The iPod Nano is the portability-focused option from Apple, and is available for $150. This device has evolved quite a bit in size and shape over its different iterations. This particular iPod Nano is a is impressively small and thin with a large screen. It also somehow squeezes in an accelerometer for use with the various applications it can download. Although it's physically different from other iPods, it's very similar in terms of software; if you've used an iPod, you'll feel right at home with the Nano. The software might have been tweaked a bit, but it maintains the simple, intuitive, attractive interface that made its predecessors popular.

Performance (read the full lab performance results at MediaPlayerInfo.com)
The iPod Nano had great audio performance. It had a nice even frequency response, whihc means the device isn't adding or subtracting emphasis from any given frequency. The Nano had impressively low distortion and noise, which means your music will sound as it was intended to. We also saw very small amounts of crosstalk, meaning something that's only supposed to come out of the left channel won't partially come out of the right channel as well. The Nano was capable of outputting an above average amount of power, which means you'll even be able to crank your high impedence headphones up pretty loud. Also, like all other Apple products we've reviewed, the packaged-in headphones really weren't that good.

Comparisons (read the full lab performance results at MediaPlayerInfo.com)
The Nano manages to have looks, portability, and functionality. While the Nano isn't going to replace a BlackBerry any time soon, other than the size differential, it's about as good as an iPod Classic or any other non-touch-screen media player. The screen is tiny, but it's sharp (and, if you're looking at non-touch screen media players, chances are their screens aren't considerably bigger). Although 8GB is not a staggering number nowadays, it is impressive on such a tiny device. Also, the Nano is priced appropriately, at $150. Considering most Apple products are over-priced, the Nano almost seems like someone made an error. We highly recommend the iPod Nano for those who don't need to cart around their entire archives of music and video files.