January 8, 2004

A case made for the iPod mini

John Gruber makes some excellent points for why the iPod mini is such a good idea. And, as usual, he makes a lot of sense. Jason Fried is right alongside him, voicing the same thoughts. Ignore the price difference between the mini and the 15GB low-end iPod. It's about the size.
making smaller gadgets requires better engineering and more expensive components.
and
I think thatís missing the point. The competition isnít other iPods, itís other products. Apple loves that you are debating between their two products.

Further, when it comes to technology, smaller is almost always more expensive. Miniturization requires more R&D and greater engineering precision. Apple has basically managed to re-issue the original 5GB iPod, but shrink it down considerably (in all dimensions), keep the battery life around 8 hours (I know the original was 10, but 8 is plenty close for a much smaller unit), house it in a new durable aluminum case, provide color options, make it Firewire and USB 2 friendly (including charging via USB), make the same unit Mac and PC friendly, and price it lower than the original 5GB iPod. To me thatís quite an achievement. And, when you look at the other competitors in the market, youíll see that itís priced right on target.
I just can't say it better than these two.
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Posted at 06:54 PM

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house of real estate

Well, compared to other MP3 players, the iPod Mini is still expensive. Sure it has more storage than similar priced players, but it's stuck in no mans land between players with tons of storage and players with little storage. And I cringe when I see colors. I like the current sleek and simple lineup.

I can't see the iPod mini doing very well.

Ernesto

I have looked at every mp3 player on the market for about 1 year. While I like the original ipods, they are just too big to use while excercing, etc. The other players on the market are nice and small but the cost to storage ratio is a killer. For instance, the 256 MB (Thats MB's not GB's) IRiver is about $200. The Ipod Mini is about $250 and holds 4GBs. For the price, the Ipod Mini blows away the miniture competition.

XG

surely the mini blows, I'm gettin my soon.

But the cost diff. is because FlashMemo have no moving parts and this makes it more durable and lighter.

it consumes less engergy and it can be use for running.

surely, ipod can, but the battery will drain faster, that's why rich ppl go for flash. they just want to have some background music for the 1hr workout, not the entire music store.

I have the ipod 3g and i still find my 128mb flash memo usb mp3 recorder more handy. I don;t have to carry 200g of steel but 50g to recorder lectures.

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