Hey guys!

I recently bought an iPod Nano because of the gapless playback feature and because it plays back AAC files efficiently compared to Rockbox. All in all, I am quite happy with the device. Since my dad got tired of using my old MiniDisc player, he wanted to get an iPod as well - because of the same reasons. Since he loves the black editions, he would either buy an 8 GB Nano or a 30 GB Video. Because the price difference is pretty low, he would go with the Video also because he could watch some recorded TV shows in the train when he goes to work (he doesn't use the car in winter). What I wanted to know is how fragile the HDD of the iPod Video is. Is a Video more likely to get broken compared to a Nano which uses a flash drive? Also, how is the rest of the hardware - AFAIK, the new Videos (30 GB and 80 GB) are only upgrades of the old units, while the Nano 2G are brand new devices.

Regards,
Sebastian

My iPod Video 60GB has stood up to a couple drops from waist-height onto concrete. It rattles around in a little slot I have under my car's stereo while I go to and from school. It seems pretty durable. I would have no problems recommending one, especially if it's just going to be used in the way in which you describe.

My old iPod Mini, which has a hard drive, survived some pretty brutal treatment I gave it without any issues. I wouldn't go dropping it all over the place, but it is fairly durable.

One thing to keep in mind is that the iPod Video scratches a lot, while the new Nano's do not.

I just recently jumped on the iPod wagon. I bought an 80 GB player a month ago. I just bought my wife an 8 GB nano this week.

Yes, the nano is a rugged little thing - I was quite surprised. It also sounds great - just as good as my 80 GB Video through both headphones and dock (to my ears anyway). I read something today where a test was done running a car over a nano and it survived. The screen cracked, but it still played music. That's what I call durability!

My iPod Video is doing quite well. I have a case for it and haven't dropped it. I was very careful handling it when I first got it, but now that I'm used to it and have a good case, I'm less leary. Every day it goes from my house, into my car, into my office, back into my car, back into the house,... I'm constantly taking it out of the case, putting it into the cradle in the car, back into the case, etc. No real problems with scratches. (BTW, I'm using a Body Glove case).

I wouldn't want to drop it outside of its case, but in the case I'm pretty confident it would survive a fall.

For the video capability, expanded storage, and cost, I would go with the 30GB unit. The only reason I didn't do that for my wife was she is more concerned about what it looks like than how much it can hold. The Nano is "cute". She also didn't want something that would take up a lot of space in her purse.

Rich

Don't forget, these things use laptop hard drives. They are built especially for rougher environments/use. On top of that, iPods use a buffer. A song that is going to be played will first be read in the buffer, once it's in the buffer the drive will stop spinning making the drive able to withstand even more shocks.

I've got a first generation HDD based iPod Mini that has been through some rough things, drops on the street and daily jogging for instance, it still works great!

Of course, a flash based player will be even stronger but the HDD based things are quite tough.

The iPods have very durable hard drives. As pointed out by Maurits, they use notebook hard drives which can withstand a little shock. Additionally, the 30GB 5.5G iPod has 32MB of buffer memory which the iPods uses effectively. It will read 32MB ahead of a playlist, album, artist, etc. and download that to the 32MB of flash memory built into the player. The 60GB 5G and 80GB 5.5G iPods both have 64MB of flash memory, that is mainly why they have the longer battery lives (ie 5G 30GB vs 60GB and 5.5G 30GB vs 80GB).

The flash drive iPod nanos are nice, it all depends on how much music he wants to carry around and if he really wants video or not. Me, I thought video was initially a waste of resources but I find myself watching a music video ever once in a while. I have even started downloading TV shows off of iTunes (since they now come in at near DVD quality).

All in all, the 5.5G iPod is a really sturdy player. Just make sure to get a good case (I recommend a iSkin since it covers every inch of the iPod) first thing since the 5G/5.5G iPods scratch really easily.

Unfortunately, TV shows are not availble on German iTunes as far as I can tell.

