Comments on: iPod mini announced

iPod mini announced

skylar — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 13:44:50 -0800

Apple announces 'iPod mini'.... and it's not all that Available in five metallic colours, smaller in size and in capacity (4gb), but not as small in price as many had hoped ($249) - is the new iPod enough of a progression from the first generation?

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 13:50:14 -0800

For people without thousands and thousands of songs it'll be fine but they should have been cheaper. I tried to find some word on how easy it is to change the batteries but no luck. For $50 more you can get a 15 gig iPod. Makes alot more sense to me although I like the button configuration on the Minis alot.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 13:54:20 -0800

I'm telling.

By: skylar

skylar — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:01:36 -0800

Erm... last time I checked, MetaTalk was designed to discuss bug reports and other subjects specific to MetaFilter; the blue area is where general links and comment should be posted. Or has this trend been reversed?

By: Hildago

Hildago — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:04:18 -0800

You know what? Fuck apple. I waited and waited for the iPod mini to come out, because I don't have 15 gigs of MP3s to carry around with me, and I didn't want to spend $25,000 or however much they're charging for the regular iPods. I just want a gig or so, and I was willing to wait to get the cool interface and design, and support the company. I thought it would be about $100. Pssht. Now I guess I'll buy a goddamn Dell or something.

By: brownpau

brownpau — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:05:54 -0800

No worries, skylar, it's not required to check Metatalk for preemptive snarkiness, and you haven't sinned by posting it here in the blue. I think people are just feeling bitter at Apple over this. Preview: Like Hildago.

By: keswick

keswick — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:06:37 -0800

mmm, shiny.

By: FormlessOne

FormlessOne — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:09:43 -0800

Pros: Aluminum case, pretty colors. Cons: Smaller capacity, disproportionate price, same battery manufacturer. Apple: We never learn.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:10:31 -0800

God damn right I'm bitter. *grumbles*

By: stonerose

stonerose — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:16:39 -0800

hey skylar, I hope you didn't really take offense - I was poking fun at people like us and people who criticize people like us. It's all good.

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:19:30 -0800

You people are funny. Apple fails to save the world yet again. Instead of producing a 4gb mp3 player for $99, they, being the bastards they are, decide to personally offend millions by offering it for, as jubs mentioned, about $50 more than most 256MB flash-based players. I too was hoping for it to be a little cheaper, but then again it just goes to show that the iPod really is much better value than the lower end players. Another possibility is that the price will drop soon enough, as the original iPod's price did. Taking money from early adopters is a long-held tradition across the computing and electronics industry, after all. In other news, I'm gonna figure out if you can still plug a graphics card into their dual 2GHz G5 Xserve cluster edition and get me some cheap number-crunching mojo.

By: machaus

machaus — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:33:09 -0800

plug a graphics card into their dual 2GHz G5 Xserve cluster edition and get me some cheap number-crunching mojo. cheap yes, quiet no

By: willnot

willnot — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:34:03 -0800

It's not that the did 4 GB for 250. It's that they didn't do 1 or 2 GB for 100 or 200. In the downscale market you're competing on price. Somebody who's willing to pay a premium will bay a little more for a whole lot more in a full sized iPod. Everything in this speech just seemed like set-up for the next speech where the announce smaller cheaper iPods and announce that you can export out of Garage Band directly to the iTunes music store and sell your own music. That will be revolutionary as opposed to this one that barely even seemed evolutionary.

By: Keyser Soze

Keyser Soze — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:35:37 -0800

The competition will definately be picking up the slack. Why, you can get a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen or Zen xtra at any Best Buy in the country, and it will be at the very least $100 cheaper, better sound quality, almost as small, sleek, and battery replaceable. Go drink some koolaid, mac cultists.

