Decius wrote:
] When people heard about the iPod mini they were thinking mini
] means smaller means cheaper. Unfortunately, thats not at all
] what Apple was thinking. In this case mini apparently means
] more feminine, while also being less useful, for about the
] same price. This is the Paris Hilton of iPods. You can pay
] $299 for a 15 gig hard drive, or $250 for a 4 gig hard drive.
] Really a no brainer unless you care more about pastel colors
] then you do about your money. A real disappointment. There is
] a significant market segment here for people who want a well
] designed device that holds enough music for a plane flight but
] doesn't cost more then the ticket. Apple has missed the boat.
] I don't think these are going to sell very well.

Damnit. Thats disappointing. See, there was a company that makes some of the hardware for the ipods that came out with a 2gb drive for $70. So the rumor mill people picked up on that and decided that apple would use that and charge less for the ipod. Too bad...I was going to get one if they were only $100...Apple needs to consider the grad student market damnit:) We spend hours in the lab, and it would be useful to have a good mp3 player to listen to while working....but none of us can afford apples prices.

Nanochick wrote:
] Damnit. Thats disappointing. See, there was a company that
] makes some of the hardware for the ipods that came out with a
] 2gb drive for $70. So the rumor mill people picked up on that
] and decided that apple would use that and charge less for the
] ipod. Too bad...I was going to get one if they were only
] $100...Apple needs to consider the grad student market
] damnit:) We spend hours in the lab, and it would be useful to
] have a good mp3 player to listen to while working....but none
] of us can afford apples prices.

actually, the rumors about a $100-150 iPod have been circulating for a couple of months (yes, i do read the mac rumor sites regularly. yes, i am a nerd). They were based on nothing but, well, rumors and speculation and a healthy dose of wishing. The miniature $70, 2gb disk was only announced a few days ago, and that price is already based on lots of 100,000 units.

i was hella excited when i heard about a $100 ipod, but when i looked into the relevant costs, it seemed pretty impossible.

it does seem like perhaps a 2gb for $150 might have been a better way to go... i don't know though. is that enough music?

anyway, maybe it's a bit like that brand new $10,000 ferarri i keep dreaming about ;)

inignoct wrote:
] Nanochick wrote:
]
] it does seem like perhaps a 2gb for $150 might have been a
] better way to go... i don't know though. is that enough
] music?

You can never have enough music, but seriously, the problem with the flash models is that they REALLY don't have enough. I couldn't walk to work with my 64 meg Rio without repeating songs back in the day. I want a least a few hours. Enough to go on a long drive. But I don't need 3,000 songs. 2 gigs is actually just about right. Its a middle ground between "2 hours" and "2 weeks"...

Decius wrote:
] Apple has missed the boat.

maybe. or maybe the boat wasn't quite close enough to jump onto yet, pricewise.

i had a stewardess come up to me on my flight to NY over XMAS and point at the iPod and say "So how many songs does yours hold?" I told her i didn't really know, but it was probly in the vicinity of 3000 or so (3213 for the record). Her reply was, "Hmph, i could never keep track of that much music... what's the point? How do you know what's even on there?" This is foreign thinking to me, because we have something like 20,000 songs on the home network, most of which i am familiar with. But i'm not normal people in this arena. I think there's some sense in making a device that gives more than Flash reasonably can, an give it some style, for a bit less than the high-end hard disk based players. Would it be better if they set their price point at $150? Of course it would. But, for people who look at a 15 gig ipod and see "3000 songs! i only *HAVE* 600 mp3s total", but who like the style and cache of the ipod, it's not a bad option. when the ipod first came out i heard tons of people say "300 dollars for the smallest capacity? who the fuck is gonna spend that for an mp3 player?" well, as it turns out, somewhere around 2 million people have spent that much or more for their iPods.

I expect the price to drop when the components commoditize a bit more (i'm pretty sure the 4gb drive in there was around $150 by itself, in volume).

also, be careful with your paris hilton reference... if this really is the paris hilton of mp3 players, they'll sell a few million of them, given how popular she is right now. it's not useful for me, but some people like pink and think more than a few hundred songs is overkill... let's see how many.

I just won an iPod mini at a Christmas party (participating in a party-wide trivia contest).

I've surfed the web a bit looking at iPod hoopla, but this is my first time actually playing with one. Anyone here have recommendations on the "must have" accessories?

Elonka wrote:
] I just won an iPod mini at a Christmas party (participating in
] a party-wide trivia contest).
]
] I've surfed the web a bit looking at iPod hoopla, but this is
] my first time actually playing with one. Anyone here have
] recommendations on the "must have" accessories?

Congrats!

I have a clear rubber case that keeps scratches off my ipod.

I also have a nice set of technics DJ headphones.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/ sells a number of innovative ipod accessories. The itrip is a very well designed FM wireless transmitter so you can listen to your itunes in the car.

Elonka wrote:
] I just won an iPod mini at a Christmas party (participating in
] a party-wide trivia contest).
]
] I've surfed the web a bit looking at iPod hoopla, but this is
] my first time actually playing with one. Anyone here have
] recommendations on the "must have" accessories?

[ Congrats!

A protective case is probably a good choice, and an iTrip is convenient if your car doesn't have a line in handy.

And don't forget the iTunes music store... plenty of tunes and eBooks for your listening pleasure...

-k]

Elonka wrote:
] I just won an iPod mini at a Christmas party (participating in
] a party-wide trivia contest).
]
] I've surfed the web a bit looking at iPod hoopla, but this is
] my first time actually playing with one. Anyone here have
] recommendations on the "must have" accessories?

I've been quite happy with my Shure sound isolating earphones, especially when riding in planes, trains, automobiles, and subways.

If your car stereo supports it, I prefer the casette adapter to the FM transmitter.

Monster recently announced a new product called the iCruze. You can see more about it at

http://www.monstercable.com/

It's described as "Monster's latest iPod accessory that allows consumers to play their entire music collection through their car audio systems."

"Monster's iCruze is an interface that enables the connection of an iPod to a factory or aftermarket radio through either the car's existing CD changer or satellite radio port. An optional display is available if the existing head unit is limited and cannot display text. The iCruze display is a multi-line, 20-character backlit LCD display that reproduces the same information as that on the iPod, such as song title and song artist. Since the iCruze is a direct connect to the automobile's sound system via the CD changer or satellite radio port, sound quality is also incredibly clear."

RE: Apple - iPod mini