Apple iPod nano 16 GB Purple (5th Generation) OLD MODEL

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:

Review 6 to 10 of total 1052

An excellent portable media device for anyone,
by R. Williams, 2009-09-21

This is my second iPod and my first Nano. My older (classic) doesn't support Genius and the interface is almost prehistoric compared to this new one.

The fact that you can press "shuffle", then construct a full, almost perfectly-accurate playlist based on the "Genius" database is amazing and worth the price alone.

The video camera is perfect for catching That Adorable Thing your cat/kid/wife just did or said. And the voice recorder is indispensable. My only complaint is that the "voice recorder" function isn't in the main menu, and you can't program it to appear in the main menu when you explore and customize your settings (you can literally add anything else to the main menu but that, and that is very very odd to me).

There is quite a bit of dissent as to why this product got a video camera and the iPod Touch did not. The biggest rumor is a software/compatibility issue. I don't think that's the case. The iPod Touch is going to go on a crusade to compete with other handheld gaming platforms like the PSP and the Nintendo DS. It is my opinion that they will be pushing the Nano as the "this is the music/media you wanted... our bigger brother is for all you folks who want to bridge the gap between your smart phone and your laptop".

I, for one, am fine with that.

If you are thinking of upgrading and you don't want all the distractions (games, mail, gps, etc) that come with the iPod Touch, this is the item for you. I am able to fit 16 gigs of music and video into a sliver of metal that fits into the credit card slot of my wallet. That's pretty remarkable.

 

Remarkable piece of electronics,
by Hugh Massengill, 2009-09-21

My old iPod 3rd gen had 15 GB and was huge. I replaced it with this tiny 16GB iPod, which has a wonderful FM radio with the best reception I have seen in a portable device. I have used my new Nano enough to see that it will be used a lot. With integration with the new iTunes, I can download audio from iTunes U or podcasts, and sync them to the iPod easily. Walking around listening to a lecture From Columbia University or a podcast makes exercise fun.
The video is interesting but not what I normally use.
The addition of FM radio, and the dropping of price from the $400 I paid for my previous iPod to the $179 made the decision to purchase easy for me.

 

Packs a punch,
by Thomas C. Poulin, 2009-11-24

This is my third iPod, the others being a 40GB classic (hard drive model) and an 8GB 2g Nano (my wife's). I chose the Nano because I wanted something small and vibration tolerant that I could listen to while active (doing chores, exercising, etc.).

The Good:
* Simple, sleek, and cool--worthy of the Apple name.
* Small size and relatively large display.
* Navigation is straightforward, and syncing through iTunes is simple.
* The radio feature with live pause is great. Now when I'm interrupted I can just pause and resume without missing the broadcast.
* The video camera is a nice addition. As long as you realize it's more about convenience than quality you should be satisfied. On the Mac, your videos show up in iPhoto once you've enabled the Nano for disk use.
* The silver color coordinates nicely with aluminum iMacs.

The Bad:
* I want a dedicated volume control. Yes, I know this would interrupt Apple's minimalist design philosophy, but some functions deserve their own physical controls. There are times when the scroll wheel controls other functions (menu navigation, traversing saved radio stations) and thus you can't directly, immediately change the volume, which I find annoying. Instead, I have to pause the unit first or navigate to "Now Playing", which is a hassle.
* The Apple earbuds aren't going to win any audiophile awards. Their sound is pretty lousy, actually, but they're fine for listening when I'm engaged in an active task and don't have my full attention turned to listening.
* It doesn't charge from certain older iPod accessories. I have a JBL Soundstage and an iHome under-counter player, and neither can charge/control the Nano. Apparently they use the Firewire rather than USB interface internally, which newer iPods don't support this anymore. You can still play the iPod through the devices though.
* It's too easy to accidentally cover the camera lens when taking a video. I've found holding the Nano at the opposite end or along the edges works best, but it's a bit awkward due to the small size of the device.
* VoiceOver is an interesting feature, but I turned it off because it kept getting unintentionally triggered when I scanned forward/back in a track (mostly for podcasts).
* 16MB is probably enough for most people, but I have a large music collection and would like a larger memory option. Unfortunately this means moving to a bulkier model (the Touch or Classic).

 

The Best Nano Yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,
by J. BOYD, 2009-09-12

I know alot of people will be upset with the title of my review but I personally think that the iPod Nano 5th Generation is the best yet. I just received mine yesterday directly from the Apple online store and have been enjoying the features. I notice that the audio playback has improved alot over the previous generations I could hear hissing in the third generation and didn't really remember how if sounded on the fourth generation because I didn't have it along time. I've owned all the iPod Nanos at one point and I can honestly say that I love the screen as it's good for causal viewing of a movie or show. The voice and voice memos function work great so does the radio but the radio requires headphones to get a signal but other than that you can listen to your tunes without headphones. As for the video camera it's a nice addition considering it's an mp3 player first and foremost, I think people are going to go into this and think maybe I can replace my old video, NO. It just a solid low quality video camera some of the lighting or your fingers may get in the way of the actual recording but once you get use to it, it can become fun. Since I own an iPhone I wasn't disappointed by the lack of a camera or other functions that maybe missing from the iPod Touch it would've been nice to see those functions on the Touch but again I'm not disappointed if you're looking for a media player that has many functions including a build-in pedometer and the other funtions listed for a resonable price check into the iPod Nano, if you want the app store and multi-touch and internet access check into the touch but having owned a Touc the first gen and second I'd wait and purchase the 8GB or 16GB iPod Nano to tie me over until the next refresh I believe that the Touch is going the functions as the Nano very soon, remember Apple added a 32gb iPod Touch in January of last yr.

 

Good Piece of Equipment,
by Jonathon Wright, 2009-10-21

I got this as a birthday present in place of the previously-planned digividicam, and it works very well.

16GB capacity makes it quite unlikely that you'll ever have to take any music off. It can hold virtually all of my library (or, at least, the portion of it that I actually want to carry around), and I have quite a lot of music in MP3-320.

The camera, while somewhat superfluous, is pretty good. I use it for taking documentation videos at the gym (and random videos elsewhere) and it works very well for that. It'd be nice if the videos stayed in horizontal orientation when you rotate the camera and just changed the screen dimensions of the video, though - videos taken vertically will be rotated 90 degrees when viewed on anything but the iPod.

The shake to shuffle function can be turned off. Yay.

Can't comment on battery life, but I haven't seen many issues.

The construction is very sleek; I preferred the 1st Gen Nano "chassis" (which would have made a lot more sense here, too - it contains a camera, so flat sides would be a huge plus) that's not so much of an issue that I'm going to dock points.

So yeah, very happy.