SWMBO's sister is getting an Ipod Nano for her birthday in a couple of weeks so I was duly asked to perform the necessary installation work on their PC to make it work. Not a problem I thought..... Well, I was wrong.

The Nano arrives in a smart little plastic box containing the headphones, USB lead and what looks like a dock adaptor. So far so good..... plug the unit into one of spare USB ports, the PC recognises the device, a spot of hard disc grinding later and the Ipod is mounted as a drive in Windows.

Great, now where's the iTunes install disc? Nowhere to be seen, okay the box is a bit on the small side even for a CD single. So maybe they put on Nano itself so you could install off then delete. No such luck.

The PC isn't connected to the 'net, it will be soon, but for the time being there isn't even dialup. Not that I think it should be an issue, its owner simply wants to rip a bunch of CDs and transfer them over. Why should she need a net connection to even make use of a £100 piece of consumer electronics? Even a £5 network card comes with a CD containing the drivers.

They obviously blow an image into the thing at the factory, why can't they put a copy of the 'current' iTunes on it too?

As a result I've had to abort the install and retreat homewards to download a copy of iTunes and take it over on a USB memory stick. Good job it wasn't her birthday today or she'd have been really pissed off!