By: dig_duggler

dig_duggler — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:50:08 -0800

Looks like the girlfriend/wife ipod. Count me with the apple-shot-themselves-in-the-foot with this one. And I love most of their products.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:59:01 -0800

Why does any post having to do with Apple have to devolve into an Apple Sucks/Apple Rules rant war? The price will drop. They may even offer smaller hard drives for less money. Buy now for maximum cool Space Cowboy, you're saying people are actually offended by the pricing on the iPod Mini? Dude, people don't really care that much. Besides, $50 more for 4 gigs over a 256 MB player is a bargain. The 256 MB player costs 78 cents a megabyte. A 4 gig Ipod Mini costs 6 cents a megabyte. How is that a ripoff? Of course, for $50 more you can get a 15 gig Ipod which comes to two cents per megabyte. Though, in rereading your post, I'm actually now confused as to whether you're a hater or a lover or just a spewer.

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:04:11 -0800

fenriq: If you took the time to read and re-read my post you could have gotten my name right :) And I can't think of any other reason why there would be so much hubbub about price if people weren't perhaps expecting a little too much from a computer company. And to anser your last question, I love some of Apple's stuff, not so much other stuff (won't be rushing off to buy the miniPod, for example) and very much enjoy spewing.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:04:21 -0800

I see iRiver also announced an HD-based player today.

By: badstone

badstone — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:12:50 -0800

looks like the mini iPod orders broke Amazon.

By: ssukotto

ssukotto — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:18:09 -0800

Seems like while they work on cost, they're pricing it as an upseller. Like a $3.75 "small" Coke at the movies. I'm really surprised it's a hard drive--I would have bought a cheapie flash mem version to take jogging / fishing / murderous rampaging.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:21:37 -0800

Oops, sorry Space Coyote, I was channelling Steve Miller when I wrote that last post. I do think Apple messed up the pricing but that's only so they can drop the price in a couple of months. I wonder if the new Minis will drive the price of its bigger siblings up or down?

By: botono9

botono9 — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:28:52 -0800

Keyser: Don't forget all the ugly you get for the price with the Nomads. Oh, and the tiny screen and horrible usability. And better sound quality? How to you get better sound quality from an MP3 from device to device? Do they have digital out to the headphones?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:23:11 -0800

Oh my god! Apple puts out a product, and people don't like it! It's like I've died and gone to heaven :) ---- Also, I think apple really biffed up their product design this time, the design is just ugly, IMO. I think they should have gone with a side knob like the creative zen for a smaller form factor device. The big white wheel in the middle, extending almost to the edge is lame. I did like the design of the origional ipods, especialy the ones with the physical wheel, rather then the touch wheel.

By: mcwetboy

mcwetboy — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:27:02 -0800

Meanwhile Rio announces the Nitrus, a small MP3 player with a 4 GB hard drive for the price of $249. EXACTLY the same capacity as the iPod mini for EXACTLY the same price. How, exactly, did Apple mess up the price?

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:27:10 -0800

Like a $3.75 "small" Coke at the movies. It's the cup you're paying for.

By: uftheory

uftheory — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:27:27 -0800

Pros: Aluminum case, pretty colors. Cons: Smaller capacity, disproportionate price, same battery manufacturer. Apple: We never learn. Learn what? How to make money? You know they control 30%+ of the MP3 player market with their first line of bloated overpriced battery burners? (plus 30M song downloads) ...so why shouldn't these sell like hot cakes as well? PRETTY COLORS IS ALL YOU NEED

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:33:37 -0800

Keyser: Don't forget all the ugly you get for the price with the Nomads. Oh, and the tiny screen and horrible usability.

wow man, just how far up apple's ass is your head? How are the nomad's ugly? They certainly look better then these goofy mini iPods, if not smoother then the original iPods as well. And where do you get off saying that the usability is horrible? Have you ever tried to use one? Or are you just assuming that since it wasn't made by apple it must suck? And better sound quality? How to you get better sound quality from an MP3 from device to device? Do they have digital out to the headphones? What the hell kind of question is that? Of course you can have different sound quality depending on the electronics used to create the analog signal. Creative has been making audio hardware for decades, and they know how to make very good digital to analog converters.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:45:07 -0800

It's a curious thing, this disappointment that the actual item doesn't live up to the rumors. I'm a little disappointed myself that the mini iPod isn't physically smaller. Offering only a 4 GB model out the gate suggests they're going after the money-be-damned early adopters. But it is worth pointing out that a plain 4 GB Microdrive (which is the storage device for the mini, I think) retails for about $500. The mini's price might not be what people want it to be, but in those terms, it sounds like a bargain. A 1 GB Microdrive retails for about $175, so if Apple goes downmarket, prices could drop quite a bit. It's hard to know what fraction of their cost goes into the drive, but my guess is that a 1 GB model could sell for about $150. 1 GB of solid-state memory costs about $250 retail. FWIW.

