iPod nano or touch?

The new Nano has a movie feature, but it drains the battery pretty fast. Depending on your airline, you'll probably enjoy the movies better on the plane than a little Nano. I love my Nano 3rd generation, it holds plenty of music and audio tours and is very petite.

As for the iPod touch, I'm pretty sure it has no phone capability, so if you need a phone you must get an iPhone instead. Not sure about wi-fi, others will weigh in on this I'm sure.

Nano is smaller and lighter than the Touch. I'd suggest going to an Apple store and holding both and seeing which is more comfortable for you. Once you decide that, then you can look for used deals or bargains. Free wi-fi might be tricky to find, depends on where you are staying. Touch does not have phone capabilities, one of the iPhone VOIP (wireless only) apps won't even install to the Touch. If you did have free wireless, and the new Apple ear buds with the mic in, you might be able to use Skype's web page to make over the internet calls.

according to http://www.jiwire.com/ Florence has 141 wifi locations, and 350 in Rome. I'm not sure how many are free, and it looks like a lot of them are hotels. If you need phone you might want to consider an iphone,. Touch isn't a phone. The email is remarkably easy to use.

I had posted a similar question early this month, and was advised to go to the Apple store and play with the new ipods. I was hesitant to enter the world of techie kids, but found the staff was willing and able to make me feel comfortable. I ended up gettting the new touch. I'm still in the honeymoon stage with the new purchase,but I do love it!

Lauren,

My choice would definitely be the IPod Touch! I've used both the older generation IPod Nano and the newer IPod Touch during travels, so have some experience using both.

The Nano is somewhat smaller and easier to carry, and will certainly suffice for music and RS audio tours. However, I find the displays of even the newest generation a bit "limited" for movies or other video content.

The Touch provides a much larger display, and while it certainly doesn't recreate the experience of watching videos on a Laptop or regular TV, it's an improvement over the Nano.

The Touch also provides Wi-Fi capability, which allows Internet use where wireless is available. Using the small screen and Keyboard is not the most ideal solution for E-mail, but it works suprisingly well. However, IMO it would be very awkward to try and update a Blog with that small Keyboard - if you write "wordy" Blogs, it could take a LONG time! A Net Cafe is a much better option (keeping in mind that the Keyboards differ between countries, so that slows down typing to some extent).

The Touch also provides a much greater range of App's, some of which are quite useful for travel (currency converters, expense records, language translators, etc.).

The battery life is not "ideal" on any of the IPod models, however I have now bought an external battery pack that will provide a bit more time for watching movies on long flights.

Happy travels!

I own an iPod Touch and took it to Europe with me this past summer. We stayed in 2-star and 3-star hotels, many of which had free wi-fi but a few didn't. Those that didn't usually had a PC in the lobby area that you could borrow. Having daily access to email helped us to avoid using a cell phone. (I had a calling card, and we did call home from a land line on occasion, and that was sufficient). But note that I didn't notice any other free wi-fi areas while we were walking around Italy.

Having the Touch was definitely very nice for listening to Rick Steves' audio tours. Keep in mind that each stop on one of his tours is accompanied by a photo, and those photos are displayed nice and large on the Touch. Seeing the photo is VERY helpful for you to find where you're supposed to go next. My wife had a Nano which displayed the photos in a small thumbnail -- sometimes not as easy to see.

I also found other good uses of my iPod Touch on vacation. You can store your itinerary in the Calendar function, including key details like hotel addresses and phone numbers. Useful to have when you're out and about. And when you get back home, you can store all your photos on there. That way, you're always carrying a vacation photo album that you can share with friends & family.

I have an iPod classic 80 GB. Can I see the photos on Rick's audio guide too?

Thanks for all the replies.

I guess I should have specified that I'm totally aware that the Touch doesn't have a cell phone. I have been debating whether I really need a cell phone - whether I could do calling cards and then the email thing as another poster mentioned.

I live near Apple HQ so I'm very up to date about the new technology etc.

My question really should have been whether there will be free wi-fi that is readily available. I am staying in hostels, not hotels. I don't want to spend the extra for the Touch if I can access the internet.

Because of the anti-terrorist laws, internet use is pretty locked down in Italy and free connections are difficult, not impossible to find. There may be password protected WiFi in internet cafes and hotels/hostels but you have to register with your ID usually a passport but sometimes a driver's license. I have only bee to one place in Venice where they didn't photocopy my ID.

My niece had an iTouch with her in May/June on our trip and could never get online without a passcode.

Trish

I have an iPod classic, the new Nano as well as the touch and i still prefer my classis even though i use the Touch alot more in Europe. The Nano as one poster stated drained the battery life more rapidly.

If I had to give you a choice, get the touch