Ipod Mini (Apple iPod mini 4 GB)

Member Name: Lisa.Marie

Product:	Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Date:	03/06/06 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: endless

Disadvantages: to many options, and menus

-: INTRODUCTION :-

I bought my ipod last year; I bought it because I wanted something to listen to while walking to and from work. I needed something small and light to carry in my pocket; I looked around but was spoilt for choice there was so many to choose from. But then came across the ipod mini and liked it straight away, so did some checking out and knew this was the one for me, so I considered it to be bought.

-: WHAT IS AN IPOD? :-

An ipod mini is a music player for listening to audio. Although now you can buy a variety of ipod’s which some have more features to then, like video, colour display etc, the ipod mini lets you listen to music, upload music from your computer, it also allows you to play games on it too although I don’t use that feature that much. The ipod mini doesn’t have that many features, it’s a standard music player, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. The ipod does come in different sizes and different size hard drives to, which makes the world of difference to how many songs you can have on your ipod. The ipod mini doesn’t weight that much in fact it only weighs around 104g, and is only 3.6 x 2.0 x 0.5 in size so handy for keeping in your pocket, or handbag. The battery life is pretty good to it holds out for about 8 hours of constant play and use of the ipod, although the charging of the ipod can take a while.

-: LOOK AND FEEL OF THE IPOD :-

The look and feel of the ipod is clean, tidy, and neat, a little plain but it doest the job. Looking at the ipod mini, you have the wheel which lets you guide yourself through the ipod, choosing your music, editing settings, and playing games. The wheel is white, and comprises of the menu button, next track, previous track and the play / pause button. Also at the top of the ipod you have the earphone port, and also a lock which is a little switch which moves from left and right, unlocking and locking the ipod so when you carry it around in your pocket it doesn’t move the wheel around. Then you have the white back light b&w 138x110 LCD screen, when you leave the ipod idle for a while the ipod does automatically turn off the ipod. It is generally very simple and easy to use, you use the wheel to get you to where you want to go within the ipod, and the wheel is very smooth to use to.

-: USING THE IPOD :-

In order to upload songs to your ipod you must have a pc and have the music to upload, there is a data lead which connects your ipod with your pc, which is supplied in the box with your ipod. And also the required software which you have to install which is easy and simple to do, just run the installation of the itunes cd, place to where you want it to be installed, it doesn’t take long. Once it has been installed then your ready to connect your ipod to your computer, your pc will pick up the ipod as soon as it is connected, now is the time to begin with adding your tunes to the software you have just installed on your computer, this also is pretty easy to do.

Open up your itunes software, and then locate the music you want to add to your ipod, you will also notice that there is a bunch of other options within the software like browsing the shop, radio, etc. Anyway back to the case in hand, once you have added your music you will see the amount of space used and free at the bottom of your itunes this will tell you how much has been used and how much is free. On the left hand side where the other options are you will see your ipod icon, right click on that and it will give you the option to update your ipod, clicking this will add your music to your ipod. It’s that easy. It doesn’t take that long to add your music in fact it is pretty quick I didn’t think it would be. The sound is amazing to where again I didn’t think it would with the sound coming out of such a small item, but it is really clear.

-: FEATURES :-

Clicking the menu button will allow you to toggle in and out of the menus and options. The middle button will allow you to select an option.

Music

Clicking the music tab you will see there is another list of options where you can view the music you have added on your ipod, either by playlist, by the artist, by the album, songs, genres, composers and audiobooks. Most of these options will take you onto more options which are a pain in the bum sometimes.

Songs

This will take you straight to the songs you have uploaded to your ipod plain and simple and will list each song for you all you have to do is click play and it will play the songs listed in the songs list.

Extras

You will find here the CLOCK, clicking on this tab you will take you into another menu with the options of alarm clock, sleep timer, and date and time, its all simple to set up, you can have the clock showing on the display or hidden, its entirely up to you. Next on the list we have CONTACTS, now this is where you can add your contacts information within your ipod, all you need to do is make a Vcard of your contacts, I have only done this once or twice, what I did was go into my email client and clicked on one of my contacts and go down to properties and then copied and pasted the Vcard into the contacts within the ipod using the computer. When clicking on the contacts there is simple instruction that you can follow to add the contacts you want. Next we have the CALENDAR this is self explanatory really, use like you would any other calendar. Next on the list we have NOTES I am not sure about this option to be honest I have never used it, but when you click on this option it does give you instructions on how to use this feature. Next we have GAMES now in here you will find some built in games like brick, music quiz, parachute, and solitaire, like I have mentioned before I have not really played the games on ipod but I am sure they will keep others busy if like playing games.

Settings

Clicking the option will take you into another menu, which you will see such things like ABOUT clicking this will give you a display of your ipod name, how many songs you have on there, the capacity your ipod is, available space left, the version of your ipod, the serial number, the model number and the format, quite handy and pretty helpful. MAIN MENU clicking this option will again take you into another menu, you will see that you have music on/off now this gives you an option to have music tab showing in the main menu or not, same goes for the other listed in this menu. SHUFFLE clicking this will let you have shuffle on your songs or not. REPEAT this is the same option as the shuffle you can toggle with the settings according to your liking. BACKLIGHT TIMER this allows you to toggle with the settings again to your liking. EQ this is an equaliser clicking this will take you into another menu and let you set the equaliser up to your taste. SOUND CHECK this allows you to toggle with the sound with your ipod and how you want it to sound. CONTRAST this option speaks for itself. CLICKER this is an option for toggling the clicker sound when moving around your ipod, either have it loud or only have within your headphones. DATE & TIME again this is self explanatory. RESET ALL SETTINGS this will allow you to reset all the settings on your ipod.

-: AVAILABILITY :-

You can buy these ipod from almost anywhere I think now, I bought mine from apple itself, where I paid £140 but that came with a free engravement on the back on the ipod free.

-: FINAL OPINION :-

Well like I have mentioned I like this ipod because it does what it is meant to do, also it’s small and light for me to carry around with me, the only thing I don’t like is the fact of so many options and menus, but that’s not a reason not to like it. There is more to like about the ipod then not to like. The sounds is great, its quick on the uploads, and has never let me down yet. There are also others things you can buy for the ipod mini I recently bought a docking station for it, and is worth every penny.

Hope I have covered everything in this opinion and for everyone that reads thank you.

Summary: 4gb pink ipod mini

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