iPod nano

Does the person you’re buying a gift for like listening to music while commuting, cycling, running, working out or whilst doing anything else?

Does he or she like to capture casual video footage of funny, amusing or unusual events to share with his or her friends?

If so, the new, 5th generation iPod Nano is an ideal present. With the new iPod Nano you can not only listen to music, but watch music videos or any other video clips.  What’s more, it has a video camera so you can spontaneously take video clips of any event you want to record.

Video Recording and Playback

To use the video camera, all you have to do is scroll through the menu and select – you can then record video in portrait or landscape mode.  You can choose from fifteen video ‘special effects’ eg: film grain, motion blur, tunnel vision, cyborg – and more, to add special character to your fun video clips. It has an integral mic and speaker, which allows you to capture and playback audio, so when you play back your video clips on the iPod Nano, you’ll hear the recorded audio with it.   You can also use it as a Voice Recorder to record and play back personal notes etc.  The video file sizes are small and ideal for emailing to your friends or uploading to Facebook, YouTube or other social media or video sharing networks.

FM Radio with ‘Live Pause’

Should you wish to listen to your favourite radio programme while traveling or working out, the new iPod Nano comes with an amazing new feature: ‘Live Pause’ which lets you pause the radio programme, rewind it- as far back as 15 minutes, replay it and then fast-forward to catch up with the live broadcast – all with a click!  The FM tuner also has RDS support that lets you see the names of songs and artists you’re listening to on the radio.

‘Genius’

‘Genius’ allows you to sync your iPod Nano with iTunes music on your computer and create up to 12 ‘Genius Mixes’ –  which are genre based ‘channels’ of similar music -which you can choose from to play according to your mood.   You can also create ‘Genius Playlists’ of selected tracks ‘on the go’ with a a few clicks, to listen to right away or save for later.

Other Features:

Other features include:  ‘Cover Flow’ which enables you to scroll through album art for the song you want to hear – or you can just revert back to normal mode to select a track to listen to or to add to your ‘on the go’ playlist.  ‘Shake to Shuffle’ allows you to play music randomly – so with a simple shake of the iPod Nano you can change the song currently playing to another random song.

The new iPod Nano comes with a larger 2.2” screen, in nine cool colours and a shiny aluminum finish.  The 8GB version can store up to 2,000 songs or 8 hours of video.  The 16GB version stores up to 4,000 songs or 16 hours of video – probably enough for the most avid music or video enthusiast.

The only criticism of the iPod Nano is that the video camera is standard definition. So although video quality in normal lighting is acceptably good  for casual use, it is not high definition – like my Flip Ultra HD 8GB reviewed in an earlier post.  However, you have to remember that the iPod Nano is the world’s best music player first – with an  FM radio and a handy and fun video camera thrown in.

So, if the recipient needs or wants a fantastic music player – with an FM radio with really cool features – plus the ability to take casual video on the go, then look no further than the new iPod Nano. It is extremely good value for money and is in great demand this season, so order yours early before stocks run out as we get closer to Chrismas!

iPod Nano Range and Colours still in stock at:

Amazon UK

John Lewis

Play.com