Files, Folder, and Organization
I have used iTunes for several years now and in that time I have become accustomed to managing my music through software as opposed to file explorers. One of the first things I do when I install iTunes is ensure that iTunes is set to “Keep iTunes Folder Organized.” This ensures that my music is kept intact, in nicely organized folders, and that my file names reflect the actual titles of the songs. Zune offers none of this. Absolutely none. You can change the track title, artist, track number, etc through the software, but that song will remain in its original location with its original file name. This makes everything from backing up files to finding the files on the local disk a tiresome process. Consistency is key, and the Zune has absolutely none when it comes to file management.

I should note that when you purchase songs from the Zune Marketplace they are kept in the standard /ARTIST/ALBUM/SONG file format. This proves that the Zune *can* organize files, it just chooses not to organize *your* files.

Also, Zune offers the option to monitor a folder for you, something iTunes doesn’t offer. So if you don’t mind doing some file management, you can set Zune to monitor a specific folder and anything you add to that folder will be added to your collection.

Winner: iTunes.

The Miracle of Meta data
When it comes to managing music files, meta data is key. Everything from album art, to song titles, to albums, to track numbers, to year, is all kept in the meta data. Both iTunes and Zune offer methods of managing meta data, but in different ways and with different approaches.

iTunes: Simply put iTunes offers access to more meta data than the Zune. Going into a song via iTunes grants you access to standard info such as artist, song title, year, album name, and album artist. In addition, it also grants you access to comments, bpm, grouping, and total tracks for that album. That last item I use often as I like knowing I am listing to song 4 of 12 as opposed to simply 4. A small nitpick I know, but an important one to me personally. The Zune offers no access to comments, bpm, grouping or total tracks information.

Zune: Even though the Zune has access to less meta data, updating the meta data you do have access to is a much simpler and complete process. You can still edit individual songs manually via a right-click like iTunes, but Zune takes the entire process one step further by allowing you to update the entire albums meta data with one-click (sort of). Right-clicking on an album allows you to search for album information (meta data). Once you find the album, Zune allows you to pick via a drop-down menu which song goes with which title. Once you’re satisfied, you click finished and the Zune updates all of the meta data for that album including the album art. Nice touch!

The Zune also has an option to automatically find album information and update the meta data. You can set it to add only the missing information, or update all of the information to ensure it is consistent. In my limited experience, this service works extremely well, finding song information, artist information, album information, and album art. iTunes can automatically find album art, but you’re left on your own to ensure the song titles, album artists, track numbers and years are correct.

I also want to note that while the Zune does not allow you to access the meta information Comments or Total Tracks, it does alter this information. As the Zune software is indexing the songs, it removes the total track information and adds a string of odd characters (00000304 000004DC …) to the comments section. This information is edited even if you have opted to NOT have Zune update information automatically.

Winner: Zune.

Dude, I Love this Song!
Another key feature of music management is ratings, and this is one area where the Zune looses with flying colors. While iTunes offers the ability to rate songs on the standard 5 star scale, Zune uses a heart system. What is a heart system you ask? Exactly! Nobody knows what the heart system is and it is NOT intuitive.

I played around with it a bit, and here is what I understand about it. Zune basically has a 3 star system, allowing you to declare that you either 1) Hate a song, 2) have no opinion, or 3) Love a song. That’s it. I find this method insufficient since liking a song does not mean I love the song and I need to be able to differentiate between the two. Similarly there are songs I don’t particularly like but like to listen to every once in a great while, and then there are songs I hate and never want to hear again.

For an example of what I mean, read my post on iTunes Smart-Playlists and how they can help you love your collection even more.

Winner: iTunes.

He who Plays, Wins
For starters, both software packages play music, and both sound good. But I’m not interested in the fact *that* they play music, I want to know *how* they play music.

iTunes: There is a myriad of options for playing back your music via iTunes. You can build smart playlists, build normal playlists, shuffle (from one album to your entire collection), alter the sound (via equalizer), crossfade your music, and have iTunes automatically determine the best level to play it at so your music has a consistent sound.

In addition, iTunes has some added bonuses that I really love. The first is Party Shuffle. The ability to add songs to a queue as well as tell iTunes to shuffle your music based on a smart playlist is a huge benefit. Secondly, iTunes offers the ability to play in full screen mode via cover flow while still offering the ability to rate songs. This last ability is incredibly handy as it prevents your computer’s screen saver from kicking on.

