The baby iPod is style over substance incarnate. That's not necessarily as bad as it sounds: to a lot of people, what their player looks like is genuinely important, as is feeling like they've got something that seems worth the money they spent on it.

Looking at a cold, hard list of facts, though, it's awful hard to come up with a compelling reason to not spend a little more on a full-sized iPod or Zen.

The Nano doesn't do video - even if it could, the screen's too small for it to be watchable - and its highest capacity model (Nanos come in 2GB, 4GB or 8GB flavours) has under a third of the space of the lowest capacity iPod, despite being only £10 cheaper.

Yet since when has logic had anything to do with lust? The Nano is simply a fantastically appealing device. Although it's longer than the similar Zen V Plus, its amazing svelteness lends a much more cutting-edge feel.

That the core iPod interface - from the wheel to the on-screen menus - is all packed into its whippet-thin frame is particularly impressive. It's the music player that's the most perfect for a back pocket or a handbag. Capacity be damned, this thing looks and feels great!

This second version of the Nano isn't quite as good-looking as the first, as it's replaced the infamously delicate ceramic body with a rather more sturdy if plainer aluminium one. A shame, but it beats taking it out your pocket to find that it's horribly scratched or even shattered.

Same old song

The capacity/appearance argument aside, pretty much every praise and criticism we have for the larger iPod is equally applicable here.

Specifically, the iTunes desktop software is easy but restrictive, the menus are a bit too plain and the sound quality is not fantastic. If sheer ease is what your buying decision hinges on, the iPods take it.

One cold, hard fact the Nano does have over its larger sibling is the battery life: a full 24 hours in optimum conditions (expect 15-20 in reality) against a puny 14 hours for the 30GB or the 80GB's meatier 20 hours.

If you don't need a vast archive of music and photos at your disposal, this makes the Nano a better player for travelling. It's much easier to tote about, and you won't need to abandon your climb up Kilimanjaro halfway along to find a plug socket.

Still, the feature list loses out to most rival players. This is just a music player. There's a certain no-frills charm to that, and means that every last penny has clearly been spent on its construction instead of shoehorning in a radio you'll never use, but means the Nano can't possibly win the value-for-money fight.

It's a triumph of design, but wipe the drool off your chin and have a careful think about what you really want. Of everything here, this'd make the best gift for someone else, but possibly not yourself.