Impossibly Small, Incredibly Astounding: iPod nano

Apple® introduces iPod nano™; smallest full-featured iPod model yet promises again redefine mid-low end portable media player market

The new iPod nano (graphic courtesy Apple Computer)

iPod. That small neologism has continued to amaze as Apple keeps finding new and different ways to keep it new, and still far and away the leader (along with iTunes) of the downloadable music/portable media player market. Lots of tech-lovers have them; many more want them. They’re ideal for the designer who needs thier personal soundtrack while coming up with ideas and concepts.

Reports of its demise by “iPod killers” come and go. Each time Apple varies the theme it seems they were ahead of thier own curve; people can’t get enough. Even the iPod Shuffle, a flash storage-based player with no display whatsoever and the most minimal controls took the country by storm.

Now imagine the iPod mini even smaller: an unnervingly-small 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches. Color backlit screen. ClickWheelâ„¢. USB connection and dock adapter. Flash storage of 2GB (500 songs) or 4GB(1000 songs). Now, don’t imagine it; it’s real, and Steve Jobs announced it at Moscone West in a special announcment on 7 Sept 2005.

Call it iPod nano.

iPod nano comes in two colors (black and white) and in the two aforementioned sizes. At $199 for the 2GB model and $249 for the 4GB model, iPod nano replaces the iPod mini in the iPod product spectrum, with price points between the iPod shuffle ($99) and the 20GB iPod ($299). The battery provides a 14-hour charge according to Apple specs, up to 4 hours with a slideshow also going.

The screen, a backlit, 1.5-inch diagonal full-color LCD display, displays color album artwork and slideshows as well as menus in a style similar to the bigger iPods.

Apple made the market with iPod and defined and staked out the territory with each new model’s evolution. The iPod nano continues to set the bar for what’s incredibly amazing and astoundingly cool in portable MP3 players, and it’s hard to see how tech-loving designers can say “no” to this tiny beauty.

iPod nano is available now. Follow this link to its web site.

(Samuel John Klein is a member of Team:Designorati who just wants to say that he, like, has a wish list at Amazon.com and really really deserves an iPod. Not that I’m dropping any crass hints. I’m just saying.)