Zune: In comparison to iTunes, when it comes to playback the Zune software is extremely limited. You can play an album, play an artist, shuffle (from one album to your entire collection), but that’s about it. There is no equalizer to change the sound of the music, there is no full screen playback, there is no queue to have a controlled shuffle, there is no option to crossfade songs, nor is there an option to have Zune keep your music sound level consistent. Also, the Zune’s smart playlist feature gives you less options to choose from than iTunes.

I will add that the Zune’s now playing screen is fantastic and a step above what iTunes offers. When you’re playing a song the now playing screen shuffles through different high-res pictures and offers some interesting stats on the artist. Unfortunately, this cannot be played back full-screen and is only available for a short selection of artists (this second point will eventually be a non-issue as they add more information).

Winner: iTunes.

Conclusion
While the Zune is a decent program with class A meta data management, it simply falls short is comparison to iTunes and its top-notch playback options and file management. Fortunately the problems are small and could be easily addressed by the Zune team.

* For the ultra-brave, I’ve noticed that you can use both programs to get everything. You set Zune to monitor your iTunes folder and have it automatically update album information. Zune will perform these actions in the background, and once iTunes attempts to play the song it will read the new meta information and display it in iTunes. However, this is not a fool proof plan so use with extreme caution.

 Artist: Grip Grand

 Album: Brokelore

 Song: Out of Service

 Homepage | Download | Purchase

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

My favorite portion, are his comments regarding Cd sales and how he really doesn’t care about how many CDs he sells. Interesting…

Interview: [See post to listen to audio]

 Artist: Common

 Album: One Day It’ll All Make Sense

 Song: Retrospect for Life

 Download |  Ringtone (Coming Soon – Hopefully)

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

[Intro]
Gotta recreate y’all
Yo check it

[Chorus]
Knowin you the best part of life do I have the right to take yours
Cause I created you irresponsibly
Subconciously knowin the act I was a part of
The start of somethin, I’m not ready to bring into the world
Had myself believin I was sterile
I look into mother’s stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl
Turnin this woman’s womb into a tomb
But she and I agree, a seed we don’t need
You would’ve been much more than a mouth to feed
But someone, I woulda fed this information I read
to someone, my life for you I woulda had to leave
Instead I lead you to death
I’m sorry for takin your first breath, first step, and first cry
But I wasn’t prepared mentally nor financially
Havin a child shouldn’t have to bring out the man in me
Plus I wanted you to be raised within a family
I don’t wanna, go through the drama of havin a baby’s momma
Weekend visits and buyin J’s ain’t gon’ make me a father
For a while bearing a child is somethin I never wanted to do
For me to live forever I can only do that through you
Nerve I got to talk about them niggaz with a gun
Must have really thought I was God to take the life of my son
I could have sacrificed goin out
To think my homies who did it I used to joke about, from now on
I’ma use self control instead of birth control
Cause $315 ain’t worth your soul
$315 ain’t worth your soul
$315 ain’t worth it

 Artist: Wyclef Jean

 Album: Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101

 Song: President

 Download |  Ringtone (Coming Soon – Hopefully)

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

[Intro]
Yea.
Election time is coming.
Who you gonna vote for?
Yeah

[Chorus]
If I was president
I’d get elected on Friday
Assassinated on Saturday
Buried on Sunday
They go back to work on Monday
If I was president…
If I was president…
If I was president…

[Verse]
Instead of spending billions on the war
I could use that money
so I could feed the poor
cuz I know some so poor
when it rains that’s when they shower
screaming fight the power
that’s when the vultures devoured

[Chorus]
If I was president
I’d get elected on Friday
Assassinated on Saturday
Buried on Sunday
They go back to work on Monday
If I was president…
If I was president…
If I was president…
Yeah

Anyway, this month I got an oldie but goodie from Mr. Talib Kweli. I felt it was slightly appropriate given that his new album is due out soon. The verse I chose is from the track “For Women” on his “Reflection Eternal” album. It takes an interesting look at the life/travels of blacks in America. With that said, on to the music/lyrics:

 Artist: Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek

 Album: Reflection Eternal

 Song: For Women

 Purchase |  Download |  Ringtone (Coming Soon – Hopefully)

