5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
iLove my iPod Mini
Date of Review: Feb 13, 2005
The Bottom Line: This is the best deal out there for the money. The interface, sleek design, everything is top quality on this Mini. High price, but handiest gadget I own.
Getting Started: When I decided on my iPod Mini, I was looking at regular iPods. 20+ GB seemed like way too much space for me, since I only have about 4GB of music on my computer. Out of nowhere, the iPod Mini seemed to catch my eye. 4GB, 100 dollars less than the iPod, nice and small, looked like this would be perfect for me. It came in a small box that included the iTunes software, the cables for power and data transfer, and a belt clip and headphones for added bonus. I already have headphones and I don't wear a belt so I didn't really use them. I gave it an initial charge while installing iTunes on my PC. I found iTunes to be very easy to use. Some people complain that you can't get music into iTunes without first downloading it from the iTunes store or ripping the music from your CD collection again, but they are mistaken. iTunes makes it easy to import mp3s that you already have on your computer into the iTunes library, and then onto the Mini. iPod Mini has an instruction manual set up so that even the most computer un-savvy can get everything set up.
Aesthetics: The iPod Mini has to be the sexiest piece of electronics I own, bar none. It's light enough to fit great into a pocket without being a burden, while being just heavy enough to not feel fragile. The click-wheel interface is amazing, affering outstanding control over what you want your iPod Mini to do. You move your finger clockwise or counter-clockwise around the wheel to scroll up and down, for volume or browsing songs. The screen is easy to read, with pleny of backlight options for dark places/night time.
The Inside Junk: 4GB seems tiny when it's sitting next to 20 or 40GB, but right now I have 561 songs, which equates to about 2.27 GB and 1.7 days of music. That is a lot of music, and I'm still trying to find out why people need 40GB of space on an iPod. Maybe I'm just old fashioned ^^. The iPod Mini makes it easy to find songs by sorting all music by playlists, artist, album, or song title. There is a clock and alarm function, a few games to play, and a calendar. Also, you can send notes or contacts to your iPod Mini and view them when you need. Battery life on the Mini seems controversial for a lot of people. It can charge the first 80% of the battery in an hour, but a full charge is about 4 hours. It says it lasts for 10 hours on a full charge but realistically I get about 8-10, depending on how much I use the backlight. People that complain about battery life probably play it full volume with the backlight on the whole time. When you can charge it by hooking it up to your computer or a power cable it's easy to keep power in the thing.
