Apple Quietly Removes Video Support From iPod Nano

Pete Mortensen ()

Apple Quietly Removes Video Support From iPod Nano

Today’s Apple music event met with a decidedly chilly reception. The new iPod shuffle was an acknowledgment that its previous generation was a flop. The new AppleTV doesn’t support app development and has few advantages beyond a Roku box. New iOS updates are coming slower than anyone would hope.

And all of that discontent isn’t even factoring in that Apple has removed video from the iPod nano line.

What’s that? You didn’t notice? Join the club. Steve went out of his way to extoll the great features of the new nano (like a screen you can’t see when it’s clipped to your body) while carefully avoiding any discussion of the fact that its screen is too small to play video on.

But it’s true. Like the original iPod nano, the new model is for photos and music only. Check out the tech specs page. Lots of discussion of audio playback. No mention whatsoever of video. I hope I’m wrong. But I’m pretty sure I’m not.

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Still — looks great as a wristwatch, yeah?

44 comments »

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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  • Joseph

    I bet less than 1% of nano owners watched video on their nano. It’s a feature that won’t be missed.

  • BRandon

    I agree with Joseph… I’m gonna buy just because of the watch stuff… really.

  • Len

    Really? Chilly reception? Discontent? Is this Cult of Mac or PC Mag? I am surprised at the negative tone of this post (as well as the typos). I watched the live stream and heard plenty of cheers.

    I saw the announcements as welcome and exciting. The nano is incredible. I think they just clarified the line instead of trying to pack everything into that small device. It is too small for realistic video. Get a touch or phone. I also think the Apple TV is great! Until today I had not considered buying one, but the AirPlay seems like it will be GREAT. I have a TiVo which does some of this, but it is clunky and I have wished for a simple and beautiful way to get my music and photos to the screen. This is the real gem of the Apple TV. And the iOS updates are never fast enough, are they? But this is real life and updates just take time to get out. The fact that they already announced 4.2 in a reasonable time seems pretty cool.

    Not all mac users need to be blind to missteps and flaws by Apple. But nor should they whine just to make headlines. If judged by this post, you clearly are a ‘glass-half-empty’ person.

  • Daverage

    Oh yeah, and the video camera (the only reason I bought the last one) is gone. And the screen seems a bit smaller than the last one. Haven’t they been bragging about the increasing size of the nano’s screen for a few years?

    BTW, Steve lied. He said they updated all the iPods. The classic got shafted again. It hasn’t changed in years. You can’t get this thing to 250GB or at least 200 GB? I don’t feel bad that I finally bought a 160GB two weeks ago.

  • Arik

    Second sentence: “…it’s previous generation wad a flop.” Should be “its…”

  • Scot

    Wear it as a watch? Great … except it doesn’t tell the time. Unless I’m missing something …

  • Scot

    Never mind, apparently it does tell the time. ;)

  • Camperton

    Only a crazy person would watch video on a screen that small.

  • brandawgz

    i bet the next generation nano will be a widescreen clip one so u can watch videos

  • Jerrold

    To watch video on your watch would be kinda nice though,..
    But thats merely my opinion, can’t wait to buy it.

  • Quinno96

    I pretty much agree with everyone above saying…wow apple you stuck a screen on a Apple Matchbox Shuffle and called it a Nano. NO VIDEO, WHAT IS THIS.

    Besides this I i’m still so buying this just for the watch factor. It looks so cool.

  • Really?

    I did not like todays announcements at all and tonight while using my 4th gen nano it made me aggravated that they would take something so good and screw with it big time! Let me point out a few things.

    1) Nano – While in my pocket I can EASILY skip to next track or replay.

    New Nano – Can’t do that while in your pocket.

    2) Nano – quick to select what you want

    New Nano – I know I haven’t messed with 1 yet but I can assure you that it will take a little longer to get what you want to listen too.

    Also the new nano does not even come with voice command headphones.

    Apple REALLY dropped the ball today with everything. Especially apple tv…what a joke…only 720p.

  • Me

    Do you guys really intended to watch videos on iPod Nano ? Really ?

    @Really, what do you need 1080p for in AppleTV ? You can’t rent a movie in 1080p…they’re all 720p. You can watch 1080p movies from BluRay, and you can’t connect them to Apple TV. Oh wait, you want to play pirated mkv movies in 1080p from the internet right ? Believe me, don’t waste your transfer – they’re of quality not even near real BluRay.

