The iPod Mini (Apple iPod mini 4 GB)

Member Name: Jonny444

Product:	Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Date:	12/01/06 (448 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Music at your fingertips

Disadvantages: iPod WIPEING!

In case you don't want to read a big long, boring, serious…tedious review about an iPod mini, when all you want is some quick info on it I have done the courteous thing and put my summary at the start, how's that for using the old noodle? You can just breeze by the rest and be on your merry way.


* Summary *

• iPod mini holds maximum of 1000 songs
• Costs anything between £80 - £180
• Must have either Macintosh or Windows PC to upload songs.
• Comes with disk for easy installation on your computer

~Why an iPod mini? ~
1000 songs are enough for anyone, why pay so much extra for iPods that hold more?

~Recommend to potential buyers? ~
Iffy, they are good and I'd be lost without mine but so far my songs have wiped twice, when on the charge it electrocutes me and on full power it now only lasts me an hour.

~Would people like it as a present? ~
Yes, iPods are the latest craze and any young adult would love one…expensive present though.



*** The Long Version ***

An iPod is just your basic mp3 player that is mass produced by the Apple organisation (Before I bought one I thought it was different and it done something special, how wrong was I?). They are compatible with Macintosh and Windows PCs ONLY. It has since been replaced by the iPod nano. It weighs 3.6 ounces (not overly heavy) and measures 91 by 51 by 13 mm for a perfect pocket fit. WARNING FOR STUDENTS - it will give you school shirt pocket hell.

They are available in 4 colours: silver, pink, blue, and green but I'm pretty sure if you go on eBay you'll find any colour to suit you. Other accessories include carry cases, clasps etc (basically anything you'd get for a mobile phone).

It has a touch sensitive scroll wheel to allow you to navigate throughout the various menus available, which is quite easy to do except sometimes I move my finger a bit too far and go off track, just a little off-putting.

The ipod mini (4GB) will hold over 1000 songs, or so it says on the box (my brother only managed 780). So far I'm having trouble filling mine as it's extremely hard to find enough songs I like to put on it.

On full charge (2 hours or so) the battery will last for about 6 hours (in my experience), which isn't too bad at all.

Putting songs on it is very easy once you get used to the controls, but if you've never done it before it is quite tricky and it took me several weeks to get the hang of it. Apple supplies you with a lead to link the iPod to the computer so the songs can be uploaded. They also provide a software package called iTunes. iTunes allows you to gather the songs you want, attach information such as title or author to each then transfer it onto the iPod.

There are 2 ways of putting songs on the iPod mini. You can either insert a CD into the computer and select songs from it or you can use music files on the computer itself. iTunes (whilst online) allows the user to browse music categories and purchase songs to be downloaded directly to the computer. Other websites offer this as well, some charge but some are for free. Websites that give the music for free use 'file sharing' so all the files on your computer, or anyone else's on that particular website will be available to be downloaded. Risky business. www.kazaa.com is an example of one of these sites.

Selecting a song can be done in several ways. One of the most obvious is going straight into the list and choosing what ever song you want. But my personal favourite is the 'Shuffle' function. When it is enabled it will shuffle all the songs and not have them set in the default alphabetical listing. Each song you enter on the iPod will have information such as:

• Play lists
• Artists
• Albums
• Genres
• Composers

Each of these can be selected on the iPod menu and from there you can browse the songs in accordance to the option you picked. For example - lets say you had Shania Twain's songs saved amongst other songs you don't want to listen to, well then you could go to 'Artists' and pick Shania Twain and her songs will show up and nothing else. This all adds to the iPod's ease of use.

There are a number of extras available on the iPod mini which includes: Clock, contacts, calendar, notes and games.

Clock: Always handy to have the time with you. It also provides an alarm clock, sleep timer and the date.
Contacts: Can hold up to 1000 contacts, any information you want. Call it an electronic address book.
Calendar: You can save personal notes on certain dates and set alarm reminders of people's birthdays or specific events you want warned about, great function to include.
Notes: Using your computer, you can save notes onto the iPod mini.
Games: There are 4 games - 'Brick' (the game where you rebound the ball into the air to hit the bricks at the top to destroy them), 'Music Quiz' (a great game where it plays part of a song on your iPod and gives you four answers, you have to pick the correct song title in the fastest time possible to get extra points), 'Parachute' (you jump out of a plane and you have to direct the parachute through various targets) and finally 'Solitaire' (just a basic game of card solitaire).

Miscellaneous extras include a lock and scroll clicking…
Lock is extremely useful, it's a button at the top of the iPod mini and when lock is enabled all other buttons are locked, so if you accidentally hit one then your song wont be turned off. It has saved my battery as well because if you have it in your pocket more than likely you will tap the sensitive buttons and it will turn on and remain on until, to your horror, you notice and turn it off.
Scroll clicking happens when you scroll the pad with your finger, it will give a small 'click' every time you scroll down once, it just helps you to know how fast you are scrolling basically.


~ My iPod Mini ~

I have had my iPod mini for around 8 months. During this time it has been dropped, kicked, hit, lost, sat on and it's still working, fair play to the Apple organisation.
HOWEVER, I have several major complaints about it…
My battery now is like a sieve…if I don't listen to the music straight away and use up the battery then its just a waste. The longer it is left unused the battery's energy seems to leek out. I could leave it fully charged in the morning, come back after school and get a total of 15 minutes out of it before the battery goes dead. AND, when my iPod is on the charge, if I touch the sides at all I get a small electric shock. Yeah I've thought of giving Apple a chewing on the phone but that stank of effort.

On top of that, all my songs that I spent HOURS AND HOURS uploading have been WIPED CLEAN twice! I mean everything just gone. Periods of anger and deep sorrow tend to follow.

Would I get another iPod…probably yes but very grudgingly. Although its caused me so much trouble and nasty shocks up my left and right arms, I'd be lost without it. The sound quality is first class and all the music I could want is at my finger tips and I can plug it into the car so no crap radio music on long journeys!

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