iPod Nano 4th Generation Clone

My iPod nano 3rd generation hard drive failed in the second half of 2010. It had lasted since Christmas 2006, if I recall correctly. This may seem like a good amount of time for it to last, but I had been experiencing corruption problems with the artword.db file in the iPod since summer 2008. I decided during the November 21, 2009 eBay search outage to use the woraround to it (when I came across it) to get a good deal on a replacement MP3 player. Why did I get a better deal than I usually would? Economics dictates that the less bidders, which in this case was caused by others not knowing the workaround (an information advantage), the lower the price will be if the supply stays the same. Based on 22 feedback posts, these "8GB 1.8"Touch 4th Gen MP4 MP3 More Feature Than Ipod” sell on average for $43.81 (the min was $26.00 and the max was $76.00, so the price varies widely). I got this iPod nano clone from eBay user zzahuan for $26.oo due to the outage, however. This item is pretty good once you figure it out, but the poor quality of the instructions, lack of a specific name, and the hacked memory will prove too time consuming and frustrating for all but the most tech-savvy to deal with. This page should be helpful in dealing with these problems, but if you are not tech-savvy and patient, it will be less time consuming and frustrating to buy a 2 GB Sandisk Sansa Clip on eBay for less than these iClones go for. Why are so many people paying outrageous amounts for iClones? The answer is simple: keyword spamming, deception, and lying. This is not 8 GB even if it is taken to mean Gigabit instead of Gigabyte (more on that later); it does not have a touch screen but it does operate off touch (instead of say voice); it is not a 4th generation MP3 player (though it is in the style of a fourth generation iPod nano); it is not an MP4 player (try it; it won’t work) unless MP4 means something other than MPEG-4 Part 14 format; and it may well have “More Feature Than Ipod”, but that should be in your description rather than your title unless you want people thinking it is an iPod. Let us also go through some of the features that are put in its description that it supposedly has:

• It does play MP3s and WAV sound files, but I haven’t tried WMV.
• It does have "ultra-high quality stereo sound".
• It does have a 1.8” effective pixel LCD screen.
• It does have a photo viewer that allows the viewing of JPEG images, but I haven’t tried BMP images.
• It has about a 1.5-2 hour battery life if you mostly use it with the LCD screen off. (A timer called “DarkMode” found under “LCD set” under “Settings” controls the given period of time the LCD will turn off after the iClone is left alone. This is a maximum of 30 second.) I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say it uses a “high-capacity lithium battery”.
• It is nano size.
• It does have a working voice recorder. It records in WAV format.
• It does have a built-in FM radio, but it took me a while to find in the firmware, because it is filed under “Podcast” even though radio is not a podcast. It will record from the radio in WAV format.
• It does have a player that can play files recorded from the voice recorder or built-in FM radio.
• It does have a text reader that reads .txt (plain text) but not .rtf (rich text format) or .doc (97-2003 word documents). It is not a good text reader, however.
• It does have games including a customizable version of Minesweeper, a version of Tetris, a box moving game, and a colored bead game that doesn’t seem to work.
• It does play videos as long as they are AMV files.
• It does work like a USB removable disk.
• It is listed as working with Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP, but it works with Vista as well.
• It does have a large amount of language support.

I understand that it was free shipping from Honk Kong, but it took me at least two weeks longer to receive this package from zzahuan  than a laptop bag that shipped from Honk Kong with free shipping from ihome852 (a user I would highly recommend) during the same busy time of year before Christmas of 2009. I say “at least”, because I left on Christmas vacation before it got to my dorm, which meant it was not until I came back from Christmas break that I was able to use it. I immediately noticed something fishy. I would try loading 8 GB of music on it and only some of it would be on the player when I used it. After researching it, I found out that my iClone might be hacked to say 8 GB when it really wasn't. Good thing I stumbled upon this forum discussion right here. I ran H2testw on it and sure enough, I only had 1.8 GB of memory; those clever Asians had hacked my iClone. I used the 13 step process involving Check Flash outlined in the thread to fix my iClone to give the memory it actually has (except I used 1.6 GB just in case H2testw had overestimated it). Even if they meant 8.0 Gigabits, this comes out to at most about 1.3 GB, so this is not what they meant (unless they meant for the partition to be smaller than the capacity and intended to partition it as 8 Gigabits instead of 8 Gigabytes, but this is highly unlikely). Besides this, it is actually a pretty decent MP3 player. I was surprised how good the firmware on it was. The firmware listed is MP4 Player 9.5.54 by CBD Co., Ltd. on 2009-10-05 . I cannot find any information about the company, however. I want to run through the Pros and the Cons of the MP3 player now:

