iPod nano caution: incredibly delicate finish


I owned a 4 gig black nano for several days before deciding to return it for an exchange (due Oct 15 alas....).

You tough the nano and immediately the finger print is visible. So you take a soft cotten cloth and rub it to polish away the finger print. Presto: the entire finish is ruined.

I'm going with black again but will not even open the box until I can purchase an appropriate case. Belkin and iskin are coming out with promising ones as are others.

So, CAUTION: nano looks great and sounds great but it does not look great for very long....

By contrast my mini looks as good as new, and I've probably had it for a year or more, kicking around in my gym bag.

The delicacy of the finish on the nano is a serious design flaw.

Art

ps: the standard acrylic scratch cleaner that I used for my Basis 2001 turntable did not even begin to fix the problem on the nano finish. There is supposed to be a product called "ice creme" that helps, but I hope to avoid it.
artmaltman
If people have not already used it, one ipod "accessory" I find indispensible is SENUTI (google it and it'll pop up on top). It's the software Apple should have written but now that it is out, they won't ever include it. It makes reloading a whole lot easier, and if you ever lose your HDD (what prompted me to go searching for something like SENUTI), it's a lifesaver if you're like "The_kid" who has significant time invested in the loading process.
Just got mine in the mail last week ... yep it's got a few scratches already. The finish is almost "slippery" and I'm worried the thing will hit the floor and that will be the end of it. The screen size is pretty tiny but I can read it fine just the same.

My main complaint is iTunes ... in short; it blows. I don’t need Apple to organize my music collection. It wants to load everything from a single default location and wont show up as a drive on my PC. I don’t need cheesy application software to load data on a drive! INSANE ... Just have the thing show up as a 4 gig USB drive and let me stuff it full. I'm just sure iTunes is gathering/reporting info back to the mother ship for future spam attacks.

NOTE

Isn’t there a hacker out there that can crack this proprietary Apple code and firm my iPod into a big ole USB drive? Stop writing viruses and spyware for a couple of minutes and do something destructive that will help somebody. C'mon all you Linux gurus, lets see it happen.

Trying to clear the player is about like a calculus test and I see there are concerns about the internal battery. I bought it to run with but like the rest of you I am waiting for some armor before it goes in the gym bag.

The sound is very good and it plugs right into the audio system ... but I didn’t invest that much to listen to MP3 so it's more of a novelty than a legitimate audio source.

I was hoping to score a set of the new shure headphones and get a huge upgrade for my old running system ... RCA Lyra ... That Lyra takes about 2 minutes to load up with new tunes and has hit the ground at a 7 minute pace a few times only to jump up and keep going.

If anyone is looking at getting a Nano... I'd wait and go with iRiver, Creative or RCA - check out the software first. I would look for something that will allow direct file copy. Make your life easy.

This iPod is like having a 7 foot tall Ferrari with the gas intake on the top of the roof ... every time you go to fill it up - you will be cursing.
That is why I bought a white nano. Love it. Sold my mini to buy the nano. Left the protective film on the back till i get a case. Display and all functions OK and I lift with it and do aerobics with it in my pocket or on the stair stepper. Podcasts sure make the aerobics go by faster.
My boss just got a black one from his wife over the weekend and it is already sratched to hell. I own the last generation of the 40GB which is white and it has some scratches but nothing like this. I have been thinking about buying a nano for fun but will probably wait. I do have over 25,000 songs in iTunes now.

My wife has the Mini in blue and that finish is very delicate..

I was amazed at the size and the display. Apple sure makes cool toys..

Chris
I've heard a lot about the screens being unreadable after getting scratched. Oh well, stick with the original. I mean how small do you need it.
Wow, this is surprising. Did the black U2 models have this problem too? Who did Apple have beta testing these things? Only people that wear gloves?

Defective screens? Wholly... Maybe it shouldn't surprise me. After all, I own one of the first 4th gen 40GB units that love to freeze up.