Apple iPod mini 2nd Generation Green (4 GB) MP3 Player
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- Number of Songs: 1000
- Usage: Music
- Interface: Firewire USB 2.0
- Screen Size: 1.67 inch
- Main Storage Type: Hard Drive
- Storage Capacity: 4 GB
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Great little player, easy learning curve, stingy on features for price!!
Pros
The sound and design is great, viewing/navigating music is easy, quick learning curve.
Cons
Too close in price to the 20GB version, Apple is stingy with songs and accessories.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I recommend this product highly for its style and function. Unfortunately, Apple has provided reasons to look elswhere: cost, weak accessories, stingy music downloads.
I confess my skeptical nature when dealing with Apple products. I was around when the Mac Geniuses took a whipping from Microsoft because they wanted a fortune for their systems, had a limited software list, and made development impossibly expensive. That brings me to here...
My wife bought me this cool iPod mini, and I am seeing the light!!!
I really like the mini iPod and iTunes!!! Like most, I breezed through the manual for a second. There was almost no learning curve required for the player or the software, but I will mention the 2 stumbling blocks I faced (because I didn't read the manual):
The "Hold" button on top...my first day of use, I got 1 hour of battery life because the player turns itself on with minimal contact to the wheel and the earphone jack. Use the "Hold" button to stop this madness.
The "Navigation Wheel"...I thought my unit was broken, because I naturally wanted to navigate using "up, down, left, right" mentality. The circular touch design is interesting, and I am growing to like it.
The Good!!!: The unit is attractive and stylish, as good as I've seen in any MP3 player. Navigating and viewing your music collection is a breeze. The sound quality is very good and the unit provides ample volume. I like the Equalizer function, but I am suprised that you can't save your own "Custom" settings. I personally love the iTunes interface. You drop the CD in, select your songs, and push a button to convert to MP3, etc... iTunes does what I want, with minimal complexity.
The Bad!!!: All downsides are related to my original statement. Apple is still very greedy with its price, music purchases, file format compatibility, and included accessories. I know that Apple is the MP3 player king...right now...but other players (e.g. look at the iRiver) are closing the gap quickly. Why not be generous, including packages that can't be beat by others, and destroy the competition once and for all???
***Price***- at about $250, they force you into an unecessary dilemma. Your choice: A less than 1GB Flash player for $100-$150, the mini for $250, or the 20GB MP3 players for $299. Honestly, do you know anyone who hasn't wrestled with the question ($50 for 15 GB more storage)? Why do they do this? Don't they like selling the mini??? If they drop the price $50, they are in a longterm class of their own.
***Music purchases***- $.99 song downloads are the iTunes standard now. So, 10 songs = $10 (even for songs 20 years old). What's up with that? Whole "best of..." albums can be easily bought for less than $10 on Amazon.com today. You then have infinite ability to burn, infinite file formats to convert to, infinite opportunity to share. iTunes charges you $.99 for a song in a protected format. This format limits your ability to use your rightly purchased songs as you see fit. Stand up and fight this pain in the #$@% policy.
***File Format***- the iPod will not support your .wmv files created using other players. iRiver converts these to Apple file format. This is a pain. Apple and Microsoft, please get this through your heads, work together to standardize formats or allow mutual file format compatability. My wife has an iRiver player, I have the mini. "Why can't we all just get along?" You have forced me away from your standard, into the MP3 format, because you won't play nice and support the other's standard. The American public is not stupid, file format will not "force our hands" into your player, it will only push us to use MP3 format.
***Accessories***- the standard "ear buds" have mediocre sound quality and cloth covers that will fall off by the second time the unit is used...for $250 I expect significantly better than this, poorly done.
The included "belt clip", while looking good and fitting the unit snuggly, doesn't "hook/clip" the belt well. I have dropped my unit multiple times due to this. My "Battery Life" is not great. I am getting around 3 hours a charge...1/4 of the advertised length.
I hope this helps, this is the good, bad, and ugly of the mini. I really like this thing and I don't regret the cost, but I do worry that I will outgrow the limited space in the future.
My wife bought me this cool iPod mini, and I am seeing the light!!!
I really like the mini iPod and iTunes!!! Like most, I breezed through the manual for a second. There was almost no learning curve required for the player or the software, but I will mention the 2 stumbling blocks I faced (because I didn't read the manual):
The "Hold" button on top...my first day of use, I got 1 hour of battery life because the player turns itself on with minimal contact to the wheel and the earphone jack. Use the "Hold" button to stop this madness.
The "Navigation Wheel"...I thought my unit was broken, because I naturally wanted to navigate using "up, down, left, right" mentality. The circular touch design is interesting, and I am growing to like it.
The Good!!!: The unit is attractive and stylish, as good as I've seen in any MP3 player. Navigating and viewing your music collection is a breeze. The sound quality is very good and the unit provides ample volume. I like the Equalizer function, but I am suprised that you can't save your own "Custom" settings. I personally love the iTunes interface. You drop the CD in, select your songs, and push a button to convert to MP3, etc... iTunes does what I want, with minimal complexity.
The Bad!!!: All downsides are related to my original statement. Apple is still very greedy with its price, music purchases, file format compatibility, and included accessories. I know that Apple is the MP3 player king...right now...but other players (e.g. look at the iRiver) are closing the gap quickly. Why not be generous, including packages that can't be beat by others, and destroy the competition once and for all???
***Price***- at about $250, they force you into an unecessary dilemma. Your choice: A less than 1GB Flash player for $100-$150, the mini for $250, or the 20GB MP3 players for $299. Honestly, do you know anyone who hasn't wrestled with the question ($50 for 15 GB more storage)? Why do they do this? Don't they like selling the mini??? If they drop the price $50, they are in a longterm class of their own.
***Music purchases***- $.99 song downloads are the iTunes standard now. So, 10 songs = $10 (even for songs 20 years old). What's up with that? Whole "best of..." albums can be easily bought for less than $10 on Amazon.com today. You then have infinite ability to burn, infinite file formats to convert to, infinite opportunity to share. iTunes charges you $.99 for a song in a protected format. This format limits your ability to use your rightly purchased songs as you see fit. Stand up and fight this pain in the #$@% policy.
***File Format***- the iPod will not support your .wmv files created using other players. iRiver converts these to Apple file format. This is a pain. Apple and Microsoft, please get this through your heads, work together to standardize formats or allow mutual file format compatability. My wife has an iRiver player, I have the mini. "Why can't we all just get along?" You have forced me away from your standard, into the MP3 format, because you won't play nice and support the other's standard. The American public is not stupid, file format will not "force our hands" into your player, it will only push us to use MP3 format.
***Accessories***- the standard "ear buds" have mediocre sound quality and cloth covers that will fall off by the second time the unit is used...for $250 I expect significantly better than this, poorly done.
The included "belt clip", while looking good and fitting the unit snuggly, doesn't "hook/clip" the belt well. I have dropped my unit multiple times due to this. My "Battery Life" is not great. I am getting around 3 hours a charge...1/4 of the advertised length.
I hope this helps, this is the good, bad, and ugly of the mini. I really like this thing and I don't regret the cost, but I do worry that I will outgrow the limited space in the future.
