Around the fall of 2005, I started wondering if it might be worthwhile to set up a media server to store all my CD's, which would in turn let me access the library through a media client like SlimDevice's Squeezebox, Roku Labs' Soundbridge, or even Apple's Airport Express. I wasn't quite sure about it, since I was worried about the audio quality compared to the original CD played from a decent transport and the hard drive space required for a lossless media library was significant. I needed a way to test the alternatives. My computer in the den had iTunes already installed (I'd used it to rip CD's to MP3 and my sister-in-law used it to load files into her iPod Mini), but no easy way to tie it into the home theater. Then, shortly before Christmas, my father-in-law called and discussed a possible gift with my wife. An hour or so later, he showed up with gift in hand. It was a white 4GB iPod Nano. Not only would it be a great way to carry music to work and on the road, but with a single cable connection I could easily test MP3's on the main system.

Initially, I thought I was getting a CD box set of some sort. The packaging for the iPod Nano is only a little bit taller than a standard CD jewel case and is otherwise nearly identical in size to a double-disc case. That well-designed little package held the iPod in a clear plastic sleeve, a set of ear bud headphones, two sets of headphone covers, a plastic cradle for a universal docking station, a USB interface cable, and an install disc and manual. The player itself is tiny – almost weirdly so.

Since I already had iTunes installed, I didn't bother with the CD. As soon as the USB cable was in place, Windows XP Home found the iPod and started iTunes. It walked me through the registration process and got my player linked up with iTunes very seamlessly. I'd used my sister-in-law's iPod previously, so I had already learned about the interface of the Click Wheel. The idea of sliding your finger along the circle to change volume or navigate up and down in the menus sounds a little weird at first, but it works surprisingly well.

The iPod Nano has several options available in the main menu. There's Music, which gives you access to music files by title, album, artist, genre, composer, or playlist. There's Photos, which gives you access to pictures and lets you adjust slideshow settings. There's Extras, which includes such goodies as games (solitaire is cute but a bit unwieldy with just the Click Wheel), contacts (which can be synced to an e-mail client), calendar (also allows for syncing with Outlook or other similar program), notes, stopwatch, and a screen lock. There's Settings, which offers things like About, Main Menu, shuffle and repeat options, backlight timer, audiobook reading speed, EQ, compilations and sound check options, clicker, date & time,contacts, language, legal, and a global reset. There's Shuffle Songs, which does just what it says. Lastly, there's Now Playing, which shows you whatever song is currently queued up. While there's a lot there to adjust if you need to, I found that very little there needed my attention to get into some music listening. The date and time are synchronized with your PC when you connect it and the default settings generally work fine (although I did change repeat from its default of "off" to "all" to continuously repeat the player's contents). Mainly, I just hooked the USB cable from the iPod to my PC's USB port.

If you are considering an iPod or just want to rip some of your CD's to the computer without expending too much effort, I'd suggest downloading iTunes. Apple's associated music software is free but you'll need Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later to install it. It's a really slick piece of software that I've used for a couple years now for ripping CD's and casual listening at work. It is also the program responsible for transferring files from the computer to an iPod. With iTunes already installed, it opened automatically when the iPod was connected and I was ready to run through some basic configuration (naming my iPod and registering it with Apple) and start loading files onto it. The default behavior is to carry over the entire library, but I have some junk I wasn't interested in copying so I started out by creating a new playlist and setting the iPod to only sync with that playlist. Since the iPod keeps track of individual playlists, it can be very useful to have multiple lists that are all sync'ed to the player so you can select specific content. I've set up a separate Christmas playlist as well as a number of others, which makes it much easier to select a batch of songs that suit the circumstances. With the ability to identify multiple playlists to link to your iPod, this approach is very simple to set up and use.

Apple really has a knack for developing products with well-designed interfaces. The iPod caught on quickly and has reached such a level of recognition now that it is often used as a generic term for portable media players (sort of like "coke" referring to any soft drink in the southeast). Having spent a little time with one, it is clear to me why this has come to pass. The iPod Nano offers puny storage capacity compared to its larger siblings (which have reached 60GB), but with 4GB of space it can pack a very healthy serving of music and even pictures (if you don't mind looking at them on the tiny screen) into a package that offers tremendous ease of use, negligable weight, and almost unbelievably small size. It also offers very good audio quality for the source material available (typically lossy compression formats, although lossless is supported at a hefty file size penalty). For listening in the car, at work, or at the gym, it is an excellent solution. I don't consider it a replacement for the CD in a good stereo or home theater system, but a docking station could let it fit into a simple music system at work or by a favorite reading chair and be both good sounding and convenient. If you want to put your whole CD collection onto an iPod, you may want to get one of the bigger models (the iPod comes in 30GB or 60GB offerings, a far cry from the Nano's 2GB and 4GB capacities and the screen-less Shuffle's 512MB and 1GB options), but if you think having several hundred songs (up to 1,000 depending on how much compression is used and how long the files are) on hand at any given time is sufficient then the 4GB iPod Nano is a really handy product.