You're viewing an article in iPO's historic archive vault. Here, we've preserved the comments and how the site looked along with the article. Use this link to view the article on our current site: Goodbye Mini, Hello Nano (UPDATE)

News

Goodbye Mini, Hello Nano (UPDATE)

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 at 2:00 PM - by

announced Wednesday it is replacing its mini line of iPods with a smaller, flash-based, digital music player called the iPod nano. The new player includes a color display and is priced beginning at US$199.00.

The nano, defined in the dictionary as "extremely small," features a thinner design than the iPod mini (0.27 inches) and weighs 1.5 ounces. It is available immediately in a 4 gigabyte (GB) model priced at $249 and a 2GB model priced at $199, with both models available in white or black designs. The 4GB iPod nano holds up to 1,000 songs and the 2GB iPod nano holds up to 500 songs.

All iPod nano models include earbud headphones, a USB 2.0 cable and a CD with iTunes for Mac and Windows computers. iPod nano features the same 30-pin dock connector as the iPod and iPod mini.

"The nano is a complete, full featured iPod with a color screen," Apple CEO Steve Jobs told CNBC Wednesday. "It is impossibly small. We've been working on this for a long time and really brought the best technology in the world to it. It's magic."


The iPod nano is thin as a number two pencil and weighes 1.5 ounces.

The iPod nano features optional accessories including lanyard headphones ($39), which integrate the headphone cables into the lanyard, so users can wear their iPod nano around their neck without dangling headphone cables. For customers looking to personalize their iPod nano with colors, an optional set of iPod nano Tubes ($29) -- or protective, rubberized sleeves -- in pink, purple, blue, green and clear offers fashionable protection in a sheer casing while enabling full operation of all functions including the Click Wheel. Optional armbands ($29) are available in gray, pink, blue, red and green.

The current iPod dock for the mini will work with the new iPod nano and retails for $39.00.

16 comments from the community.

You can post your own below.

+ show options

Your current settings, click to change: Sort Oldest First, Show Guest Posts, Hide Community Stats

burrito said:

member since 07 Aug 2005 with 177 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:46 pm

personally, i am not impressed... maybe if they retained the 6gb that the mini had or better yet, the rumored 8gb flash memory array... but this? oh well, i said basically the same thing when the original mini came out and look what happened with that... *sigh*

Quote this post ↓

Billy K said:

member since 06 May 2004 with 297 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:46 pm

Is this a good move?

I mean, I like it. I like the size and color scrren and flash, and I just like it... But Apple sold a lot of minis because fo the colors and because they were considered a "fashion accessory." I can't see this being a fashion statement. Casual buyers liked the colors of the mini.

I'm not sure this is a good idea. That said, I'll take mine in black, thank you. The black looks great (especially without that gawdawful red scroll wheel).

Quote this post ↓

Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1960 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:47 pm

Wow...

I bought an iPod mini when they first came out and since then there has been no iPod update that's made me even think about replacing it.

But this one...hmmmm. It just might be worth an upgrade.

Dunno, I'll have to see it in person to know for sure.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:48 pm

Oh, I was excited when TMO reported that it had a camera in it!!

But, you seem to have corrected the page to say there is no camera.... too bad...... it would have been cool!!

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:30 pm

At the same price points, the trade is 2GB, 4 hours of battery life, and colored bodies, for a color display/photos, much smaller size/weight, and the benefits of flash.

Seems like a reasonable trade. And for a limited time, you can still find minis if you really want one.

When the iPod mini debuted, the trade was 11GB, remote control, carrying case, and dock for $50 discount, much smaller size/weight, colored bodies, belt clip, and USB cable.

For Apple, I think this is a good move. The nano is new, creating a buzz. And by moving to flash, Apple has moved the mid-range competitive landscape to the key consumer desire for mobility (size/weight).

