Apple iPod nano (4GB; third generation)

Features

The third-generation nano's piece de resistance is its support for video playback. Like the Video iPod (now iPod Classic), the iPod nano supports H.264 or MPEG4 video in either MOV, MP4, or M4V file formats, with a maximum resolution of 640x480 at as much as 30 frames per second. You can buy videos through the iTunes online store or import them into iTunes and convert them for playback. (Many third-party software video converters also do a great job converting videos for the iPod.) Despite its size, the nano supports video features we seldom find on portable video players twice its size. For instance, the nano can recognize and skip between the DVD-like chapter markers embedded in QuickTime movie files. It also does a dependable job automatically resuming video playback at the point that you last left off. As a bonus, the new iPod nano and iPod Classic now properly launch video podcasts ("vodcasts") as videos, instead of mistaking them for audio podcasts when launched from within the Music menu.

The iPod nano's second major new feature is support for iTunes video games. While the selection of iPod video games has grown slowly, three tried-and-true standards come bundled with the nano right out of the box: a congenial game of Solitaire, a trivia game called iQuiz, and the brick-pummeling Vortex (think Breakout on steroids). While the games are a handy way to pass some time, don't expect the nano to compete with the Sony PSP anytime soon.

Looking past the obvious big-ticket improvements, the new nano includes some small touches that are easy to miss. Apple's music shuffle function, for instance, has made a subtle evolution, now letting you easily engage and disengage the shuffle function on the fly with just a few presses on the Click Wheel's center button. By placing the shuffle setting options (Shuffle Song, Shuffle Album, or Shuffle Off) in a song's Now Playing window, Apple is effectively giving you the ability to randomize songs until you find an artist you like--a lazy listener's dream come true.

Apple hasn't changed its audio file format support. Copy-protected AAC files purchased through iTunes are supported, of course, as well as MP3, Apple lossless, AIFF, WAV, and Audible files. We're happy to see that, despite the iPhone's unique file-management requirements, the iPod nano allows for the manual addition and deletion of music and video files without the hassles of playlist syncing. The nano can also double as a USB flash drive in a pinch.

While the iPod nano is a top-tier product, we long for some additional features, including the ability to use the headphone jack as a composite-video output, allowing photos and videos to be played to your television set without a third-party interface. While we can understand removing the little-used AV output feature to save on construction costs, we're even more surprised that Apple has rendered all current iPods incompatible with a number of third-party fifth-generation video accessories as well. If you're hoping to use a new nano or Classic with an existing video dock, be sure to check that the product explicitly states it is compatible with third-generation iPod nanos. Apple's own Universal iPod Dock ($50) and Component AV Cable ($50) are guaranteed to work, of course.

Plus, there's our standard list of long-neglected iPod features: FM radio; line-input recording; SD memory expansion; custom equalizer; and native support for WMA and subscription music services. We're not holding our breath.

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