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:49:20 -0800

Sidewheel == horrible usability. Smooth scrolling is probably at least half of what makes iPod so different from everything else.

By: cell

cell — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:58:47 -0800

Creative do a matchbox-sized 4gig player for $299, and the same thing at 1.5gig for about $200 or less. When I heard the rumours I assumed Apple were going to come out with a very small 1-2gig player for $180-ish. Which would have been a smart move. In fact, all they've done is put out something that clones the functionality of at least 2 other products on the market. Although, of course, it has Apple UI and Apple publicity so it'll sell well. Jobs' comparison between the new mini ipod and the 'generic flash player' was very straw-man though. A 256meg player does not cost $200 these days.

By: dig_duggler

dig_duggler — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:02:14 -0800

We likes apple. No, we hates apple. It's not just mefi, but everywhere (slashdot, etc) this happens. Why does apple generate such strong emotions from people? It gets almost as bad as political posts.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:13:28 -0800

Hildago, Apple isn't gouging us for dialysis machines, it's an MP3 player fer chrissakes. If it seems too expensive, get something else. Sheesh.

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:19:00 -0800

Did you notice that the revolutionary chiquita in the 20th Anniversary Ridley Scott video is wearing an iPod? heh heh heh...

By: scarabic

scarabic — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:23:39 -0800

I just want a gig or so... I thought it would be about $100. Good luck finding that capacity at that price from ANYone. Seriously, it's not to be had, especially not at the quality level Apple generally puts out. I'm not defending them or anything, I also find it an underwhelming product. But despite their cool designers, they're still subject to the same economy as everyone else. Parts + Production = Cost. Did you think it worked differently for Apple somehow? Oompa-loompas perhaps?

By: docjohn

docjohn — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:35:58 -0800

Ouch. Why would anyone pay this price for 4 GB of music when you can get 800% (???) more music (30GB) from Creative Labs Jukebox Zen?? I'm sorry, but whatever UI enhancements one thinks Apple brings to the table aren't enough to justify that sort of price difference. In MP3 players, it's as much about the capacity as it is the UI. And having used the Jukebox Zen for 6 months now, I gotta say, it's got a fine UI.

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:41:24 -0800

Knock the pricing if you will, but the design is beautifully, wonderfully retro. It's a little appliance, not a computer accessory.

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:44:11 -0800

It's so great. I want one.

By: donovan

donovan — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:51:45 -0800

adamgreenfield: Did you notice that the revolutionary chiquita in the 20th Anniversary Ridley Scott video is wearing an iPod? heh heh heh... Still frame here

By: thebigpoop

thebigpoop — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:16:41 -0800

You're all crazy. This think is going to sell like madness.

By: inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:26:11 -0800

Creative has been making audio hardware for decades, and they know how to make very good digital to analog converters. *ponders creative sound cards* The former does not imply the latter.

By: mcwetboy

mcwetboy — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:46:31 -0800

I don't want to play the Apple shill, but this is getting silly. I'm sorry, but whatever UI enhancements one thinks Apple brings to the table aren't enough to justify that sort of price difference. It seems that two million people disagree. Apple does seem to be able to sell one or two here or there at those inflated prices, even with the competition from cheaper hard-drive-based players. So what's going on here? Are there two million people out there with more money than brains, or is the iPod bringing something to the table that other MP3 players aren't? Daring Fireball: "The whole point of the iPod Mini isn't that it's cheaper. It's that it's smaller. The initial consensus seems to be that it's too expensive -- but that was also the initial consensus for the original iPod." (And look how that turned out.) Tiny electronics cost more. That one-inch 4-GB hard drive is almost certainly more expensive, gigabyte-per-gigabyte, than the 1.8-inch drives used in the full-size iPods, Jukebox Zens and so forth. Speaking of Nomads, my brother, who owns a Jukebox 3, says that the Nomad's PC software utterly blows. And I remember hearing some concerns about build quality a while back, though I can't remember where. Apple zealotry aside, it seems to me that the Nomad fans -- all six or seven of them, it seems -- go on about the lower price per gigabyte because that's the one advantage it has. That, and removable batteries.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:59:52 -0800

