Apple's iPod music storage/playback device - it was finally time to follow the leader.
Reminds me of my first walkman, pretty impressive for its time, still pretty cool, but nothing like this.
The iPod is so cool and complementary to our lifestyles of today, even my mother-in-law "gets" it -- and she doesn't own a computer. "You mean I can bring all my music with me? Wow..."
It was a convergence of features, price point, Valentine's day and my honey suddenly really wanting one for her workouts and commute to work, all combined with my inability to say no to a pregnant lady.
So, there you are, and here is our new 15GB iPod, which holds our complete music library and is really nice to have.
Cool beans!
| iPod mini | vs | iPod (15GB) | |
| price | $249 | $269 ($30 online discount) & free engraving |
|
| storage | 4GB | 15GB | |
| screen | 6 lines | 7 lines | |
| screen | 1.7" | 2.0" | |
| colors | several | white only |
Other Notes:
1. Availability: mini not sold in time for me, available February 20th.
2. Future: buddy Dan the Mac Man expects a $199 price point for the mini for Christmas season (this gets the $249 desperados cleared out first)
3. I added the iRock FM transmitter ($29 at Radio Shack) and it works great in the car and also to my home stereo, which now gets a lot more play time since I can pump my entire iTunes library to it. It plays on either of the following FM stations: 88.1, 88.3, 88.5 or 88.7.
4. My iPod shipped directly from China, which I found out when I checked the FedEx tracking info at iship.com
5. The iTunes music store is really great, and $.99 is a decent price given that you don't have to buy complete albums.
6. I had the original Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox a couple years ago. My biggest complaint was not being able to store my full music library. The iPod mini at 4GB would hold less than 1/3 my full library (currently 11GB and probably topping at 15GB when I get done ripping the rest of our CDs). That would have forced choices my wife may not want to make. So, the mini would not have held enough music for me.
7. You don't need to buy the docking station (it's just one more thing to put on your desk). The firewire cable also powers and recharges the unit whenever it's plugged into your computer.
8. The iPod has an address book and calendar, so if you are an occasional user of these who just likes to have your addresses handy, it's perfect for that and will replace an old Palm device or whatever you are carrying around and barely using.