  • Squick

    @Me “Believe me, don’t waste your transfer – they’re of quality not even near real BluRay.” — You just keep telling yourself that. Maybe on planet delusion, it’s even true. For me, lack of format support and 1080p was a dealbreaker. My O!play is up to the task, but the interface is literally painful to deal with. Alas, I shall suffer through. :)

  • Hollyjester

    The response was not as warm as some might have hoped, but I think it is understandable seeing the changes in the iPod line. Though no video and no camera is a trade off, don’t you think it was stupid for the older nano to have a camera and the iPod touch not to? I think apple is trying to sell their nano to a different group of people. People who just want a small device to play their music, while still being able to enjoy features the shuffle can’t provide. Therefore, everyone looking for video and cameras will look to buy an iPod touch, which they should have been looking at in the first place.

  • David S.

    As Jobs said at the keynote – the touch is now the biggest selling iPod, the nano is no longer the king iPod. People who want mobile video either use the iPhone or the touch, the nano isn’t where that action is anymore. It had to get smaller and adopt multi-touch to have a chance of remaining successful, it didn’t need video, and being so much smaller made that impractical anyway.

  • http://www.geardiary.com Dan

    I missed the click-wheel when the iPhone first came out. I missed it still when the iPhone 3G came out. I bought a nano a few weeks ago. I retruend it because I discovered… I hate the clickwheel.
    The new nano is back to the roots of being a music player… and it will be a great one. Want video get a touch.

  • Adam

    iPod shuffle should die. iPod nano should become iPod music. iPod classic should die. iPod touch should become iPod media. Clear product lines. iPod remote should be added, a universal remote with the ability to directly stream media to your TV. Sold with a cradle to keep it charged. What AppleTV should have been.

  • Scott

    Apparently, I am crazy because I would watch video on my nano during flights all of the time. It is big enough to pull me into any non-action movie and was small enough that I could toss it in my pocket with other stuff. I also listen to video only podcasts on a regular basis, something else this thing can’t do.

    Since my old nano “fat boy” is almost dead after daily use, I may have to buy one of the previous generation nanos or switch to something else. I liked the old nano form factor and the fact that I could stop, stop, and pause the podcast/music without having to look at the device, but it had decent video when I did.

  • Don Pope

    The shuffle is back to it’s best form factor, but with the addition of voiceover. The Nano is now smaller and video playback won’t be missed (Really, who watched video on their Nano). The camera is gone because it was moved to the Touch. Makes sense to me.

    The new Touch is just OK. HD Video (but crappy stills). FaceTime. A microphone!!!!! (Hello Skype). Kind of expensive. I wish it had contract-less 3G like the iPad, but I guess that would have eaten too much into the iPhone market.

  • jayjaynol

    While the value of video on the Nano was minimal — I agree. I still see a good after market for the previous generation of the Nano because of the camera and the video. If you are going to be stuck with an older model, that’s the one to be stuck with. I’m certain from a marketing standpoint this was done to move many to the Touch now with 2 cameras and video to boot. Makes sense actually. Look for all sorts of 3rd party vendors with wrist straps for wearing the new Nano as a watch.

  • Darcy McGee

    > what a joke…only 720p.

    You need to get out of your basement more often. Watching porn in 1080p isn’t any closer to getting laid. Neither is watching the Discovery Channel any closer to getting outside.

  • iQuackington

    I would agree that the new nano is disappointing, but the inability to play video is the least of the problems. More like:

    * Awkward to hold, virtually impossible to use one handed
    * Can’t use without looking at screen
    * Text has to be larger for touch screen, so fewer items on screen at once
    * Long titles don’t scroll (as seen in keynote & other hands on videos)
    * Search ability? (Not sure of this one)

    Then there’s the lack of camera, which I’m sure some people will be upset about, but doesn’t bother me too much. I think it’s nice if Apple wants to make a device focused on playing music – it’s a shame that the new nano does it so badly.

  • yet another steve

    It is interesting how no one seemed to notice. I listened to Gruber on thetalkshow last night and he didn’t realize it.

    It makes sense to me though… the current line is much more coherent than last years. If you want a camera and video viewing… get an ipod touch. The only reason to have lesser devices is that they can be small and wearable.

    Last year’s line up was a kludge.

    I also think that Apple actually did some listening to its customers for this year’s line up and determined that: users want a button on the shuffle and very few were watching videos on the nano (whose form had been made strange and awkward just so you could.)

    Now we have iOS devices, and clipables in a variety of prices. Makes sense.

