Apple iPod nano 4 GB Silver (3rd Generation) OLD MODEL Review

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(More customer reviews)Apple 4 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation)

Apple's new nano is designed to improve upon past models and add some functionality. The improved video, smaller thinner body and updated firmware are enough to make it stand out. The slightly lower price tag is also sure to help sell more units.

I think most buyers will opt to get the 8GB, considering it is only $50 more than the 4GB and actually makes the video function more usable. Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Blue (3rd Generation)Regardless, the new nano is an improvement in any size.

Pros
+ Small size - so thin!!!!
+ Nice design - shorter, fatter form factor for more reliability
+ Brushed aluminum front seems more durable than plastic composite of 2nd generation nano
+ Many color options - Silver, blue, green, black, etc.
+ Brighter screen with better contrast than previous generation
+ Great video option is a nice to have for sample TV shows, clips, etc
+ Works with most traditional iPod accessories (except old A/V cable)
+ Priced to sell!Lowest price Apple video capable player
+ Lower price tag than 2nd Generation nano
+ Unlike iPod classic, all flash memory means less failures and breakage
+ Flash memory also awesome for running / working out
+ Slightly better sound quality than 2nd generation
+ Apple reputation is highly deserved

Cons
-4 GB capacity is very limited for a video player and will require constant reloading via iTunes
- New 2GB Shuffle option provides a workout alternative at about 1/3 the price
- New design not ideal for very big hands due to smaller click wheel
- Universal dock now required for video out (no more A/V cable)
- Slightly shorter battery life than other iPods
- No expandability or SD card slot like Sansa View or Creative Zen
- iTunes software with limited native formats (MP3, AAC)
- Coverflow still buggy / slow
- Features built-in to competing players, like FM radio & voice recording, much be bought as add-ons,
- Competing players now available at 16GB flash at similar body size

The Looks

Some people prefered the gen2 nano's longer body and larger click wheel.The longer nano was prone to bend (and sometimes break) when people put them in their pocket and sat down or moved around. The smaller click-wheel can be awkward, particularly for those with large hands.But it's a worthy trade-off for the smaller size and better durability.Another change motivated by durability is the metal face.The old clear composite face was a magnet for smudges and scratches.The new brushed metal face holds up nicer.Be warned though; it can chip and scratch, so get a cover.

The Sound

Sound quality is not significantly improved from previous models.The slight improvements touted in Apple's marketing are exaggerated.However, let's be fair to Apple here.MP3 and even CD audio have inherent sound quality limitations.

MP3 is a compression technology that does experience quality loss, however minimal.With a lower bitrate your MP3 files will lose more and more of the sound integrity from the original recording.Combine that with the fact many people rip from sources that are not digitally mastered, and you would get inferior sound quality with any device.

Almost no MP3 players are actually designed for audiophiles / musicians / sound engineers; i.e., the people who could tell the difference between good sound and great sound.Fortunately, some of these devices are starting to come onto the market.

Features and Software

Few new features are noteworthy with this device.Changes in the components and software make the screen brighter and allow you to do more things, including watch videos and play games.Some complain there isn't enough memory for video.You can still get enough on here to watch one movie or fit some TV shows with your music.It's a nice extra even if these nanos don't have tremendous memory.

The flash memory in this device could have been a faster speed.However, the main advantages of the flash player are still here: less risk of hardware failure associated with a hard disk drive player (better for running or working out).

The device does seem to have a shorter battery life than advertised.Perhaps because of the smaller body size Apple placed a smaller batter inside.As long as you sync and charge at night, it's ok.You are still likely to get a day's worth of use from a full charge.

Apple's software is still a weakness with very limited direct control over your device library and few native file options.All formats can be converted using iTunes or another software.You can convert pretty much any file to the MP3, MP4, or AAC formats you need for iTunes.This will mean that those of us with other players will have to have 2 versions of our libraries on our computers, eating up hard-drive space.That's because there's no drag and drop adding into the player, you have to add it to iTunes first and then sync.

However, most users have limited needs and will not notice if they are using MP3s.Apple hits the minimum compatibility needs of most of the market.

Coverflow is little more than a gimmick.It's still buggy and covers tend to blank out if you scroll quickly.Cover art has been downloaded with previous software versions and most other video players, so the ability to scroll covers is not really a breakthrough.

Competitors Pros and Cons

Apple's devices are obviously more expensive than other players on a per gigabyte $ cost.In addition, the iPod still has fewer built-in features than most competitive devices.It doesn't have a built-in FM radio tuner, voice recorder, Bluetooth, WMA support, and an SD card expansion slot.Both the Creative Zen Creative Zen 4 GB MP3 Player (Black) and the Sansa View SanDisk Sansa View 8 GB MP3 Player have micro SD slots, FM tuners and voice recording components built in.Both are better priced.The Sansa View comes in a 16GB size for the same price as the 8GB nano.