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

[Intro]
Yea, so we got this tune called “For Women” right
Originally, it was by Nina Simone
She said it was inspired by, you know
Down south. In the south, they used to call her Mother Antie
She said No Mrs.
Just Antie
She said if anybody ever called her Antie
she’d burn the whole goddamn place down
I’m over past that
Coming into the new millenium, we can’t forget our elders

[Verse]
I got off the 2 train in Brooklyn on my way to a session
Said let me help this woman up the stairs before I get to steppin’
We got in a conversation she said she a 107
Just her presence was a blessing and her essence was a lesson
She had her head wrapped
And long dreads that peeked out the back
Like antenna to help her get a sense of where she was at, imagine that
Livin’ a century, the strenght of her memories
Felt like an angel had been sent to me
She lived from nigger to colored to negro to black
To afro then african-american and right back to nigger
You figure she’d be bitter in the twilight
But she alright, cuz she done sseen the circle of life yo
Her skin was black like it was packed with melanin
Back in the days of slaves she packin’ like Harriet Tubman
Her arms are long and she moves like song
Feet with corns, hand with callouses
But her heart is warm and her hair is wooly
And it attract a lot of energy even negative
She gotta dead that the head wrap is her remedy
Her back is strong and she far from a vagabond
This is the back of the masters’ whip used to crack upon
Strong enough to take all the pain, that’s been
Inflicted again and again and again and again and flipped
It to the love for her children nothing else matters
What do they call her? They call her aunt Sara.

The Necessary Basics:
I was not asking for too much (I do not think). Here is the list of what I wanted on my iPod:

1. Minimal (hopefully none) duplicate songs.
2. Zero songs that I do not like.
3. More songs that I like, than songs that I sort of like.
4. Songs that I have not heard recently.
5. New songs on my iPod every day (without manually adding them).

Of the above, I think number five was my key need. I like hearing all of my music, and with that many songs, I just do not want to have to manually add and delete songs from a playlist everyday (or ever).

The Structure:
In the end, while not what I imagined, the following structure provided me with exactly what I was looking for. It contains six smart playlists which each feed into another smart playlist. All of the playlists are selected to sync automatically with my iPod upon connect. Here is the breakdown of each playlist (name – rule – description). All playlists are sorted by number, and contain songs not heard within the past 14 days.

1. 0 Star: 250 Songs that have not been rated. This playlist ensure that I constantly have music that I have never heard before on my iPod. It also helps me identify which songs I have not yet rated. The goal is to eventually have this playlist have zero songs.
2. 2 Star: 25 Songs that I have rated 2 stars. These are songs that I sort of do not like, but will listen to every once in a great while.
3. 3 Star: 50 Songs that I have rated 3 stars. This is a playlist of songs that I can listen to, but really do not like or dislike.
4. 4 Star: 75 Songs that I have rated 4 stars. These are songs which I like.
5. 5 Star: 100 Songs that I have rated 5 stars. These are my favorite songs. The ones I can listen to continuously without getting tired of them.
6. The Good Mix: 500 Songs selected randomly from the above five playlists. This playlist provides two things. 1) An easy to select playlist in my iPod that will play the songs beginning with the song that was added to the playlist first and 2) a list which I direct my Party Shuffle to select from.

Example (5 Stars):

As you can see, I have more songs on my iPod that I like, than I have songs that I do not like. In addition, I have zero songs which I rate as one star. Therefore, songs rated with one star in my iTunes are deemed songs which I never want to listen to again; ever.

Or, if the above does not cut it for you, you can always head over to smartplaylists.com and get a gander at what some other folks are doing. Enjoy.

Anyways, that is it for the introduction. The song is called “You Ain’t Gotta Go Home” by Joe Budden. Also, for Sprint users (and maybe other users too, I do not know) I have added a ringtone for the song. Just click on the “ringtone” link while browsing via your phone. With that said, on to the music/lyrics:

 Artist: Joe Budden

 Album: Joe Budden

 Song: You Ain’t Gotta Go Home

 Purchase |  Download |  Ringtone

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

[Bridge]
Ma when I’m done pokin’ you from the rear
You ain’t gotta go home
But you gotta get the **** outta here

