The Apple of my Eye... (Apple iPod mini 6 GB)

Member Name: angeelu

Product:	Apple iPod mini 6 GB
Date:	29/07/05 (396 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, stylish, reliable, easy to use

Disadvantages: Fairly expensive, takes quite a while to fully charge, doesn't come with mains charger

iPod's must be the most hyped up MP3 players there are. The two words (iPod and MP3 player) have almost become synonymous, like vacuum cleaner and hoover. That's not to say there aren't very decent alternatives to the iPod but Apple have really managed to get themselves at the top of the list...

The iPod Mini is essentially an MP3 player. An MP3 is basically a music file - each file or MP3 is a song or track, just like you'd get on a CD really. But the iPod Mini doesn't stop at just playing MP3's, it has so much more to offer besides!

Looks
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This is where the iPod range stands out from other MP3 players. The picture shown by dooyoo gives a very accurate image of the iPod mini. The blue one, which I opted for, is almost turquoise in appearance - shiny and sleek looking in its metal casing. It's palm sized, no more than two inches wide and thin enough to slip into most pockets. In fact it's smaller than my Nokia 7610 mobile phone.
As the picture shows, the iPod mini encompasses a very simple design. At the top is a small screen and beneath that, the circular Click Wheel. The uncomplicated design makes it very easy to use - there aren't buttons and switches all over, just the four commands on the Click Wheel (menu, back, forward and play/pause), and a 'hold' switch on the very top of the iPod mini.

What It Does
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As I've mentioned, this is essentially an MP3 player, so that is what it does best. The new 6Gb model (recently released as a successor to the 4Gb model) boasts the ability to hold approximately 1500 songs. This really is a lot of music, so there can be no complaints for not being able to have something on it you want to listen to!
Listening to your music is made simple through the easy to navigate menu system. One click of the Menu button will turn on the iPod Mini and show you all your options, a click of the select button in the centre of the Click Wheel will take you into the first option on the Menu, 'Music'. You're then given the options to search through your music by 'Playlists' (these are preset track listings and include the default categories 90's Music, My Top Rated, Purchased Music, Recently Added, Recently Played, Top 25 Most Played, and On-The-Go plus any others you may have created yourself).
Alternatively, as opposed to listening to your music using a playlist you can scroll through your music sorted by Artist, Albums, Songs, Genres, Composers or Audiobooks.

So already, the iPod Mini is giving you numerous ways to pick from, organise and listen to the expansive music collection you've downloaded to your new toy... But there's more...

The iPod Mini has a clock feature - not the most exciting feature but very useful nonetheless. This also incorporated an alarm clock, a sleep timer, and date/time function.

The iPod Mini can store up to 1000 contact details in addition to your music collection. This is done by exporting the contacts in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Palm Desktop as vCards. It's always handy to have a backup of contacts, so the fact the iPod Mini incorporates this is another handy feature.

Similarly the iPod Mini also has a Calendar feature and Notes feature. Again, these need to be used in conjunction with your computer, but once again they serve as useful tools.

And then there's the games! These are by no means ground-breaking, but after all, if you want an iPod Mini it's to listen to your music - the extras are all just nice to haves. There are four games - brick (you control a paddle at the bottom of the screen and have to use it to bounce a ball against bricks at the top of the screen to make them disappear - a classic game that you are bound to have played a variant of at some point, useful for passing the time), MusicQuiz (an ingenious game in my opinion - the iPod Mini lists four random tracks from your iPod and starts to play one, a timer starts counting down and you have to select the track that is being played before the timer runs out to score points - fun, and makes you realise just how many track names you don't really know! Kind of a 'beat the intro' style game), Parachute (a bit space invaders style, you aim your gun at passing helicopters to shoot them and parachutists jump out, which you can then also shoot), and Solitaire (needs no explanation - the addictive single player card game).

Whilst I'm discussing the features within the menus it's also worth mentioning that there is also a 'Settings' menu that allows you to change a whole variety of settings such as how fast audiobooks are read, equaliser settings, contrast, language etc.

Is It Any Good?
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In my opinion, YES!!! The iPod Mini 6Gb is currently priced at around £169, though there are small variations in price from retailer to retailer. The introduction of this new iPod Mini has dropped the 4Gb price to around £139. The main advantage of this new version over its previous version is the extra disk space (equal to about 500 extra songs) and the extended battery life (some of the earlier 4Gb models didn't have the 8 hour battery life of this new version).

The iPod Mini comes bundled with a set of Apple in-ear headphones and two sets of foam covers to put over the ear pieces. All of these come sealed in foil packaging (for freshness??! or maybe just to emphasise they are hygeinically packaged). It also comes with a belt clip - useful I guess if you want to wear your iPod on the go but don't have a pocket or bag to put it into. Not something I've used yet myself, but I can see that some would find it useful. I can't help but think this puts your iPod Mini more prominently on display though, which can only lead to more chance of being a victim of crime (incidentally, some people mention that just wearing the white headphones supplied with all iPods makes you a more likely victim of crime as they immediately suggest you have an iPod on you - not sure whether you are statistically more likely to be mugged wearing an iPod in public than any other device with headphones, but thought it worth mentioning as otherwise someone's bound to mention it).
The headphones are of perfectly good quality. I've read reviews saying they're not great, but the sound quality is perfect so far as I'm concerned, and they're comfortable enough to wear.

The battery life is quoted as being approximately 8 hours. Obviously being a rechargeable device this diminishes over time, however in addition to Apple themselves offering the service there are more and more places cropping up offering a service to replace the battery when required (Apple offer the service for $65.95 at the moment, though there are cheaper places if you do your research online - if your iPod is under a year old (still in warranty) then I believe the service is free if it is required. The battery is sealed within the iPod Mini unit, something which puts many people off them. Apple offer tips on their site for prolonging battery life, including ensuring you go through at least one full battery cycle each month (i.e. running it from fully charged to dead).

Main advantages:
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* The ability to store your whole music collection on a mini device that can fit in your pocket!
* The ability to organise your music into playlists and search through your music in a variety of ways.
* The ability to listen to your music on the go without the problem of skipping CD's.
* Stylish looking product, simple to use.

Main disadvantages:
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* Not the cheapest MP3 player
* iPod (including the iPod Mini) has its haters who no matter what you say will always have some opinion of you 'following the crowd' etc.
* Battery not accessible unless you take the gadget apart

The Verdict
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I love my iPod Mini. It does everything I want it to and more. I am particularly fond of the blue iPod Mini as most people seem to opt for the silver or pink versions so it's a little more unusual (at least so far as those I've seen go). There's so much more that could be said about the whole iPod Mini experience with regards to getting the music from your computer to the iPod, but that really falls within the category of iTunes, the software provided along with the iPod Mini to manage the transfer of files between your computer and the iPod.
I hope this has been useful if you're considering purchasing an iPod Mini in the near future!

Summary: Fantastic gadget, easy to use and does all you'd want from an MP3 player

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