Does it Live Up to the Hype?
Recently, you couldn’t turn on the television without seeing Apple’s commercial for the new generation of its iPod nano. Apple has a keen ability to pair crisp visuals of its products with really catchy songs or videos from up-and-coming artists. In this case, the television ad featured a lovely song by [Leslie] Feist, a Canadian singer. It’s likely that, even if it didn’t register with you at the time, if I started singing this song now, you’d recognize it. It starts off with Feist singing “1, 2, 3, 4 … .” (I know the commercial was ubiquitous, because, at a recent family gathering, my mother sang the opening portion of the song, and she hasn’t paid close attention to popular music since Peter, Paul and Mary were big.)
Before you plunk down your hard-earned $150 or $200 (approximate list price for the 4 Gigabyte or 8 Gigabyte model, respectively), you probably want to know: does the iPod nano live up to the hype?
To answer that, we sat down with our own Jim Terry, Vice President, Account Service, who is a two-time iPod nano buyer. He owns the newest generation of the nano, and he owned the previous generation nano, which he received as a gift.
“But I didn’t think twice about spending money on one the second time around,” he said. “I was all too happy to replace it.”
After about a year of solid use, Jim’s original nano suffered a cataclysmic system failure and became unusable, but, when it came time to replace it, Jim saw that the new nano had more features and was $50 cheaper than his original one.
“That made it seem like an even better deal,” he said. “I’m almost glad my first one broke, because it forced my hand into getting a new one, which has all of these great enhancements.”
In addition to being even smaller than his old nano, the new nano also has the ability to play videos – something Jim likes.
“It’s great for traveling,” he said. “I get a little tired of holding it in my hand on long flights, and it can take a long time to download video to your iTunes, but it’s great to be able to watch movies or TV shows on it. My 4-year-old daughter also likes it, and it’s easy for her to hold in her hand and simple enough for her to figure out how to use it.”
As far as living up to the hype, Jim feels like his iPod nano absolutely does.
“Though some might argue otherwise, I’m really not a flashy guy,” he said. “I normally go out for more practical things, but, Apple has done a great job of creating a brand that makes the practical cool. The nano stays true to that brand by combining functionality with the ‘whiz-bang’ element.
“When I first got my new one, I definitely showed it around to a lot of people. It has the cool factor, and because of the enhancements to it, you’re really OK with spending the money on it. In fact, I’ve been seeing those commercials for the new iPod touch, and I’ve liked my nano so much that I’m seriously considering picking up a touch.”
Jim cites Apple’s ability to live up to its brand as a key reason he’ll be a long-time customer.
“The iPod and Apple have some cachet,” he said. “Apple lives up to the hype – so much so that when they release a new product, I just expect it to be good because it’s an Apple.”