Still the iPod Nano beats both those players on size as the Creative Zen is much thicker and the Sansa View is taller.Also keep in mind that the Creative Zen has been somewhat buggy, and the View doesn't have as long a track record only being released in November 2007.

The new Sony players have finally abandoned their own bad software, and now provide some good competition to the iPod nano.In typical Sony fashion, they are priced just as high as the nano.But they do have quality components and better sound quality.Sony NWZA816BLK 4GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)

The new 2 GB iPod Shuffle, released in February 2008, probably provides the biggest competition if you don't care about video and your only use is working out.Apple iPod shuffle 2 GB Silver (2nd Generation)For 1/3 the price, you get a player with half the capacity that's designed for longer battery life and more active use.

Conclusion

In the end, what the iPod nano does, it does very well.Apple really wins with sleek design and a wealth of accessories.This unit is no different.Not all docks and accessories work with the 3rd generation, but many do.And for that large number of users already using iTunes, moving your music over to the nano is a snap.

Overall this device is an improvement.Apple's entry level video player will continue to be popular due to great features, acceptable pricing and the Apple brand.

Enjoy!!!

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Product Description:
An anodized aluminum top and polished stainless steel back. Five eye-catching colors. A larger, brighter display with the most pixels per inch of any Apple display, ever. iPod nano stirs up visual effects from the outside in.
And it'll wow you for hours. Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on a single charge. All that staying power and a wafer-thin, 6.5-mm profile makes iPod nano one small big attraction.
Cover Flow
If a picture says a thousand words, think of what all the album art in your collection might say. With Cover Flow on iPod nano, you can flip through your music to find the album you want to hear. Use the Click Wheel to browse music by album cover, then select an album to flip it over and see the track list.


In addition to listening to music you can now enjoy TV shows, movies, video podcasts, and more. View iPod nano dimensions.

The iPod nano comes in a host of exciting new colors.

Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on one charge. View larger. Music
Use the Click Wheel to adjust volume, navigate songs, browse in Cover Flow, or explore the Music menu by playlist, artist, album, song, genre, composer, and more. Want to mix things up? Click Shuffle Songs. iPod nano makes your music look as good as it sounds, thanks to its bright color display.
Movies
Buy movies from the iTunes Store and you can sync them to your iPod nano to watch anywhere, anytime. Up to 5 hours of video playback means you can watch two movies back to back. And for your viewing pleasure, the 320-by-240-pixel display--with a whopping 204 pixels per inch--is 65 percent brighter than before.
TV Shows
There's always something good on iPod nano. Browse thousands of episodes of your favorite TV shows on the iTunes Store, buy them for just $1.99 each, then sync them to your iPod nano. Watch last night's episodes this morning, or buy a whole TV series and play a pocket-size marathon.
Podcasts
The iTunes Store features thousands of free video and audio podcasts, including indie favorites and offerings from such big names as ABC News, Comedy Central, ESPN, PBS, NPR, and many more. Browse and subscribe to podcasts, then sync them to your iPod nano. You can even play video podcasts on TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.
Audiobooks
The digital shelves of the iTunes Store are stocked with thousands of audiobooks--including exclusives like the entire Harry Potter series--so you can catch up on your reading wherever iPod nano takes you. iPod nano even recognizes where you left off reading and bookmarks your place.
Games
Put hours of fun at your fingertips. iPod nano comes with three games--Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike--and you can download more from the iTunes Store for $4.99 each. All iPod games are designed specifically for the iPod interface. And all of them look great on the 2-inch color display.
Photos
iPod nano holds up to 7,000 photos you can sync from your Mac or PC via iTunes. Use the Click Wheel to scroll through photo thumbnails. To see a photo full screen, click the center button. You can even view your photo slideshows--complete with music and transitions--on a TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.
Extras
Calendars, contacts, and a screen lock appear in the Extras menu, along with a few more handy items. Take the world clock, for example. Spin the Click Wheel to choose different clocks for cities all over the world. For workouts, use the built-in stopwatch to log your best times.

