nano vs. video

barnacle

barnacle

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2006
109
0
maya beach, belize
so,, despite the trouble i have had with apple lately, i still love my ipod,, cause it works! i want to set my wife up as well. zune and the others are out of the question, but my question is this: why should i pay almost the same price for a 6g nano as the 30g video? sure, she won't use all 30g, but whats the deal here? i must be missing something?
since they are the same price,, i'll get the 30 and call it good.
 
The nano is 8GB, not 6GB, it costs the same as a 30GB iPod because you are paying for the physical size. Flash memory, used in the nano and shuffle is a lot more expensive than a hard drive per GB. Flash memory is also better in every way, apart from cost, amount of storage, and amount of rewrites.
 
A hard drive consists of a spinning magnetic platter and a moving head, sort of like an old record player. Even though the iPod hard drives are protected from skipping, it is not the best choice for sustained movement and vibration, such as exercise. Flash on the other hand is a completely solid state chip, no moving parts. It will withstand much more jostling than a mechanical hard drive. As a result, the nano is much better for exercising and has longer battery life while being much smaller than the iPod.
 
barnacle said:
so,, the flash drive, not being a hard drive, will be more durable?
Click to expand...

There are no moving parts so yes, it will be. If you're going to be going jogging then the Nano would be better, and if it's going to be bashed around then the Nano would be better. But there's obviously the issue with the cost and the smaller file capacity.

jack
 
The fact that the 30 gb video costs just as much as the 8gb nano is nothing more than Apple or any other company deciding that the consumers need to make a choice and for those who cannot choose (me) the decision to buy both is entirely up to them and their wallets.

The 30 gb video is great if you want the storage space for things like photos, videos and music. While the nano stores music and photos the screen size is sort of silly to view photos. regardless, the nano is going to outlast the video when it comes to running and such. I have the 60 gb video and I love it. I take that one on planes and such. That one also goes to work with me and what not. However, the nano, which I just got as a gift was bought for the sole purpose of the gym. I do have a shuffle, but it will not take the nike sport kit and I wanted that really bad.

If your wife is going to toss the thing in her purse and just use it on occasion I'd go with the nano. Hands down it will outlast her latest purse. ;)
 
jessica,, i just saw your post and that brought up another question. did the US ever make a ruling about ipods on flights? i think i heard they did for awhile anyway in UK?
she does fly some, jog, no, fly, yes.
 
I can't think that iPods would be any different to any other electrical kit on flights, in that you have to have them switched off during take off and landing but you're free to use them the rest of the time.

jack
 
i know, logical thinking and all. but with the way they are thinking i could make a detinator from my ipod battery,, in-between those 5 dollar beers!
but didn't they ban them in UK after that last deal there?
 
Aaaah, I understand what you mean. I'm pretty sure they've relaxed the rules allowing ipods now. I'll do some investigating to find out for certain for you though...

EDIT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4789907.stm says that iPods are allowed on flights from that one airport, and I've found references to MP3 players being allowed on flights. I think regulations are back to what they were before this summer's scares.

jack
 
Also take in the scratch/durability/coolness factor.


Guaranteed, the "video" iPod will have 50 scratches on the first day.
As the nano, zero scratches on mine after 2 months of use by me, a 14 year old kid.
The nano is also much smaller and girl jean pocket friendly than a 30 gig.
I know that from experience. :p

Go with the nano and be happy.

EDIT- Also, 14 hour battery (video) and 24 hour battery(nano).
 
Just because it has a spinning hard disk, doesn't mean that the iPods with disks are not for working out.

The ipod (first model up) has a large memory buffer that stores the music you are actively listening to. The music never plays directly off the disk, it is playing from memory. All ipods are designed for people living active lives, and for working out. I just finished a run, all while listening to music on my 5th gen 30gb iPod. I have yet to have that, or my 3rd gen 15gb iPod skip while playing back a song.

If they didn't do this well, they would never have gotten popular, and wouldn't have the market-share they currently have!
 
nitynate said:
Go with the nano and be happy.
Click to expand...

