Ipod nano looks good and is easy to use, but not very reliable. I had to send my first one back as it wouldn't switch off. Got a new one really easily as it was under warrantee. Lasted a year before the same thing happened again. Unfortunately now not under warrantee, so will be looking for a more reliable brand next time.

I have had my Ipod Nano 3rd Gen 8gb for 14 months. It is in its third life, having been repaired (replaced, actually twice) and is now "freezing up" again. Clearly there is too much crammed into the space for it all to be reliable.

I was at an independent repairer and they told me on the QT that they'd had a lot of nano 3gs back.

Where do I start? It keeps freezing almost every other day. We did a search and realized that it is a common problem. Tried the recommendations, but that didn't work either. We have resorted to letting the Nano sleep in the freezer, as this is the only thing that helps.

This is the second Nano I have had. The sound is great with a decent pair of headphones, and I love the way it looks, and its ease of use.
Unfortunately the good points are more than outweighed by the bad.
This is the second one I have had that has corrupted, I'm normally very careful about how I connect and disconnect from the pc, but it seems that just blowin on the nano is enough to corrupt it!
I-tunes must take a lot of the blame, it really is a shoddy piece of software.
It works or often doesn't work with the I-Pod nano.
It often takes several attempts to get I-Tunes to recognize the nano is there, when it does the PC crawls to a halt and everything slows down to the pace of a snail.
(I have 1.5gb of memory on the pc and no other apps open).
Also on several occasions it has wiped all of the music from the nano, meaning I have had to start from scratch. Even worse it has a tendency to keel over and die when reloading more than several songs in one go.
Latest disaster, device not recognized, I-Pod does not have the latest software, yet when I check the I-Pod, it says software up to date.
I tunes is hardly the most intuitive of programmers to start with, and when things go wrong its like bashing your head against a brick wall!
As for customer service, don't get me started, what customer service more like!
Luckily I bought from John lewis, who sorted for me, yet it still took 2+weeks to get my first one replaced.
I won't be buying another, I'll probably get a Zen or a Sony.

This and most other apple products bought in the EU have a volume limit built into the firmware, this is additional to the volume limit setting you can adjust from the menu of the device. This is the problem folks, most people buy iPods and other MP3 players to listen while running, travelling on a plane or Bus or whatever. These units are so quiet you can hear the wind noise, people chatting and Aeroplane hum whilst the volume is on MAX disturbing your listening enjoyment.
They are fine when you are sat in a quiet room (as long as you don't tap your foot too hard or you will hear that as well.) but in any normal day to day travel or activity environment they are next to useless.
If you simply must buy one get it from the USA, Here they have not got the volume limit built into the firmware and the units can produce a respectable volume level.

I am gonna sell mine and get something else (no company is gonna tell me, a grown adult, how loud I can listen to my music. That's my choice. )

The Apple iPod Nano is ok but really really really bad battery life. The cover is not good because it scratches really easily but heaps of different things. The battery life really lets it down.

I was presented with an iPod Nano 4Gb Black for Christmas 2005, and I was immediately impressed.

This item has been masterfully marketed by Apple, and the presentation and packaging of it will not disappoint. This really feels like a quality, premium product. On seeing the Nano for the first time, you will love it. It is tiny and weighs virtually nothing. In black with its shiny chrome-esque reverse it is virtually a piece of modern art, and it sits comfortably in our modern, minimalist, brushed aluminium world.

The iPod comes with iTunes software, which, once installed, allows you to build your music library. This is achieved through the expected routes. Firstly by copying your CD's into the iTunes library, or by downloading songs/albums from the Apple online music store. Once your iTunes library is sorted, you simply plug in the iPod and it updates automatically.

iTunes is a good piece of kit. Download CD's whilst online and iTunes will supply the artist, song title, duration, and genre etc of your CD, saving you typing them out. Download it, and you'll get the same plus some sleeve art which will be displayed on the screen when playing this title. This is pretty cool, and leads me on to the screen. It's roughly the quality of a modern mega pixel+ camera. Perfectly adequate for music art or your own photos, which the iPod can handle in JPEG form.

The iPod has some nice extras too. There are a number of games preinstalled. They are pretty basic, but more than good enough to kill 45 minutes on the train or similar. In addition, there is a music quiz which gives you a short blast of one of your songs and then asks you to select the artist and title from a list. You can also access a stop watch, which saves lap times and archives them. This is ideal if you use the iPod during exercise.

At this point it was all good, but then I'm afraid the honeymoon ended.