[Verse]
Ma
You real aggressive
Catchin’ me of balance
It’s a turn off
Don’t you know ****** respect a challenge
Move a lil’ slow gettin’ at me
Treat the ***** like it’s worth somethin’
Don’t just go throwin’ it at me
Cuz
While you doin’ it
At the same time I’m thinkin’
How many ****** hit you wit that same line
Or
How many other ****** you ran game to
How many ****** you ******
Or you gave brain to
How many other dudes houses you done came to
With condoms on you
Hopin’ that he fondle on you
And
I ain’t tryin’ to catch nothin’ from you
So I’m caught up in a Catch-22
If I don’t **** her
Then I’m not like guys she met before
So while I’m turnin’ her down
She’s just likin’ me more
But if I do get to pokin’
Hit her with long strokin’
I now have a girlie on my hands that’s open
I don’t want her callin’ me constantly
Thinkin’ ’cause I ****** her
She got a bond with me
I don’t want her misunderstandin’
A one night stand
It was just a nut
I’m not your man

[Hook]
Ma
I’m there, if you fine in the rear
We can get into whatever if you don’t mind boo be yeah
And when I’m done slidin’, you somethin’ fierce
You ain’t gotta go home
But you gotta get the **** outta here
Ma
I’m there, name a time and where
We can get into whatever if you don’t mind boo be yeah
And when I’m done pokin’ you from the rear
You ain’t gotta go home
But you gotta get the **** outta here

Well, needless to say that seclusion did not last long, as this months Verse of the Moment does not come from the Hip-Hop genre. Instead, this month, I got a cold (slang definition: incredible, impressive, superb) R&B verse from Ne-Yo. I have been listening to his song “When You’re Mad” for the past month or so almost non-stop. The song is just that good. And, I feel that way at times, so I can definitely relate to what he is talking about (a plus in all music). And to make it even better, he has recently released a video for the song. Good choice. Anyway, enough of me rambling. Here is the music/lyrics:

 Artist: Ne-Yo

 Album: In My Own Words

 Song: When You’re Mad

 Purchase |  Download

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

[Verse]
It’s just the cutest thang
When you get to fussin’ (cussin’)
Yellin’ and throwin’ thangs
I just want to eat you up
I don’t mean no disrespect
When I start staring
Knowing that it makes you madder
I’m sorry
But seein’ you mad is so sexy (yeah).

Could it be that little wrinkle over your nose.
When you make your angry face
That makes me just want to take off all your clothes
And sex you all over the place (yeah)
Could it be the little way you storm around?
That makes me want to tear you down
Baby I ain’t sure
But one thing that I do know
Is every time you scream at me

[Chorus]
I want to kiss you
When you put your hands on me
I want to touch you
When we get to arguing
Just gotta kiss you
Baby I don’t know why it’s like that
But you’re so damn sexy
When you’re mad

 Artist: Saigon

 Album: Warning Shots

 Song: Shok TV

 Purchase |  Download

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

[Verse]
I said listen, I’m a ***** on a mission
Do what I gotta to get my people in position
Help ‘em envision a better living condition
Stop putting so much trust in your religion
They couldn’t conquer without division
Boy you still black, I don’t care if you Catholic or you Christian
Police’ll still **** you up, young buck
Bust you in your head, leave your body by the dump truck
Revolution got me pumped up
But it’s still a fact black people think so ****** up
How they got money to go war with whoever wrecked the buildings
And none for Africa’s HIV infected children
That mean the money for a life they can save
They rather use it to send a life to a grave
And that’s not righteous ways
That ain’t even half, my real-a-real
I could write for days
But I don’t know how they might behave
You seen what they did to the ‘Pac’s, Martin’s, and Marvin Gaye
Could you picture the Black Panther party today?
Usin’ hip hop to say the same thing Marcus Garvey would say?
Imagine Malcolm X over a beat
Tryin’ to rally up the troops and take control of the street
Still in the window holdin’ the heat
But now we got soldiers on the corner like police patrollin’ the beat
**** G.E.D.’s – ****** need DP CD’s
We don’t need PCP; we don’t need flat screen TV’s and DVD’s
We need more knowledge of who we be

[Chorus]
Do we really know where the guns come from?
Do we really know where the drugs come from?
How come it only affects us and not them?
How come Jesus Christ has still not come?
Why am I wrong if I kill a ***** that punch me?
But it’s alright for you to blow up a whole country…

In addition, why am I addicted to this video from Lupe Fiasco called “Kick Push”? The video and song are just nice. He may just be a future Verse of the Moment winner.