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Pioneer MVH-P8200BT Multimedia AV Receiver with Built-in Bluetooth Review

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(More customer reviews)I received my MVH-P8200BT yesterday, and installed it.Installation was as normal as any other stereo, except the additional parking brake wire if you want to use the photo or video portion of this radio.Let me first start out by saying the AM & FM portion of the radio work pretty good, you can relatively easily seek to the next or previous station by pushing the knob left or right, or bring up your presets by pushing it up. The radio displays the RDS nicely as well. Changing sources (Radio, ipod/USB, or Aux input requires pressing the SRC button and rotating the tuning knob to the right or left to highlight the source and then pressing the tuning knob in.This in all is relatively easy to do in a timely manner.

Where the problem comes in, is using the ipod interface.it will start playing I believe the last song you had playing, but if you want to jump to another artist or lets say a podcast, be prepared to take your eyes off the road.You have to hit the Home button, and then rotate the knob one to the right and then press it in, and rotate the knob to highlight Songs or podcast or artist, and in my case lets do podcast, then the lost of podcast comes up and you have to rotate to the podcast and press the knob in, then it shows you the episodes, then you push it in.But on top of doing this, the tuning knob which is a 5 way control (left, right, up , down, and in) is very sensitive and plan on registering the wrong menu choice, and then having to hit the previous button on the display to pop out one menu and continue.You have to do this anything you want to change songs that are not the next immediate song that you can just press the right commander button to jump to next track.

So, I thought, well the nice remote has a left right up and down, and in feature as well.I will do this from the remote with a little more precision, well turns out 70% of the buttons on the remote don't even do anything.any function that requires you to turn that knob on the radio, still has to be done that way. the up and down will not allow you to scroll through menu items. the only real think I was able to do with the remote was volume, next track and previous track, and radio tuning.

If you thought it would be nice to be able to play videos from your ipod or photos, it requires a $40 cable with a usb and aux cable now hanging out of the front of the radio per the manual.I did put some photos on the SD card, but you cannot play music from SD while you do your slid show, and again its a cumbersome use of the scroll wheel to jog between music and photos on the SD setup. You are able to play the slide show while listening to the radio.

Now for the real good, I think the best integration with this unit is the bluetooth with the iphone or probably many other phones, I was able to easily pull up contacts, and you can quickly choose a letter of the starting letter of the contact and click through to dial the appropriate name and if you want to call mobile or home.And the audio with the included mic is excellent.it will mute your music and continue it when your call is done.

The radio looks really good and thats what lead me immediately to this model, but I am ever so sorry I did not test it out before doing the install.I for sure thought the short comings would be overcome by using the remote, but you had no way to test it that well in the store.The remote is useless for iPod navigation or navigation or any SD media.I did get a chance to watch many tutorials online on the Alpine receiver 305 which was made for iPod and it has the navigation the way I would prefer it, thought it does lack characters and you have to scroll most titles, this pioneer was able to display a good character set.Oh and speaking of a feature that Alpine has, it has a nice readable clock.The clock on this is small, there is a feature you can turn on to show a nice clock, but you have to turn it on every time, it doesn't stay on as an option. Even with the radio in off mode, it should show the nice larger clock IMHO, but it doesn't you have to fight menus again to call this up.

To summarize,much fighting with a poor jog wheel to drill through menus to make common settings to what you want to listen to.They made it simple to change source and volume and next and previous track everything else gets deep in menus that will take usually 6 to 10 seconds to drill through menus to do, this is not safe in a car and the remote which could have assisted in this matter has much less ability.I think if you can do a double din the AVH-P3200 double din touch screen, is sooo much easier to navigate and for not more then $120 more in general, very upgradable and the addition items you get (CD/DVD slot and DVD playback, you wont be trying to convert stuff to Divx, and you can burn your stuff or bring along your DVD's and you have a bigger screen.

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Product Description:
"Mech-free" receivers are all the rage lately, as more and more consumers migrate their music and media collections to hard drives rather than physical media. The MVH-P8200BT from Pioneer is one of the company's first mech-free receivers, and has plenty to offer the digital-centric crowd. Make and take hands-free calls with built-in Bluetooth technology. Enjoy direct control of your iPod, with simple navigation and search features. Play back MP3/WMA/AAC audio files, DivX video, and even JPEG images from USB devices or SD memory cards. You can even tag songs heard on the radio for later purchase. It's all conducted via the simple "Rotary Commander" control and simple user interface displayed on the unit's three-inch display.

Pioneer Car Audio Systems

Pioneer's Mobile Business Group is known for offering the kind of in-car products that make driving more enjoyable by offering high quality audio and video, seamless connectivity and ease-of-use. Its focus is on the development of new digital technologies including audio video, navigation and satellite radio, while maintaining its strong heritage in products for car audio enthusiasts and sound competitors.


