New iPod Nano Snaps Video and Voice, Reviews Mixed

Apple's iPod Nano has two new exciting capabilities, and they're the ones many have been waiting a long time for the Cupertino-based company to introduce. Video- and audio-recording can now be added to the long list of features touted by the impressive little device.

The Nano's new features were hardly a surprise for most insiders who speculated an upgrade of this kind was due by the end of 2009. However, the Nano's pricing was a bit of a shock, with prices floating around the $179.99 mark for the 16 GB version and $149.99 for the smaller 8 GB edition.

New iPod Nano Reviews Mixed Thus Far

Despite the added value, not everyone is overly enthused with the new device.

Some experts complain that the Nano's teenie-tiny size makes using it as a video camera quite difficult; holding such a small device in a way conducive to stable recording just doesn't quite work as well as it sounds. The placement of the video lens (at the bottom of the Nano while holding it vertically) is also eliciting complaints.

Yet, shooting video is reportedly simple to perform. Users must only select "Video Recording" at the main menu and from there on in click one button to start shooting. Videos can then be viewed from the Nano's screen or seen on a computer after uploading.

As for quality, early testers have reported that videos are grainy. That said, PC World's Ginny Mies felt confident that with better lighting would come better video quality. The same goes for an audio recorder where testers have been limited to loud conference areas. (Source: washingtonpost.com)

iTunes 9 Update Also Released

According to some experts, the new iPod Nano isn't the best thing revealed by Apple this week -- in fact, the company's updated iTunes 9 includes several hot new features, none more sizzling than Home Sharing, which allows up to five separate PCs to pool their music libraries. (Source: pcworld.com)