Yesterday I had a bigger lunch break from college so I decided to go pickup the iPod Nano a bit earlier (since I was carrying the money on me) but it was only at around 7pm that had the time to actually open it up.
I was thinking of recording the moment with pictures and post them in this article, but then I thought to myself that it would be too cliche. Little did I know what I was about to find. Something that has drastically changed my vision and comprehension of some software and hardware companies, similar to finding out that women also get diarrhea sometimes (except that the feeling is opposite of that of course).
First, let me start off with Sony. If you’ve ever purchased any product from Sony (except headphones) you’ll understand that is virtually impossible to put the contents of the box exactly as they were when they came from the fabric. Those bending card-boards that fit together in ways more complicated than any Origami model I’ve ever seen.
You need 2 minutes to take everything out of the box, and 10 to put everything back in correctly. Ok, so I may be exaggerating a bit, but the boxes are exaggeratedly complicated with absolutely no reason for being so.
On the other hand, opening the iPod Nano’s package rates (in terms of difficulty) as easy as opening a DVD package. You take out the plastic wrapper, slide the content out and break the sticky tape. As you open the “book”, like a child opening a Christmas present you find the iPod on the right and and a container on the left with everything you need for the player.
To take out the iPod, you just need to apply a bit of pressure on the sides or on the back of the cardboard and it comes out nicely. You don’t need to strain your arms trying to break industrial plastic nor cut it with a small scissor as if the plastic was actually metal. The first rule every company that puts their products in boxes should follow is:
#1 – Don’t make your boxes as hard to get into as Fort Knox, we are customers, not robbers. Sure, there are reasons behind it, but the security of the reseller shouldn’t be your concern. The iPod is easily one of the most successful and sold products in existence, and one could easily pick up a box that isn’t sealed and just walk out with it from the Apple Store (at least where I live). That doesn’t mean Apple makes it impenetrable to users. We shouldn’t need to use scissors to open any product.
The second thing that struct me after I stopped admiring the nano was the rest of the package. The rest on the contents are placed inside a “box” attached the other half of the “book-like” package. When you open it you’ll find, 4 small papers, two of which are the manuals in english and french, and the other two are terms of usage and burocratical things. Companies, count: 4 small papers that are thinner than a music CD booklet. It took me 2 minutes to read the whole manual and learn everything there was about the iPod. I’ve had my Sony Walkman for many months and last week I found out the use for one of the “buttons” on it… I shouldn’t have to memorize a large instruction manual in order to use a product, ever!
Mind you, it’s not that I’m too dumb to understand how a product works, but, as an example, even though the Sony PSP’s manuals are rather big. Mine was imported from Japan, and still, without understanding any Japanese I’m able to use my PSP fully and know exactly how to use it (which I actually found surprising since Sony products are usually complicated to use or to understand all of the features).
I should probably create a new category for rants in which this would be the first, but I don’t want to suffer from a “disease” that many blogs come across which is the “too many categories for one or two articles only disease”, that happens to be very contagious also.
Anyway, as I continued unwrapping the contents of the package I found those 4 papers, two attached little grey bags with small cuts on them to help you open them (once again companies, take note), a small grey leather sleeve to put your iPod in and another small paper with two “Apple Logo” stickers. I’m trying to think hard to see if there was anything else, but I think that was all.
What did the two bags contain? Well, I don’t know exactly what was in each one, but this is what was in both:
- Phones with a small, easy to take out plastic strap around them
- Another two small bags with those black things that you cover the tip of the phones with(I’m Portuguese, please bear with my lack of dialect, I think they’re called “muffs”)
- A plastic base that helps you plug the Nano to any older iPod accessories you might have (docks, stereo speakers) without having to buy a new one
- The cable to connect it with the pc (with nice protective tips, that besides serving the purpose of protecting the tips of the cable also help in keeping it wrapped)
And unless my memory is failing, that’s it!
Why is this simplicity so hard to achieve for other companies?
If you’re keen on reading the internet news, there’s almost no doubt that you came across the “What if Microsoft redesigned the iPod package” video mentioned in many blogs like my friend David’s. But I think that it’s only when you open a box so well conceived as the iPod Nano’s that you’ll truly understand what a difference the package makes, not only on the outside, but also on the inside.
But enough about the box and onto the player itself.
The first thing that hit me when I looked at it, was how tiny it was. It easily is the thinnest and most pretty gadget I have ever owned, beating even top model gadgets like the PSP or even the original iPod.
After turning it around and seeing my reflection on the back I turn it on and look at it’s beautiful screen which is perfectly readable even under direct sunlight (what happened with the network walkman and the PSP Sony?).
The next step was obviously learning how to walk, or should I say, how to use the clickwheel. It took a while to get used to it (like an hour or so of use), but fortunately I was able to get the hang of it, and now it feels much more natural than my old walkman, and faster too!
With the exception of a touchscreen, I believe the clickwheel might easily be one of the best and fastest ways to access an interface on portable devices. Sure, it’s not fitted for every interface, like a PDA, but it could and should, be adapted for more things than just the iPod.
The interface is simple to use, and doesn’t really need any introduction, however, I do have some negative aspects to bring out, such as the EQ which doesn’t really seem to do anything, if it does, the difference is hardly noticeable, or I’m just not using the right tracks to try them out. Then again, it already sounds great without the need for any change in the settings, unlike what happens with the walkman.
Battery life is somewhat disappointing, but that is perhaps due to the fact that Sony “spoiled me” with a 50 hour battery life that I only got to see the end of twice, once when I forgot to turn off the player and left it on, and another when I purposely didn’t connect the player and wanted for the battery to run out.
PC Software/Connectivity. I am not a fan of the iPod proprietary port, actually no, let me rephrase that, I’m not a fan of any proprietary port. That’s part of the reason why I made the choice to buy an MP3 player and not an MP3 capable phone like the nice Sony Ericsson phones, they use proprietary ports for the headphones, and there’s no chance in hell I’ll be using things like that.
Since the PC/iPod cable is only used for connecting the iPod to the PC and I used to carry a mini-USB cable around with me any way (for the network walkman) it doesn’t really make much difference to me, oh wait wait, it does make a difference, thanks to the small clip on the iPod cable it stays tidier and doesn’t get wrapped around like spaghetti.
iTunes? Well, it pretty much beats every music playing software out there. Windows Media Player is pretty close, but as long as they follow Apple’s footsteps they will always be one or several steps behind.
So there you have it folks, everything I think and feel about the iPod and why I love it so much and why it quickly became my favorite gadget.
[tags]iPod, iPod Nano, iPod Review, iPod Nano Review, Apple, Apple iPod, Microsoft, Sony, Packages[/tags]
