iPod or iPod mini?

[.Hack]

My recent delima is whether to buy an iPod or an iPod mini. My friend says the iPod mini is a waste of money :err: because it's actually a tad bit smaller than the regular iPod and that the major difference is the amount of songs it can hold. His other point is that the price of the iPod is only $100 more, and with that comes tons more storage for songs. I guess those are all good points, but I really don't have 5,000 songs much less 1,500. I'm leaning towards the iPod mini mainly for the price and for the colors (but that's just eye candy, I like color when it's available). I'm not a huge audiophile, so I really don't think I need the iPod. But is the iPod mini really a ripoff, or should I just go for the iPod? :confused:

[pmazer]

Well, in terms of GB per dollar, the iPod is your best bet, but if you're never going to fill up even the iPod mini, then what's the point of spending $100 more for space you're never going to use?

[.Hack]

I told him that, he said, you've already have a pretty nice music collection, you'll fill up the mini, then have to spend more money to buy another iPod... how can I argue, but I still just don't see myself owning 1,500 songs.

[torifile]

The mini is about the size of it. It makes a big difference. Minaturization comes at a cost. What are you planning on doing with it? And $100 is 50% more than the cost of the mini. That's a lot.

[Franz Josef]

Minis look great but iPods are the real thing - lot's of capacity. Real minaturisation means a 1GB Shuffle. If you don't want a Shuffle, get a 20GB iPod (or even a 30GB Photo?, colour screen looked very good when I used it in the Apple store). I bought a 40GB when they were still around and it's great to put as much as I want on it - I've started putting Michael Palin travel journals and copies of HBR and you don't need to worry about storage capacity :)

[BarracksSi]

I've got a 40 gig to hold everything (including all my data files), and a 1-gig shuffle to take on trips.

[Hodog16]

I've had both and my main deciding factor was the size of my music collection.

I initially got the mini (gold, if you're curious) when they first came out because I liked the scratch-resistant cover and the size and perhaps bought into the hype some. I quickly found out that I had too many songs for it though and gave it to my aunt. I was iPod-less for a few months until I ended up getting the 60 GB iPod photo.

Even after transferring most of my CD's, I'm not even half full on my photo (4,800-odd songs)!

With that said, I think the mini's color and size is attractive even at a higher price per gig level than the white iPods. If your computer is large enough to hold lots of songs (mine wasn't), then randomly getting 4-6 GB of your collection at a time is a good trade-off for the smaller hard drive space.

[Mekanik]

I have a 50 gig music collection (Most of it legally ripped from CDs, but naturally, some not) and the size of the collection and the price of the hardware had no bearing when I went to choose a mp3 player.

I knew I wanted an iPod for several reasons. First, I absolutely loved the interface. I also would much rather use iTunes to load the music into my player than windows explorer (yes, I'm a windows user, boo hiss. :D ) or some awful software like Musicmatch Jukebox. I also loved the form-factor. Nice clean and square, unlike many other portable music players.

Now, the iPod Shuffle, the iPod mini, the iPod, or the iPod Photo. Well, I first nixed the Photo and the Shuffle. The shuffle didn't have enough storage space and honestly, I think it's ugly. As for the photo, I don't have any use for a color screen and I'd actually rather have a nice crisp black and white screen for a single-purpose device.

The iPod or the mini? I ended up with the mini for a few reasons. The form-factor was spot-on for me. It was something like 1/8" longer than my cell phone, 1/4" wider and much less deep, so it fit in my pocket perfectly. This isn't a huge issue, because I usually wear cargo pants, but it's nice to know that I can bring it ANYWHERE I go. The major selling point for me was the aluminum scratch-free case. It's just absolutely gorgeous and feels so much more solid than the plastic iPod.

Sure, it would be nice to have 16 more gigs of music on-the-go, but hey, I've filled up 3.5 gigs of my mini and I have 1 day and 23 hours worth of music on it. More than enough to hold music for a listening session and still keep the selection varied. I have 52 albums on there and am musically well-rounded but that's perfect for me.

Hope this long-winded post helped you. :D

[Spellflower]

I'm planning on taking advantage of the student union deal on Saturday, but I can't decide whether to take the free ipod mini or pay $90 for the ipod 20 GB. I haven't owned my own computer for 8 years, and I've never used MP3s, so I dont' really know what my requirements will be. I am a musician, and a record collector, so I intend to start a serious collection, plus I enjoy spoken word stuff that is now available for ipods. I also plan to buy (or request for Christmas) a digital camera to use on some upcoming trips abroad, and the photo capability might come in handy if I don't bring my ibook.

I'm still unclear on exactly how easy it is to transfer songs (or photos) from the ipod back to the computer. I've heard there are hacks to do far more with your ipod than apple intends, but I dont' know anyone who has done these things.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Franz Josef]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Buy an iPod - it's what you'll need given what you want to do. Look for iPodrip on Macupdate.com.