Revamped music players offer mini charms
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Apr 14, 2005 at 12:15am
I admit: I was one of those who didn’t think that the iPod mini would be a success when Apple unveiled it. I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. And while the “full size” iPod and iPod photo offer much more bang for the buck, the iPod mini line has no equal when it comes to size and portability.
If those factors are more important to you than the ability to carry massive amounts of songs or photos on your iPod, then you’ll love the second generation of the iPod mini. In February Apple revamped the lineup with a new 4GB model priced at US$199 and a new 6GB model with 50 percent more storage priced at $249. Formerly, there was only iPod mini – a $249, 4GB model. You’re getting more bang for your buck (though there’s a serious caveat to this; more on that later), even if the iPod and iPod photo are still the best buy when it comes to GB per dollar.
The 4GB version can hold 1,000 songs, the 6GB model 1,500. I’ve been test-driving a silver GB device and certainly haven’t tapped out its capacity. I’ve been judicious in which songs I place on the mini. It’s seen plenty of use as I’ve spent most of my weekends for the past two months with Dad in either a hospital or rehab center following a severe car accident. I’ve yet to wish I had more than 1,500 songs at my disposal during this time. However, I have a lot more tunes than this in my song collection, so the time might come when, say, I just have to hear Queen’s “Play the Game” only to find it didn’t make the first “cut” of tunes loaded onto the iPod mini.
The new minis are even better looking than generation one. The gold model has been discontinued; your choices are now silver, blue, green and pink. But their colors are more vivid than that of their predecessors thanks to an enhanced metal-flake coating.
Perhaps the best thing about the revamped iPod mini line is the major gain in battery life. The original minis would run for about eight hours when fully charged. The second generation runs up to 18 hours, according to Apple. Based on my experiments (with backlighting used sparingly), I’d say that estimate is accurate, perhaps even conservative.
Unfortunately, for Mac users at least, the iPod minis are less a bargain than they first appear. Sure, battery life is better and prices have been cut. However, Apple no longer includes a FireWire cable or power adapter, as it did with the first generation of iPods. Instead, the company expects you to live with the included USB 2.0 cable. If you can, fine. If not, you’ll have to fork out $19 and $29 for a FireWire cable and power adapter, respectively. This pretty much eliminates the aforementioned price savings.
Otherwise, if you don’t need to carry more than 1,000-1,500 songs with you, if you don’t need to access photos on your iPod and if don’t desire to take advantage of some of the peripherals that only work with the bigger iPods, check out the iPod mini. It sounds great, looks gorgeous and, like the Energizer Bunny, keeps on going and going and going …
System requirements: The iPod mini requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port or FireWire and Mac OS X version 10.2.8 or higher; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 or FireWire port, or USB 2.0 or FireWire card and Windows 2000, with Service Pack 4 or later, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later.
Macsimum rating: 8 out of 10.
Have a product you’d like us to review? E-mail dsellers@macsimumnews.com
Leave a comment ⇒
Please post the article topic & comment in our forums. No registration required.
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