  • Me

    @Squick – and what the hell are you talking about ? Have you ever seen real BluRay movie from an actual disc ? If you say that mkvs from the internet look the same, than we don’t have anything to talk about mate :) And you should go check your eyes cause there’s definitely something wrong with them.

    Live in your world of delusion where you need 1080p for ripped content, and FLAC for music cause “you can hear the difference!” LOL.

  • http://the-vu thebarak

    Also gone are synchronized Address Book and iCal. That’s why I waited for the 6th G to release, then went to Apple.com and bought a 5th G for 1/3 off.
    http://bit.ly/cVvA1z

  • porkchop1234

    @ Pete Mortesen

    This is a honest and sincere question.

    What retard would want to watch video on a screen the size of a postage stamp?

  • Graham Ward

    My 9 year old daughter watches video on her Nano all the time; portability trumps quality for her. I’m sure she’s not alone.
    Ah well; she’s been twitching to an upgrade to a touch for a while. Now she can use one of those to take video clips, she’ll be even happier.

  • Camilla

    My children watch videos on their nanos all the time (they are 11 and 13) – basically the nanos are the only portable devices they have and they use them to their full potential – and this morning when they went to upload some music through itunes they found the ability to load videos to the nano via the new itunes has been removed (and when they synced my daughter’s nano they were told everything had to be deleted which means she has now lost all the previously uploaded videos). It’s one thing to lose video functionality on the new nano, it’s quite another to remove the ability to load videos through itunes to ANY nano. Has anybody else experienced this, and if so is there a way around it?

  • IcyFog

    Get an iPod touch. Not that big of a deal.

  • Matt A

    I like the size, however to make me buy it they would need to make three changes.

    1. Add video back (not necessarily the camera), just vid so I can watch stuff on the train / bus
    2. Ideally widescreen not square (see 1 for why)
    3. Add a skip button, so you can skip tracks when jogging without having to unlock, then finger swipe with a sweat dripping off you.

  • Emmanuel

    @Camilla “remove the ability to load videos through itunes to ANY nano”

    Scares me.

    Did you find a workaround ?

  • Camilla

    “@Camilla “remove the ability to load videos through itunes to ANY nano”

    Scares me. ”

    Scares me too Emmanuel, so much so that my husband and I who both need new laptops and were considering Macs are strongly reconsidering. As far as I know, the kids haven’t found a work around yet, but will no doubt try again this weekend.

    And IcyFog the answer is not to get two children an Ipod touch each – they are happy with their Nanos, which were bought for their ability to record and play videos (amongst other features) – the point is that Apple has removed their ability to easily download videos to their Nanos which was one of the purchase conditions.

  • Diane Roettger

    Hate not having video on the new Nano!!! Great disappointment.

  • Todd

    I love the video in my nano and my wife like the simplicity of the camera in hers. I do watch video on my nano and use it to watch iTunes purchases on our TV via a dock, the main reason we bought it in the first place. Now someone wanting to watch iTunes purchases needs either a touch or apple tv…both expensive to just watch a itunes purchase. Very disappointed a loss of video. It is certainly not the main source of video but in bed or waiting in the car during shoe shopping it is excellent and compact.

  • CecilSaxon

    The video was best for Video Podcasts. It was just fine for that. Not a big fan of Apple removing features to bolster sales of iPod Touches. Kinda Douchey

  • mark

    I really think the video was a nice feature and it is too bad it is gone. I was expecting an upgrade to a 720p output instead…
    I used it mostly connected to a television when I travel and not as a stand alone player.

  • Clemens

    Yes, I do use the video feature on my nano. Maybe I would be able to let the fact that this one isn’t video capable slide if they had ADDED MORE GIGABYTES! Seriously apple. This is the first nano that didn’t include more gigs. My nano is full and I although I like the physical size of it, I would appreciate more space.

  • Squiddley

    I loved my nano for camping.
    I’ll miss the video.

  • Nix

    yes, i bought it and then i notice that it doesn’t play video… i had ipod nano 3rd generation and i think that was a better one! :(

  • Luno

    yea me too iagree with nix, but it has podcats but i dont get why it doesnt have video!!!!!!! wats the point of a podcatss then?

  • Luno

    podcasts i mean

  • Beccy

    I just purchased my iPod yesterday. I love my iPod, but I have been a bit upset that they removed both the camera and video feature from the previous version. Apparently the previous version had games, too? :c

  • Praveenkumar Kalangi

    Can any1 help me how to watch videos in my new ipod nano tuoch????