Photos: iPod Nano (third generation)

Here are all the extras you get when you crack open the iPod Nano's package: Apple's stock earbuds; a white plastic dock fitting for Apple's universal dock; a proprietary USB cable; stickers; a quick-start guide; and in the case of the red Nano, a special card that denotes that part of the iPod's proceeds with be contributed to the Product (Red) fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

While the Cover Flow mode is a fun way to browse your music collection, it doesn't make finding music any easier. There's a bit of lag between the scroll wheel and its effect on cover rotation. Its a small price to pay for the novelty of seeing all your album covers flip their way past the screen. Compared to browsing your music in list mode, Cover Flow is the slower, yet more scenic route.

Sure, the Nano is now a little shorter and wider, but it's still whisper thin and small enough to conceal in the palm of your hand.

One of the biggest improvements to the Nano is its brand-new graphic user interface. The split-screen menu view gives you a visual preview of the content found in each directory. In this shot, we have the video directory highlighted, so the Nano offers up a shot of cover artwork from a movie we have loaded up. The same holds true for photos, music, and podcasts.

While the second-gen iPod Nano used matte anodized aluminum over its entire body, the third-gen Nano uses the glossy chrome backing found on older versions of the full-size iPod. The chrome's beauty only lasts a hot-minute before smudges and scratches take their toll.

The Nano is small enough to squeeze into your jeans coin pocket. Careful, though; that screen is still plastic, and it's liable to get scratched.

The third-gen Nano looks like the progeny of the 5G video iPod and 2G Nano. It retains the traditional slim-and-tiny Nano feel, but adds the larger iPod's ability to play games downloaded from iTunes, as well as videos.

Although the Nano's screen measures just two inches diagonally, it uses the same crisp 320x240 video resolution found on the iPod Classic. To achieve this, the Nano's screen packs a dense 204 pixels per inch.