As I said, the article is a good read, and for those of you who who have no clue of what E-40 is saying 52% of the time he is talking, the article comes complete with a mini dictionary of popular E-40 slang and its common folk translation. So go ahead and definitely check out the article. It had me laughing so hard. Example:

It’s all gravity: All is well, old chap; variation of “it’s all good,” “it’s all gravy” or “it’s all gravy train.” (Usage: “Aw, man. My bad. I didn’t mean to spill that scalding coffee in your lap.” Response: “It’s all gravity, pimpin’. Ouch!”)

Oh man. Who thought of these examples? They are golden.

 Artist: The Last Emperor

 Album: Hidden Treasures

 Song: Do U Remember

 Purchase: Here

 Play: [See post to listen to audio]

I listen to a lot of music; a “lot” of music. I listen to music while driving, while studying, while riding the bus, while at work, etc., etc. And from time to time I come across verses which I feel are nearly perfect. With that, it is my hope that every month (or so) I will be able to share with you a verse which is almost touching perfection.

So what makes a perfect verse? Well, a number of things (in my opinion). Obviously the content (words) of the verse are important. However, they are only a portion (a small one at that). I have heard many of verses that were phenomenal but had no impact on me because the beat was no good or the delivery was terrible. Therefore, when I think of a perfect verse, I think of the word selection, the method of delivery, the beat, as well as the effectiveness in making me “feel” what the artist is trying to say.

So why only a verse? Well, mainly because 99.9% of songs (of all genres) do not keep a constant theme throughout the song. Most songs have that one verse that sets the tone, and then the other two (or so) which fill up the empty space. With that, if I was to make this a “song of the moment,” letting people know of almost perfect songs, this would probably be an annual or biennial post (not good for blogging).

With that out of the way, enjoy the verse, and let me know if you agree/disagree and why/why not (if you want). If you have a recommendation for next months verse, please send me an email through the contact page. Thanks.

 Artist: Little Brother

 Album: The Minstrel Show

 Song: All For You Ft. Darien Brockington

Purchase: Here

Play: [See post to listen to audio]

Dance music, pop, jazz, rock, rap, blues – there aren’t many genres which don’t carry an element of African ‘DNA’ somewhere in their make up. The music we love has its foundation in a blend of African and European sounds. We look at the influence of the continent known as the “birthplace of humanity”.

I agree! So click here and learn a little bit about Africa.

As I updated my iPod with new songs and deleted the old ones, I noticed the album art problem slowly but surely getting worse and worse. It got so bad that the artwork it showed in the “Now Playing” screen would not even match the artwork it displayed when viewing the artwork Full Screen. Huh? How is it possible that the iPod was looking in two completely different places for artwork. It made/makes no sense.

Well, being a Windows user, my first plan of action (idea) was to go ahead and format the drive, wipe it clean, and start over. Well, thank goodness when it comes to my pricey piece of fun I play on the cautious side, as Apple clearly states that doing such an action is a bad idea. A very bad idea.

Do not use a disk utility program, such as Disk Utility, Drive Setup, or Windows Explorer, to erase iPod. Erasing songs from iPod this way can disable its music playing capabilities and you may have to update or restore iPod to get it to work again.

Whew! I got lucky with that one. I would have had to smack myself if I disabled the “music playing capabilities” of my Nano. So I am happy that I did not kill my little machine, but that did nothing to fix the problem with the displaying of incorrect album art.

Well, I researched, researched, and researched. And, after Googling, MSNing, and Yahooing, I came to the conclusion that I must be the first person ever to break their iPod in such a fashion. I could not find the slightest tidbit of information which listed ways in which I could get my iPod back to normal (well, I could do a restore, but I was hoping for something a little easier).

Then, by pure luck, I decided to open up iTunes and have a look around in the iPod Preferences pane. I noticed a check-mark which enabled or disabled album art on the Nano, and figured I would go ahead and give it a shot. Well, when you disable support, it does exactly what you would think. It makes it so that your iPod will not show any album art. So basically, it forces the Nano to display song information in the old center justified format (AKA ugly).

Thinking that I had conquered my troubles, I once again enabled album art. It took a few minutes for iTunes to optimize the album art for the Nano, and when it finished it quickly transferred over all of the artwork. And, surprisingly, it worked! Wooohooo. My Nano is now back to its original greatness and displaying the correct album art (both in Now Playing and in Full Screen). Sweet. I am happy.

Oh, for those wondering, I think I managed to break it by enabling “disk use” and disconnecting the iPod without actually hitting the eject button in iTunes or disconnecting the device through Explorer. I know I should not do that, but sometimes you are just in too much of a rush to actually go through all of the necessary steps. It is just easier to pull the plug on the device.

