Well an annual rite of passage has occured. It happens every year about this time. My MP3 player, an iPod nano 6th generation started to fail. The headphone jack started to get crackly. Its not the first time. Some players crack, fall, get spring rain on them, fail from a software perspective, get destroyed during a race. Honestly, its my 15th 0r 16th MP3 player…remember the RCA lyra. Yeah, I had one, compactflash, 8MB of on board storage (the kids under 18 just lost their lunch) I know. That was top shelf back then…retailed for $224 back in 1999. But enough about me…
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Apple Ipod nano 7th gen
Sooo, naturally I upgraded to the Ipod nano 7th gen. It looks beautiful, it is a little bigger and weighs a little more. But more memory, I’ll take that. And a bigger screen. Sounds good. And I bought it for $115 used on Amazon (from a university track star, also another story)…seems like a deal.
Well this morning, I jogged with it. I read all the runners reviews, I know…no clip like the nano 6th gen. I was prepared to deal with it. Well, let me tell you. I hated it. They were right. The clip is a big fn deal. Why? Because, otherwise you have to hold the damn thing while you run. I had forgotten how much of a PITA (pain in the ass) that is. And oh, when you sweat, the thing gets so slippery, it falls out of your hand and swings in front of you, its miraculous save from death only a virtue of being connected by the umbilical cord that is your headphone set. And damn if I didnt accidents skip tracks and pause at least 30 times on my 5 mile run. I had it. It was being sold again on amazon. I was going back to a 6th gen. They were cheaper now anyways. As the running reviewers stated, the clip was a deal breaker.
Then I had an awful idea…I thought of something I hadn’t before. What if…wires needn’t come from the store. What if wires werent needed at all. What if I didnt have to hold the damn thing because it could be controlled remotely. The saving grace of the 7th generation:Bluetooth.
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ipod nano 7 bluetooth
And like that…I was off to Best Buy to find a bluetooth headset. Now I had tried this before with an Android phone. Too bulky to run with the phone, not to mention dangerous running with a $500 device. And the headset had alot to be desired, the motorola s7, s8, s9, s10…tried em all. Also tried Jaybird sportsband. They all failed. The motorola bounced up and down on my head like a child on a hotel mattress. Hard to run like that. The Jaybird squeezed my head the entire time, like a rusted vice on an old workbench (hi dad).
But nay, this time, I found something nice…an open box Motorola S305. ($40 Amazon, and though they are $50 at Best Buy, they priced matched, and saved my 4 days wait time Image may be NSFW.
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I paired them up with the nano in 30 seconds, and it was like magic. The bluetooth worked up to 30 feet away, and one floor away from where I was. It was phenomenal. I could run 6:40 miles with nothing to hold. Nowhere to look but the road ahead. And I could control the tracks, volume and pause with the headset. The bass was rich and deep. The headset didnt bounce up and down, didnt fall off my ears, (like the new apple earpods- garbage) and yet it was light enough to feel comfortable for 10 miles.
Now sure you could be saying, you could just do that with you iphone. Why even buy the nano? On the treadmill on a 10 degree day, yes, I could use my iphone from a floor away. But out there on the streets, on the perimeter… No. I would much rather run with a $115 device than a $500-600 one. And since you can control it remotely, and never have to look at the ipod while you’re running, you can get an aftermarket belt clip or armband that protects it, and doesnt need to allow access. This is a major game changer. Instead of looking down at your side, advancing tracks and pausing, you can focus on your run.
Fellow runners and fitness gurus will also like the Nike plus feature, the stopwatch for running lap splits, and the 16gb base model storage, to fit your entire itunes library into. Even those Bell Biv Devoe tracks. (I know you have them, its ok).
So there you have it. Despite a very bad first impression, the ipod nano 7th gen holds weight and possibilities for us runners. I’m told bluetooth headphones will progress and get even smaller in 2013, hence why bluetooth was included in this generation. But starting now, technology is on par with what is needed on the trail. Now get out there and PR. The future is clear. Running without wires.
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Dont stop believin’!
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