I used my iPod while running with a separately bought lanyard so it could be worn around the neck. I had heard rumours from colleagues that if so much a drop of sweat got near the iPod it would expire, so I made sure the iPod hung outside my clothes to prevent direct contact with sweat.

Despite my efforts, after about 3 weeks I started hearing sound distortion. This got worse, and I started to see unusual warnings on the screen while playing music. These ranged from text referring to unsupported firewire connections to the iPod thinking it was charging when it wasn't. In short, the iPod was recognising a cable input that wasn't there.

At this point I was also noticing that the battery life was only a fraction of what it should have been. At one point I actually watched the battery bar decrease in front of my eyes! I stopped wearing the iPod around my neck, as it appears that even water vapour can destroy the iPod. I began resting it on the running machine away from me and things improved. After each charge the battery life got better, until one day I went to turn it on and got what looked like an MS-DOS type diagnostic screen. I went to the reset option and this cured it without losing my library... Phew. This happened over and over again, but each time the reset option cured it, so I wasn't too concerned.

At this point I was happy that the iPod had recovered, and I had discovered the best way to use it... No. Today I went to get my iPod and it was totally dead. Nothing on the display, and no way of resurrecting it via mains charger or USB to laptop. Oh dear.

The iPod is undoubtedly beautiful, and having read all the reviews on it, I can see that the jury is out on this product, with people either loving it or hating it due to technical problems. If you get a good reliable one then it's all good. Unfortunately though, if you do your research, you'll find a lot of evidence of technical problems and let downs. I might have allowed myself to think I had just been unlucky, but my girlfriend has also had no end of problems with her iPod mini, which is also collecting dust in a cupboard 4 months into ownership.

In summary, it is a great looking piece of kit with a lot of positives, but for the price it just doesn't deliver reliability, and never use it when exercising unless you've got a LONG cable and a silica filled dry room.

This Apple iPod Nano lasted less than 2 months and it was an extra special birthday present for a 16 year old who has a good record of taking care of things. She is devastated.
My son slings his zen micro all over the place and it is still going strong after 4 months - with few visible signs of wear and tear.
The Nano is for adults only and preferably those with experience of handling Ming vases.

The iPod Nano is the new MP3 player to the Apple iPod range, fitted with its own gimmick which will appeal greatly to the masses of folks who wish to be seen as being cool, trendy and popular. In all seriousness, who doesn't want an iPod?

Not I!

The damn thing is flimsy; the covers scratched with ease, making the screen becoming unreadable. Why buy a rushed product that is flawed beyond revival?

I held it in my hand, and I feared it would break, even with teen hands like my own it feels like it could be crushed with the slightest touch.
There was one incident where I almost sat on it while it was in my pocket. I heard a crack, and all it was, was something else I sat on. But think about how easily it could have been the Nano... Very worrying if you ask me.

The battery only lasts for about 5-6 hours when fully charged (it is meant to last for 12).

The size is a gimmick! Why do I need an MP3 player this small? Why pay £130 for this when I can buy an MP3 player with real capacity (20GB) for only a little extra? The Nano can hold photos, but what is the use in that when your tiny screen cannot show them well? It can not even show them at all, considering how fast it scratches.

Which brings me on to the price. The Apple brand preys on the insecurities of the fashion conscious consumer, charging inflated prices of around £40 extra.

The games bundled with the iPod are a joke - Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute, and the classic Solitaire. The screen makes the games near impossible to read. And with products such as the PSP being released, which have high quality games and serve as an MP3 player, why not pay £50 extra for a quality product?

Apple even try to force its dreadful iTunes product upon you with music you get overcharged for... but that's for another time.

There are a few positives to pick from the pool. The sound quality I have noticed is better than most MP3 players, but it is not something I would pay £140 for.

The earphones are satisfactory! The ear bud style is one I like for a change, and it gives good sound quality. Though sometimes when held they feel cheap, and they really should be replaced with something which would provide sound quality to match the Nano's output.
And of course it has the iPod famous sleek style and "Cool" white colour, which digs at me, because in my opinion it makes the Nano look cheap.

The speed of transfer is comparable to other players, and you can fill the thing in about 10-20 minutes.

If you're willing to pay the extra for a fashion item which will last but weeks - go ahead. If not, glad to see some people are intelligent.

I used to own this product, which i received as a present, but I sold it on Ebay.

One look at the iPod Nano MP3 player and you think it is amazing; but spend just ten minutes using it and you will know that it is horrible. For one, if you apply a bit of force it bends slightly. I dropped it on quite a firm mattress and the screen cracked slightly. I am telling you, the iPod Nano is extremely weak. You do not want to get it. Go for a Sony Walkman.