Rear A/V RCA input, three 4V RCA preamp outputs, steering wheel remote input, and video out for system expansion.
Intuitive touchscreen controls.
Scroll through your music with greater ease using the 7-way rotary commander.

MVH-P8200BT Features

Built-In Bluetooth
The MVH-P8200BT features built-in Bluetooth technology, which allows you to take incoming calls through your vehicle's sound system. Connecting your Bluetooth-enabled phone is a snap, and gives you access to all your contacts. Best of all, you can make or take a call without a headset.
Smart Interface for Quick Access
Pioneer's new user interface has a minimal yet powerful design, and scales to accommodate modern media sources easily. Tailor it to your own preferences with the customizable home menu, putting your favorite features right at your fingertips.
USB Input / SD Memory Card Slot
Connect USB thumb drives or other devices and enjoy playback of your digital audio and video files. Ditto for SD memory cards. This makes it a breeze to quickly grab some media from your computer before a big road trip, and enjoy hours of entertainment on the road.
iPod Direct Control (CD-IU50V required)
Connect your iPod directly and experience exceptional sound quality while easily navigating through music, videos and album art on the AVH-P5200BT's screen. Say goodbye to the annoying static of FM transmitters and other iPod half-solutions.
Simple Search for iPod lets you quickly search your iPod/iPhone with alphabetical search by Song, Artist, Album or Genre categories.
MP3/WMA/AAC Playback
Play back three of the most popular digital audio formats:MP3, WMA, and AAC. The MVH-8200's screen displays track info, and makes navigating directories/folders a breeze.
Video/JPEG Playback for Non-Stop Entertainment
The MVH-P8200BT features a three-inch color display designed to take full advantage of all of your media. Play music videos and more from your iPod/iPhone, or from SD memory cards/USB devices. The MVH-8200 can decode Divx (AVI or DIVX extensions) video. You can even display JPEG photos using the Digital Photo Frame feature.
Auto EQ
Automatically tailors acoustics by fine-tuning frequency bandwidths plus front/rear speaker digital parametric equalization. Result: smooth sound full of subtle nuance and clarity. Requires optional CD-MC20 microphone.
Customize Your Colors
The MVH-P8200BT will accommodate your taste or mood. Select from six colors (blue/violet/red/amber/green/white) for the display, and 112 colors for key panel illumination.
Connect, Tag, and Download
Have you ever heard a great song on the radio, but couldn't remember what it was called or who sang it when you went to go look for it later? Now you don't have to worry about missing out on great music. iTunes Tagging gives you the power to "tag" all of your favorite songs without having to scramble for a piece of scrap paper in the car, then later preview or purchase music at iTunes Music Store. Works with stations transmitting RDS data.
Bring Your Music to Life with Advanced Sound Retriever
This year you can hear the detail, warmth, and clarity the way the artist intended it, from all of the highly compressed MP3, WMA and AAC files playing on your CD player. By restoring data that tends to get lost in the digital compression process, we can make your music sound close to CD quality.
Supertuner IIID AM/FM Tuner
Pioneer's legendary Supertuner IIID combines the best of digital and analog tuner technologies to reduce distortion to bring you exceptional FM and AM performance. If you live in an area where reception is weak, you'll hear a big improvement in signal strength. And when you're near tall buildings, Supertuner IIID reduces the effect of multi-path noise, which occurs when the signal is reflecting off of the buildings.
Always have your favorite stations at hand with 18 FM and 6 AM user presets. And when you're somewhere new, let the tuner do the work for you by activating the Best Stations Memory (BSM) function. The tuner will seek out the 6 strongest stations in the area and set them into the tuner presets.
MOSFET 50W x4 Amplifier for the Power Hungry
Compared to conventional power supplies, the MOSFET amplification circuit is smaller and more efficient, delivering power with less distortion and absolutely zero on/off switching noise. And that doesn't just mean a boost in volume: it means that your music will be cleaner at higher volumes because you're not pushing the limits of the amplification circuit. Clean, efficient power that will rock your vehicle.
For those who'd like a bit more power, three 4V RCA preamp outputs are also included for system expansion (front/rear/sub).

MVH-P8200BT Basic Specs

iPod Playback: Audio/Video (Cable Required) DVD Playback: -- USB Input: Yes Sound Retriever: Yes Bluetooth: Built-In Navigation Ready: -- Display: Three-Inch LCD Rear Camera Ready: -- RCA Preamp Outputs: Three Sets (4 volt) HD Radio Ready: Yes SAT Radio Ready: Yes Power: MOSFET 50W x 4
What's in the Box
Pioneer MVH-P8200BT Receiver, Wiring Harness, Installation Hardware, Owner's Manual

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