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:10 pm

burrito wrote:
personally, i am not impressed... maybe if they retained the 6gb that the mini had or better yet, the rumored 8gb flash memory array... but this? oh well, i said basically the same thing when the original mini came out and look what happened with that... *sigh*

You may not be impressed, but I sure am. Color screen and a usable scroll/click wheel in a package that amazingly thin and small? It's high-capacity AND flash? Yep, I want one.

One thing that people really don't pay enough attention to in this equation is SOUND QUALITY. The hard-drive based Mini and full-sized iPods do sound quite good, but *gasp shock* the el cheapo flash-based Shuffle actually sounds SIGNIFICANTLY better.

Why? My IT friends tell me its because no hard drive = no signal interference. Whatever the reason, the difference is fairly profound once you've done A-B comparisons on the same exact tracks, assuming they were recorded at all well.

I am a little sad at losing the colors of the Mini, and the extra 2GB of capacity at those price points too, but the new form factor and superior sound quality that th e Nano SHOULD have more than make up for it for me.

I have no doubt that this thing will be a big hit, but then again, Apple can seemingly do no wrong in this space. Much to the chagrin of Creative, Sony, Dell, et al.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Thu Sep 08, 2005 2:08 am

The Nano is a beautiful-looking player, thats for sure, but it has a big downside... it requires Macs with USB 2.0 BUILT-IN.

Meaning that, some Mac users with machines a mere two years old are now left out in the cold. What were they thinking??? Sure, USB 1.1 is slow, but these are not high-capacity devices... I'd put up with a little slowness to be able to use one with my oh-so-ancient (NOT!) iBook G4 800Mhz.

Sigh, Steve, bad move. And no, I'm not gonna upgrade for this.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:45 am

I bet it will work with USB 1.1 because the full sized ipods dont say they work with usb 1.1 and they do. i'll be getting one of these around february. its awfully long time for me to wait for sucha beautiful device.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:17 am

Hehe! I'm gonna do a shameless self-plug: seeing yesterday's iPod nano and iTunes phone announcement makes me feel all tingly inside, knowing that I pulled together a little something similar back in 2004, check this out:

http://www.flyermoney.com/aorta/apod/index.html

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:58 am

The reason for the better sound quality on the Shuffle is that it has two power transistors (push-pull) on each channel, while the Mini only has one. This means a much better frequency response under load.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Thu Sep 08, 2005 7:20 pm

Guest wrote:
The reason for the better sound quality on the Shuffle is that it has two power transistors (push-pull) on each channel, while the Mini only has one. This means a much better frequency response under load.

Interesting. Given that, would the Nano sound as good as the Shuffle?

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:43 pm

hey!!! i think that this ipod nano"thingy mer jig" is tite!!! n e wayz i think that you guyz should come out wit some more stuff!!

Quote this post ↓

gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2088 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:55 pm

Guest wrote:
The Nano is a beautiful-looking player, thats for sure, but it has a big downside... it requires Macs with USB 2.0 BUILT-IN.

...

Sigh, Steve, bad move. And no, I'm not gonna upgrade for this.

Many sites have said that the Nano will work on USB 1.1, but VERY slowly, both for syncing and charging. If you want an iPod that will work with your old Mac, get a 4G full-sized iPod and use Firewire. BTW, when the first iPod came out, it couldn't be used on all those Macs that didn't have Firewire. Ever try to use a new Apple keyboard on a old PowerPC Mac with ADB? Try to put an 8-track tape into a CD player? Technology moves on.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:35 pm

Me I dont have an ipod yet but im not sure what to get the nano,the mini,or the shuffle.Somebody please help me maybe send me an email on whitch one to get my address is Jblinging@ aol.com please leave me a comment.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:36 pm

Anonymous wrote:
Me I dont have an ipod yet but im not sure what to get the nano,the mini,or the shuffle.Somebody please help me maybe send me an email on which one to get my address is Jblinging@ aol.com please leave me a comment.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:15 am

i got an ipod nano right when it came out, and its worked great,but the screen scratches so easily, because when i boughtit they didnt have any cases availible in canada. Also the battery lasts only about 4 hours, not good for plane trips. But its soo small

Quote this post ↓

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.


Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.