News and reviews of Apple’s second generation iPod nano have been spreading around the web like wildfire - some positive and some negative. Find out what the world has been saying about the newest Apple on the block.

Apple’s new iPod nano is the sleekest and most colorful nano yet. Unlike the first gen, which was limited to white and black only, the new nano is also available in pink, green, and blue. Beneath the hood, the new unit has also had an upgrade in power, featuring up to 8GB of memory to store a massive 2,000 songs.

It has become journalistic tradition on the web to follow every new Apple release with either extreme praise and hardened cynicism, and this new model has not been the exception. Blompo.com has been following every step at their Apple iPod Nano page at http://www.blompo.com/ipod-nano, and can attest that reactions to this particular release have been more polarised than most.

The excitement surrounding this new Apple product started with MacDailyNews.com, who reported the following predictions of industry analyst Shaw Wu: “An interesting data point we have picked up on the new Nanos is a new magnesium-based casing,. We believe this new casing will improve scratch-resistance, durability, and help lower Apple’s support and warranty costs.” Wu said that he expected the iPod Nano to arrive in the second half of September. As it turned out, Apple if anything beat Wu’s predictions, announcing the second generation early on in the second week of September - on September the 12th.

The first person to break the news of the actual launch on the web was James Kim of the CNET Alpha Blog, who said lovingly: “So, in addition to the boost in capacity, the new Nano is all about improvement: improved durability, sleekness, and battery; some wish-list features such as gapless playback; and of course, an array of color choices.” Geekzone.co.nz was equally quick off the mark and equally praising: “The new iPod nano supports gapless playback, and includes Apples Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads a users digital music collection, photos or podcasts onto iPod nano and keeps it up-to-date whenever iPod nano is plugged into a Mac or Windows computer using USB 2.0.”

Even at this early stage though, the cynics were there to bring us back down to earth. The UK’s T3 Magazine said: “As bastions of jaw-dropping design Apple slightly disappointed with its new spectrum of iPod nanos. See, when the nano first launched in September 2005 its shockingly slim body left the world smitten, but these colourful updates don’t come close to replicating that love-struck sensation.” AppleInsider.com were also happy to point out some negatives: “Although the new nano is precisely the same height and width of its predecessor, Apple has conveniently (for its margins) offset the dock connector by about a millimeter, making the new nano completely incompatible with the first-generation iPod nano dock.”

But the world got its first hands-on-reviews of the iPod nano from the 13th of September and these have almost all been positive. “The nano is nearly perfect; it is amazingly small and packs almost all of the features of the iPod photo and a few more.” said ArsTechnica.com, also adding however that it suffered from “its lack of Firewire, lack of compatibility with older accessories, and no current support for video output”.

DigitalTrends.com didn’t hold back its praise: “The newly ‘remastered’ iPod nano is yet another awesome product from Apple. The new design is a refreshing change from the scratch-prone and fingerprint-attracting construction of the original iPod nano.”, and CNET Asia was no less loving: “The second-generation Apple iPod nano is like the successful offspring of an iPod mini and a first-generation iPod nano. It’s small, stylish, user-friendly, and competitively priced–a great player all around and suitable for a variety of users.”

The comparison between the iPod nano and the discontinued iPod mini was inevitable, and CNET was not the only one to make it. Here’s PlayListMag.com: “The second-generation iPod nano is both a welcome step back to the more colorful (and scratch-resistant) days of the iPod mini and a moderate step forward in functionality. This middle-child iPod feels and looks great with its rugged aluminum finish and bright display.”

mp3.com were slightly more refined than their competitors, instead taking a rather neutral ground in their review: “The 2G Nano doesn’t really bring anything new to the table in the fast-advancing world of MP3 players, but the improvements over the original are certainly welcome.”. Also slightly less overwhelmed was PC Magazine, who pointed out minor problems with loud volumes: “the sound quality is very good until you push the volume near the limit”, but they weren’t about to take the wind from Apple’s sails: “When all is said and done, the second-gen iPod nano is an excellent product. It is slim, attractive, sturdy, and easy to use, not to mention the excellent integration with iTunes.”

Overall, most of the reviews of the new second generation Apple iPod Nano have been exactly the way Steve Jobs would have hoped, but the world has forgotten its initial love affair with the iPod nano and this time round is not afraid to come out and criticise its shortcomings. This is a market that now has alternatives, and if you are looking for an MP3 player the iPod nano isn’t necessarily the only or best option available to you.

You can check out more reviews and keep up with the latest iPod Nano developments at Blompo’s Apple iPod Nano page at http://www.blompo.com/ipod-nano.

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