What makes me wonder is how likely is the fact, that Apple will stop supporting 5.5G iPods in favor of a future 6G product earlier than it's going to support a 2G Nano. For some reason, this sentence makes no sense and not even I understand it.
So, my problem is this: 5.5G Videos are actually only updates to 5G products. Nano 2G on the other hand is a brand new device that also has a new case etc. The probability that Apple is going to release a new Nano generation soon is very low. The probability that Apple is going to release a 6th generation iPod Video is however big. Can I assume that a 2G Nano will be supported longer than a 5.5G Video?

The general consensus seems to be that the iPod with video (5.5G) and the Video iPod will be maintained as two different product lines, which certainly makes sense to me.

I just wanted to say something like that.

ffooky is right, it is thought the 'True Video iPod' will be a separate product line next to the 'normal' iPod. The reasoning behind this is that a 'True Video iPod' means such a big overhaul of the conventional iPod idea it would harm the iPods usability for everyday listening millions have gotten used to. It could possibly mean the loss of the beloved scroll wheel for instance.

With all the focus on the 'True Video iPod' which is expected within a couple of months I highly doubt Apple working on a '6G iPod Video' at the same time.

Of course, as per Apple, nothing is really sure until its introduction.

Do you guys have any idea how the Video iPod is going to look like? Zune has a pretty big display as far as I can tell and the way it looks like, iPod could still place a click wheel on it.

This sort of thing is the very stuff of life for Macrumors and AppleInsider etc. This patent application is currently interesting people. The mock-ups and "wouldn't it be nice if it looked like this" pictures all depict a device where the entire front surface is a screen.

It might look like big display, but it's not big. Its still 320 x 240 , same as iPod. Just the dot pitch of pixels are higher. I would assume that iPod would still be "crisper" , because for the same nos. of pixels its more closely packed in iPod.

I've used both the new video and the new Nano2g... For my usage it was a clear decision to purchase the nano .
They are quite durable, but you have 1 year warranty and if you are afraid of it failing you can buy the Applecare Protection Plan which coveres it for a total of 2 years. Should it fail you can request a 'repair' which basically means you get a new or refurbished iPod that will be in 'brand new condition' zero scratches and all.
In these cases it can even be downright handy to get a repair after 10 months!. imo . Especially with iPods with a plastic casing.
I wouldn't worry about the HD in the iPod, if it can last 1-2 years it should be safe enough, if it does fail get a 'repair/replacement' and have a product in (most likely) better condition than the one you sent in.

I have 30GB iPod video-5.5G. It's pretty good , althought I have yet to drop it . There are some rumors of Apple coming out with "true" video iPod in November, althought I would take it with a grain of salt. So, if you want to wait, wait till thanksgiving and see new ipod come out or not, otherwise just get current iPod and I am sure you/your dad would be more than happy with it.

I looked at creative / archos (bigger screen etc for video, more features) etc. while getting ipod and finally ended up gettting ipod for various reasons like small size, battery life, portability, good software syncs, and numerous tiny reasons.

BTW, does the black iPods come with black headphones?

I have a black 2g Nano and it came with white earphones.

Sebastian - the following may be a TOS violation, but: I suspect you will want to replace the apple-supplied headphones anyway (or keep them in your travel bags as a backup). What I've heard about the more recently supplied headphones is, essentially, "they suck a bit less" than the older ones.

-brendan

Sorry, but how gay is that? I would expect them to ship black units with black headphones. I think it's OK to ship green, pink or blue Nanos with white headphones, but black?

Contrast.

White headphones are part of the image they're selling, so theres no way they'd include black headphones.

Electro-luminescent ones, however...

-brendan

we can order some pretty good aftermarket headphones from 5-50 bucks. They have many color available.
Check out the JVC Gummy phone.
http://www.buy.com/retail/searchresults.as...ol&dclksa=1

I travel a lot. I need to wear the headphones for a long time so I don't wear earbuds. Got a pair of new Sony MDR-D777SL and they are very comfortable. The phone also block the outside noise very well. I recommand them!