Pro:

• Sound Quality - I haven’t noticed any problems with sound quality so far.
• Doesn't Require iTunes - This does not mean that you cannot still have your music in iTunes, but it does mean you need to transfer your music using Windows Media Player, by simply dragging and dropping, or some other non-iTunes way. iTunes music and some of the data for it is not stored in the iTunes library file, so if you use iTunes, you can still use this MP3 player to play your music.
• Tempo Change Feature - This is my favorite feature. Do you like a song but feel it would be better if the artist had taken it up tempo? Now you can artificially fix that. Do you feel that a song would be better if the artist had taken it a little slower? This can artificially fix that. I personally like my songs fast.
• Built-in Radio – Even though it takes a while to get to, since it is filed under “Podcasts” despite radio not being a podcast, it has it. It also allows you to record from the radio.
• Other Features - Fade in when you press play, fade out when you press stop (they are the same button for both just like the iPod), SRS WOW, 7 equalizer settings (natural, rock, pop, classic, soft, jazz, and DBB), “repeating” (normal (play through all songs and stop), repeat one (repeat song), folder (play folder and stop), repeat folder, repeat all (repeat all songs), random (shuffle), intro (plays first 10 seconds of songs)), segment replay (A-B), how many times to replay that segment before it goes on, and how long to wait between segment replays
• On/Off Switch –In iPods, the switch at the top or bottom works to turn on and off a locking system, but since the iClone has a timed locking system (more on that below), the switch on the top is to put the item into a deeper sleep (based on the time it takes to load when using it) than by holding down the play button. This is likely a useful feature for saving battery, but it does not negate the fact that a physical locking system rather than a timed one should exist as well.
• Accessories – The iClone comes with a rubber protector that fits pretty well (though not perfectly), very similar looking to iPod earbuds, and a very similar to iPod USB cable.
• Orientation Sensor – This is not important for listening to music, but it is to view photos and videos, because most videos and photos are more wide than long. For some reason the firmware shows a cover art view initially when you change orientation even though viewing by cover art is not a feature it has.

Con:

• Shake To Next Song - Possibly the worst MP3 feature ever invented. Don't feel like pressing the next button to go to the next song? Then you can just shake the iClone. This is great for working out (Not!).
• Timed Lock - And you thought the iTouch's locking feature was annoying. How about a lock that goes about every 5 seconds to compensate for the shaking feature that shouldn't exist to begin with? That makes perfect sense. Good thing you can hold the middle button to access your MP3 player again.
• User Interface - There are two ways to switch songs: the next button and the folder system. The folder system can only be accessed when the song is stopped (unlike the iPod). When it is, by clicking the menu button, on "local folder", and on the "/" you can access the upper level folder, which will have folders of your albums if you used Windows Media Player. If you click on the album, you can click on the song, and off you go. It is not the multiple views that the iPod has, and it takes a while to get to the top view of the folder, but the folder system is customizable.
• The Manual - This and the next one don't have to do with the actual iClone, but they are valid complaints. Not only is the manual not that helpful, it is in awful English. Take for example "You can move your privacy into the encrypted part; they will be protected by password" or "You can set time in minutes on 'Sleep Menu', allow the player shut down automatically when the player become idle (regardless current status) for the period you have set. It is designed for listening music before sleep." Maybe they just used an auto-translator to be fair.
• The Included Mini CD - This is essentially useless. It is not clear what each thing on the disc does. I did use one of the installers (the one labeled Msien), which was basically for an AMV converter, but I am sure you can find those online just fine. I am still unsure why there is a picture of a panda bear with one eye shut on the CD.

I do not know for sure if zzahuan knows he is selling hacked goods, because he may not understand the angry feedback in English that he is getting from some of his buyers, but I do know that he should not have a 98.4% positive feedback rating (at the time this was written). Part of it is that eBay's new checklist, which comes us before negative feedback is submitted, discourages negative reviews too much (though I understand that disputes need to be resolved first, things like very slow shipping don't involve a dispute). Part of it may be collusion with eBay (the negative feedback I left mysteriously disappeared from zzahuan's page). Part of it is likely that people don't examine what they get enough or at all before they leave feedback. Whatever it is, it has increased my skepticism of eBay feedback ratings, and increased the threshold for positive feedback percentage that I consider safe when buying on eBay.

How to use your iPod Nano 4th Generation Clone Part 1 of 2

How to use your iPod Nano 4th Generation Clone Part 2 of 2