Update (12/07/05): Since this seems to be such a big problem, and to make life easier for everyone, I have created some simple steps for you to follow to get your iPod Nano (or Video) to display the correct album art.

Edit: Old steps removed. Please see update.

Update (10/14/06): Some people in the comments section have reported problem using the above methods in iTunes 7, while others have had great success using the above methods within iTunes 7 (please note that in iTunes 7 the iPod options are NOT located under edit -> preferences). I have tried looking into it but have been unable to get my iPod to have the same problem. Therefore, the above fix may or may not fix your specific issue. Either way, please post a comment, your version of iTunes, and any steps you had to perform differently, so that others can benefit also. Thank you.

Update (05/06/08): The steps have changed slightly for iTunes 7.x. Thanks to everyone in the comments that pointed this out.

Update (12/24/08): I’d like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has given this post praise in the comments below. I definitely appreciate it.

Follow these 8 simple steps.
1. Plug you iPod into your computer and open iTunes.
2. In iTunes, goto iPod -> Music
3. Deselect “Display album artwork on your iPod” -> click apply.
4. Your iPod will update. So wait (should take a few seconds).
5. Repeat step “2″
6. Select “Display album artwork on your iPod” -> click apply.
7. Your iPod will update. So wait (may take a minute or two).
8. Tada! Your iPod / iPhone should be back to its original greatness.
– - – - – - – - – - -
9. Add this podcast to your iTunes collection and enjoy (Shameless plug. I apologize.).

Well, some many moons later, with no real comeback from 50 Cent himself (he did a lackluster response which I covered here), it now seems that he is speaking a little differently about Jadakiss. Here is a quick excerpt I found particularly interesting.

“There are other options and opportunities that may open up for [Jada] in the future,” 50 said. “If he’s smart enough to explore them, there is a possibility. I’m trying to build my company as fast as possible. There’s unlimited possibilities.

Interesting huh? I mean, I know 50 lost the battle (EVERYONE knows 50 lost the battle), but did he lose it so badly that he wants to do business with the man who he attacked for no reason? Wow, just wow. I knew Mr. Jadakiss had lyrical skills, but I did not think he had ‘those’ type of skills. I am impressed, simply impressed. If you want to know the rest of the story, click on over to MTV for the full article.

PS: I think I just lost even more respect for 50 Cent.

Well, no more than a few weeks later, Apple has gone ahead and announced a new version of their iPods that can play video. The base model comes with 30GB of storage and a price-tag of $300. I know, I know, $300 sounds like a lot of money, but when compared to the $250 I just spent on a 4GB model, the price really is not that bad. In addition, the ability to play video would be a nice, albeit useless, addition.

Why would it be useless? Well, the new iPods, on a full charge will be able to playback ‘about’ two hours of video. Sure that is one movie, but that really is not enough to keep anyone satisfied. Add that to the fact that it comes with the standard 2.5 inch screen, and I just cannot imagine wanting to stare at my screen for that long.

So, in the end, while this is a really nice addition to the iPod line-up, it is one that I probably would not venture into. I can see the benefits of having videos (music, personal, or otherwise) in your pocket, but seeing as how I do not even use the photo capabilities of my iPod with any consistency, I think this feature would be used even less.

However, as you know I mentioned earlier about the danger of the faulty screens. Well, Apple announced that they will fix the broken screens (good job Apple), so that eased some of my concerns. However, that did nothing for my concern of how easily the Nano’s scratch. And yes, they do scratch easily…very easily. I set mine on my desk (gently), and within a few minutes of minor movement it had some small scratches on the back of it. Unlike some other folks though, I am not angry about it at all. One look at the iPod Nano and you should KNOW it is going to scratch. I mean, after all, it has a glass-like surface that is just BEGGING to be scratched.

So, to solve my little problem, I just left the Nano in the plastic case it came with. It is sort of inconvenient as I have to take it out of the case whenever I need to charge it or transfer songs to it, but it is a small price to pay to keep my little machine looking halfway decent. Plus, it is only a temporary fix until I get my hands on a real iPod Nano case. So why haven’t I bought a case yet? Well, the things are on an extreme backorder and nobody in town has any for sale .

Oh well, I am more than happy to use my little plastic case for the time being. Go Nano!