iPod Nano

We all know what they are.  Little pocket sized Apple devices holding music, videos, pictures, and podcasts with the ability to be used as digital audio recorders, video recorders and stream radio stations.  With Apple’s marketing how could we not know what these are?

When the iPods first came out I received an iRiver as a gift from a friend and I have to say it had superior sound quality, features and recording capability at a time when the iPods had none, but a few years later I gave into the iPod family when that same friend gave me an iPod 60G with video.  My Nano is actually my third iPod and the fourth I have purchased (two were gifts).  I love the portability of my Nano, though the new Nanos which are the about a quarter of the size of mine and can be worn like a watch would be ever so much more convenient.  I am not enticed by convenience enough to upgrade, though.  I mostly use my iPod Nano for my yoga practice and sometimes to listen to music at school in my studio art classes or when working on the layout at the school newspaper.  My love affair with my iPods has waned somewhat with music streaming on my computer, but I do still love to be able to have my entire music collection on one device.  I would have to say that was one of the most enticing features to me – to be able to put my entire collection on shuffle for days when I didn’t feel like picking something from my cds or playing a whole cd. 

I wonder how much further Apple will go with the iPod.  It seems like they are already becoming somewhat obsolete as many people are now using their iPhone, iPad, or similar smart phone as their mp3 player, too.  Will the iPod die or continue to improve?  The nanos at least still have the appeal of being small for workouts or travel. I am also sure I am not alone in that I prefer a separate mp3 player with longer battery life than draining my phone battery, so there must still be a market for them, just a smaller market .   I am eager to see how this plays out especially if technology is able to create a phone with a powerful enough battery to do all of these things and not have to be charged multiple times throughout the day…