Not for everyone though! The different iPods are aiming at different people. I've gone for the 80gb video because at the moment I've got about 43gb of stuff I want to put on it, and that will only grow with time. I want to be able to listen to all my music on the move, and the video allows me to do this. For me, the Nano would give me few benefits over my 1gb generic flash drive MP3 player that I bought for £17.99 because I'd have to change music every so often to give me some variety. I'm prepared to forego battery life in order to give me a MUCH greater storage capacity. I'm not at all trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking, or saying that I'm right, I'm just saying that some people have different needs!

jack
 
thats a good point. with a nano, my wife may be asking me to replace her music content more often as she gets bored with whats there.
the coolness factor is not so important, that faded 30 years ago.
i like duribility, but i want size. hmmmm. need to think some.
oh,, get this,, a local business is now selling 4gb nano's here for 750.00bz$
converted thats 375.00$U.S.!!!! needless to say, whatever i decide on will come down in a suitcase.:eek:
 
barnacle said:
thats a good point. with a nano, my wife may be asking me to replace her music content more often as she gets bored with whats there.
Click to expand...
I assume that you are looking at the 8GB Nano vice the 30GB iPod Video.

In my case, there is no comparison. The 8GB Nano is much more convenient, easy to carry, longer battery life and so much lighter.

8GB is a lot of music! For example, if you encode your music at a very high quality MP3 file, it still only takes about 2MB per minute. So the minimum music you could store would be around 2,000 minutes of music or enough music to last you for 66 continuous hours of listening pleasure. At a more common encoding of MP3 or using ACC encoding this would double.

Now maybe that is not enough for your wife. But for many that is.

Anyhow, just wanted to throw a different perspective your way for you to consider.

Who knows, maybe take your wife to an Apple Store and let her choose which model she wants.
 
sushi,, thanks for that giggle this morning. i assume you have never been to belize? apple store? HA HA HA HA !! my area just got internet!
i have another thread going in here how i had to send the sick 30g video by suitcase to denver.
but,, good points you make. i think her player will most likely stay in some sort of speaker system so size and weight won't factor in. i had a 6gb nano in my hands yesterday for the first time and it was very nice! i am now thinking that with my location issue maybe i should stick with the most durability i can get! and what the hell, i got plenty of time on my hands if she wants me to change things up music wise.
 
barnacle said:
sushi,, thanks for that giggle this morning. i assume you have never been to belize? apple store? HA HA HA HA !! my area just got internet!
i have another thread going in here how i had to send the sick 30g video by suitcase to denver.
but,, good points you make. i think her player will most likely stay in some sort of speaker system so size and weight won't factor in. i had a 6gb nano in my hands yesterday for the first time and it was very nice! i am now thinking that with my location issue maybe i should stick with the most durability i can get! and what the hell, i got plenty of time on my hands if she wants me to change things up music wise.
Click to expand...

* 8GB nano.
 
I find I rarely use my video iPod--it's just too big, slow 'n heavy for everyday use. i have an 8GB nano and a 2nd gen Shuffle that I use all the time. I think I need to sell the vid. Especially since the real video model's a'comin'...
 
i actuly have no use for the video feature and mine are allways in a dock somewhere, bar, home, beach. is there no choice between 8gb nano, and the 30video?
 
very simple
flash drive is more costly to make, its just the way it is.
just like a 2 G flash drive averagely cost $80, which is the same price for an average $80G external harddrive.
 
barnacle said:
sushi,, thanks for that giggle this morning. i assume you have never been to belize? apple store? HA HA HA HA !! my area just got internet!
i have another thread going in here how i had to send the sick 30g video by suitcase to denver.
but,, good points you make. i think her player will most likely stay in some sort of speaker system so size and weight won't factor in. i had a 6gb nano in my hands yesterday for the first time and it was very nice! i am now thinking that with my location issue maybe i should stick with the most durability i can get! and what the hell, i got plenty of time on my hands if she wants me to change things up music wise.
Click to expand...
Oops. I didn't look at your profile location. Well heck, maybe the wife would enjoy an international flight to somewhere with an Apple Store! ;) :D

The new Nano iPods are sweet. Apple really did a good job with this release.

I think that you will find that 8GB of memory will go a long way for most folks. So your wife will probably be happy with how much she can carry on it. The 30GB is so big compared to the Nano. And do you need the video function? Or is the music function more important?
 
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