QotD: ROKR + iTunes 5 + iPod Nano
Posted September 7th, 2005 @ 08:02pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: What do you think of the ROKR? iTunes 5? The iPod Nano?
My Answer: I personally don't care about the ROKR (don't have Cingular), iTunes 5 I've yet to install (doing so now), and the iPod Nano is what it is. What I am most interested in is actually this page, the "iPod Your Car" page. It lists VW as "Coming Soon" (with just about every other damn car). When is soon? In two weeks? Two months? Ten months? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
Update: Woohoo! Looks like I'll be able to buy an official adapter for $148. I may be returning the Dension ice>Link I have now.
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Posted 07 Sep 2005 at 8:04pm #
Hey wait, so the Nano replaces the mini?!? Really?
Posted 07 Sep 2005 at 8:24pm #
Yeah, the mini is gone. Buy one quick if you want one.
The nano is pretty cool. Full iPod functionality in a flash device. Using hard disks in the 4 GB range seemed a bit silly, although flash is still pretty expensive. (Apple apparently got a hell of a deal from Samsung, though.)
The best new feature in iTunes 5 is the ability to organize put playlists in folders (finally!). It works, but it's not perfect (can't select multiple playlists and drag them into a folder all at once .. you have to drag them one by one.)
Apple has created yet another new type of window. iTunes is no longer brushed metal. The iTunes window is a dark grey gradient (a bit like a darker version of Tiger's "unified toolbar" style windows) but the really odd part is in the corners .. while they're rounded, they're only barely rounded. it doesn't match the rest of Mac OS X at all. Oh, and as it's no longer brushed metal, it no longer follows brushed metal rules for positioning controls. They go all the way to the edge of the window, rather than having the gap which brushed metal windows are supposed to have (other than Safari of course, which doesn't follow rules either).
Posted 07 Sep 2005 at 10:27pm #
itunes 5 is ugly. The square corners make it look more like the PC version of iTunes. The new volume slider and status display are really ugly. I hate how everything is more square now.
The nano looks very interesting, though. It combines the best of the shuffle (flash-based & tiny) and mini (display & full itunes functionality). I wouldn't buy one since I have a 60G color iPod and too many songs to fit on a nano.
Posted 07 Sep 2005 at 11:46pm #
The nano looks like a pretty nice replacement for the mini. ...but why Nano? what happens when apple releases their actual nanobot music player that attaches itself to your eardrum? what will they call that?
It looks like a iPod Micro at best. 😛
Posted 08 Sep 2005 at 7:48am #
I was looking forward to the ROKR, but I'm not impressed with what we got. I have Cingular, and I've been considering a RAZR -- but I was waiting for the ROKR to compare the two. The ROKR does not impress me at all, so if I upgrade it'll be to the RAZR.
As for the nano, that's a cool little unit. iTunes 5's new look does not impress me. I probably won't upgrade until it's forced on me.
Posted 08 Sep 2005 at 9:48am #
I'd rather have a cameraphone with bluetooth than a phone that plays itunes. I might consider the rokr if it had bluetooth and a decent camera. I've yet to see iTunes 5 interface although comparisons to SoundJam seem scary and confusing, whatever led them in THIS direction? And the Nano does NOT have full iPod functionality, if you consider playing photos to a TV, recording with a mic, dumping images from a camera part of iPod functionality. It is a viable replacement for the ipod mini however, but it is basically a fat shuffle with a clickwheel and a postage stamp color screen to lower battery life.
Posted 08 Sep 2005 at 1:29pm #
The rest of mike3k's critisism is valid (and subjective), but the volume slider is the same as it always was (just positioned differently). For what it's worth, I think the status display's look is awesome. I hated the bezel on the old one, and while I'm indifferent to the LCD yellow the old one carried, the new subtle gradient looks nice.
Posted 08 Sep 2005 at 11:22pm #
Eric,
You might be a bit dissapointed on the car adapter. Before you return the one you already bought I would research more on how does the adapter works.
If it is the same as the adapter that is used for the BMW today, it really sucks. Is very limiting. However, you have only one set of controllers, your radio thus, steering wheel, etc.
The way that the BMW adapter works is that you have to create at most 5 static playlists named, BMW-5[\d\w]+ (regex for you:), and from there the buttons on the radio are mapped to those playlists, the 6th one is mapped to the complete iPod. The pain is that you can not control the iPod to play something in particular, so if you what to play a particular song you better be able to find it quick in one of those playlists.
Anyway, I'm not saying that you won't like it, but at least to me is very limiting.
Posted 09 Sep 2005 at 7:14am #
That's the best that any of them can do, actually, amarre. So I'm not being "limited" in any way. I returned the Dension Ice>Link and that's all it could do.
You still have the option of using the iPod itself to find a song. I typically just throw things on random. If I don't want to hear a song I skip it.
Posted 09 Sep 2005 at 8:09am #
That may be the best for stock head units, sure, but third party HUs exist that use an interface that gets more than just audio out and FF/FR - it allows the HU to act like a full iPod controller, emulating all of the iPod's buttons.
Posted 09 Sep 2005 at 8:13am #
And I have a stock head unit with no plans to change that. So…