Apple has released a new software version for its latest-released iPod, the fourth-gen nano. According to iPod owners, the release notes just say "Bug Fixes," mentioning no details about the update. However, Apple Discussions users promptly posted their findings, revealing that the iPod nano 4G Software Update 1.0.3 included a truckload of changes.

“I am completely thrilled about the calendar word wrap issue being resolved,” Valentia said. “As for photos, I was showing thumbnails, but no full-size pix. I'm a manual sync-er and don't resync photos unless I want other than my usual 4 pix I keep on there. I did manually resync, and then the full-size pix were fine again. (If you sync automatically, you may not even realize there was a prob.)”

Changi1113 could confirm that the new software fixed a syncing issue with equalizer presets. “I updated my nano 3rd gen to 1.0.3, and then set an eq preset on some songs. I was able to sync afterwards, which I could not do with 1.0.2, so that problem seems to be fixed,” Changi1113 wrote.

Discussions poster Heather was able to confirm “a few things that are NOT fixed.” As she puts it, “The Nano still ignores the Start Time setting on podcasts in the Options tab, and starts a podcast at the beginning, even if the Start Time is set to a value greater than 0.” The fact that her 4G nano still wouldn't play “converted audiobooks (m4b files) at the faster or slower rate” was also noted as a minus by the user.

Andrew White4 chimed in providing an extensive list of noticeable changes. According to the user, these comprise

"a) Restart includes a progress bar

b) Disconnecting includes a progress bar

c) Contacts now include full notes !! (this is a big plus: they were completely absent before)

d) Photos were re-optimized and re-loaded/synced

e) The quirky behavior of Calendar sometimes displayed and often not displayed, and same for Notes (sometimes list of Notes is displayed, often list is a blank screen) continues with no change."

Other forum posters revealed that Apple included the "speakers" option, when one connected the iPod to speakers. “...you can now adjust the tone for playing through a speaker- and have the backlight remain on while it is playing so you can see what you are listening to!” said Adamgorn. “The world clock has also been amended to take into account daylight savings ending in the northern hemisphere,” according to the author of the post.

How about you? Have you found any other changes after updating your nano's firmware?