"1,000 songs. Impossibly small."
I'm currently culling some of my least-used electronics. It's a gentle process in which the first step is getting rid of things that simply don't work or are too difficult to fix. As predicted when these devices were first released, this has been primarily a lot of iPod nanos with swollen, difficult-to-replace batteries. But the ones with life in them are getting a second (or third or fourth) chance recently as I take them for a spin again.
This week, it's the first-gen iPod nano. A device I coveted ever since I saw my older cousin's in 2005. I eventually got one, and it replaced my iPod mini, which really looked like a chunkster in comparison.
But this isn't a review of the device in 2005; it's about the experience now. How does it fare today? I think I do prefer click wheel nanos to the touchscreen ones that would come later. Twirling your thumb around the circle to navigate the UI is maybe the closest thing to a desktop mouse experience there is. I wish it would display album art; Cover Flow would appear on later models. It does pass the shuffle-by-album test. My IEMs did pick up quite a bit of hiss, which may make it a deal-breaker for my use case. I quickly remembered the importance of the lock switch, as my thigh raised the volume to a dangerous level while it was in my pocket and my hands were full. The hand feel is great, maybe only challenged by the third-gen Nano.
All in all, it's still a great device, and I'll continue to enjoy it until the battery finally croaks.