Slashdot | iPod nano Owners In Screen Scratch Trauma

A couple of weeks ago my Ipod crashed. It can happen, it is after all a small hard drive with moving parts. It stopped working and emitted a pained "clicking" noise, like trying to turn over a car. Faced with a weekend of standing in lines at the Toronto Film Festival, I popped into the Apple Store Yorkdale in hopes they could restore the gadget lest I had to scavenge a cd player, which we seem to have none of in our household anymore, an FM radio (*shudder*), or be forced to maintain actual human contact.

The store was like Apple Mecca, a really beautiful place with plenty of hands-on gadgets. They also do workshops for anyone looking to get Mac-savvy. I went to the service desk and made an appointment. My number was called after 30 minutes, and after a couple of attempts and confirming my pod was still under a full warranty (2 weeks to go on it) they replace my ipod with a new one (same model). I was more than happy with their customer service.

Now, while I was waiting, I had happened to be in the store the day they got in the new Apple iPod nano models. They are slim, light, flash drive models of the iPod mini, which they are phasing out. Lighter than a cellphone, thin as an underfed starlet, I swear every person who got a hand on the display model being walked around went and bought one in some iPod induced trance.

My initial thoughts are this is a great looking, highly portable player to take around, marrying full iPod controls and programming with Shuffle portability. But that screen is relatively small for viewing photos and song info. My main concern would be that it's so light I'd have the Nano on me, leaving it in the dirty laundry or between the sofa cushions.

It will likely be another success for Apple, but I would still wait until they smooth out some crinkles like this before investing in one: Slashdot iPod nano Owners In Screen Scratch Trauma. I'll stick to the heft (a pack of playing cards) of a solid iPod.

There is an urge in some of us to get the newest, deadliest gadget, some satisfaction to be derived from being "bleeding edge". The link below is a reminder why I always swear by never buying the initial model of anything, and wait for the cheaper, more efficient second or third edition, when they've worked out the kinks.

iLounge has a good Apple iPod nano review.