iPod nano

Impossibly small? Maybe. Preposterously pricey? Definitely

If one thing is guaranteed with a new iPod launch, it's the sound of many a mandible dropping to the floor. Not since the unveiling of the first iPod, however, has the portable media player been reinvented.

Although there are many miniature players on the market, the iPod nano defies belief. It's about the size of a credit card, and weighs 42g. Nevertheless, Apple has shoehorned a sharp 1.5in colour screen, a click wheel and up to 4Gb of flash memory (a 2Gb model is also available) into the nano's tiny frame. In essence, it's a cross between an iPod Shuffle and an iPod Mini (which the nano has replaced).

Unlike the iPod Mini, the nano can store digital photos that, like music, are transferred using iTunes. Once on the player, photos can be viewed individually or in a slideshow.

Although this is a nice feature, there's no real detail in the images because the screen is too small. A better solution would be to invest in an iPod AV cable to display images on a television, but this costs £15 extra.

As on all iPods, using the click wheel navigation system is a piece of cake. Providing that the digital music files on the iPod are in playlists or have the correct ID3 tags, everything is sorted into folders pertaining to album, artist and genre.

As well as supporting Apple's AAC format (used in the iTunes download store), the nano will play MP3, WAV and AIFF files but not WMA. Podcasts and audio books can be downloaded (some are free, others are not) from the iTunes store and most popular digital image formats are supported.

Using the latest iTunes 5 software also allows synchronisation with Microsoft Outlook, which is a first for Windows users who own iPods.

Sound quality is very good but it is recommended that the supplied headphones are replaced. Unless, of course, you just have to be seen with the iconic white buds.

The screen will also display album art but again there's no detail because of its size. Battery life has improved, though, offering around 10 hours of continuous play in our tests. The nano also ditches FireWire in favour of a USB 2 connection and, thankfully, the cable is included in the box.

So, that's a substantial amount of praise for yet another Apple product, but what's wrong with it? Well, for starters you can't attach an in-line remote control and no dock is included in the box; it costs £19 as an optional extra.

There is a dock adapter but this is a universal cradle designed for third-party speaker systems and isn't compatible with older iPod docks.

What's more, just as this review was being written, there were numerous reports of easily scratched fascias, which doesn't fill us with confidence that the nano will stay shiny for long without protection.

Then there's the price. Stylistically you won't find anything else like it, but for an extra £30 you can buy an iPod photo with a 20Gb hard disk rather than 4Gb.

If you change your playlists every couple of days, the nano's compromise of portability over capacity will be for you. If you prefer to have weeks' worth of music in one device, plump for a model with more capacity.