Both the old and the new ipods are too expensive in my opinion--it's really just a mega-walkman, when all is said and done. (That said, I ordered a 15gig today after waiting for the announcement and being disappointed by the price of the minis. I can really only justify the $300 price for it (which is a lot) by knowing that i'll use it to take files back and forth from work without having to burn cds or use a jaz.) There'll always be people who'll buy anything because it's cool or hot or a must-have, but most people in general are excited by ipods and wish there would be one they could afford. I think Apple is missing out with the minis--they could have owned the entire category, from low-end to high.

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:03:14 -0800

Several people, including myself, propose in this Ask.MeFi thread that CD/MP3 players are the best value in portable audio. 700 Mb for well under $100 -- hell, for $20 at Circuit City last week! Now it's not as "cool," if you place high value on that, and you can't use it as a file transfer device. But I don't have to send away to replace my rechargeable AA batteries, either. ;)

By: willnot

willnot — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:16:44 -0800

I have a CD MP3 boombox that I use in the shower. I can't be bothered to make new compilation CDs most times, and I get really sick of the ones I have. Now, I'm looking for a boombox with a line-in so I can plug one of my iPods in there. If the CD/MP3 thing works for you, then I'm glad, but the value of having all your music with you on a small, self-contained device really can't be understated.

By: Nothing

Nothing — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:17:12 -0800

The ipod is nice, and the new mini ipod is neat, but I've had a 10 gig player since before ipods existed, and it cost me $40 less than this new 4 gig mini ipod. Not criticism, just noted for comparison.

By: boost ventilator

boost ventilator — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:24:13 -0800

Did anyone ever think that maybe we are not the target market for this puppy?

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:26:53 -0800

The iPod is more than an mp3 player. It's a small footprint, large capacity (and now a small capacity one too) hard drive with a battery that's rechargeable by FireWire or USB2. The drive is bootable, it can record voice notes, it can be used to store anything you can store on a hard drive, and it also happens to play mp3s, AIFFs and AAC files quite well. If all you want is a cheap mp3 player, buy a cheap mp3 player. That said, I'm shocked at the price of the new little guys. $50 gets you another 11 gigabytes of storage. My main iTunes playlist contains almost 8 GB of music (and I have another 11 GB of music in other playlists) so the new 4 GB model is not large enough for my needs. The entire iLife suite for $49, including a music authoring application? That's incredible. My Apple Store order will arrive at my door on the 16th.

By: TimeFactor

TimeFactor — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:32:31 -0800

I also don't get the features/pricing of the mini iPod as compared to the current line. It seems too close in both price and capacity. I would have thought that something like 1G/$199 would spread out their product line more to appeal to more potential buyers. But I'm not in the market for a portable music player so I'm just curious about it.

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:33:40 -0800

I'm sure apple isn't about to make the cube mistake twice, if the price doesn't come down by the summer I'll be quite surprised.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:34:17 -0800

the bootability is good news (just in case it's needed)--thanks

By: afx114

afx114 — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:41:06 -0800

If Apple is soooooo the king of UI design, why the FUCK did they partner with MusicMatch for the PC? That's the shittiest piece of shit I've ever installed on my shit.

By: Nothing

Nothing — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:54:15 -0800

In case you were talking to me, mine does all that too, except the aac files of course. But I do understand your point. The problem with making a low capacity cheap hard drive MP3 player is that there is a fairly hard lower limit to storage prices. If you look around, you'll see that most desktop hard drives between 20 and 80 gigs are about a hundred bucks*. The price difference between a 10 and a 20 gig laptop hard drive is only a few dollars. It seems that the basic engineering requirements for hard drives set the price at about $80-120 (higher for smaller drives) before considering capacity. Prices start high with new big capacities, and then drop over a few years to about $100 where they stay until that size drive is no longer manufactured. The result is that there is not much difference in price between a 10 gig drive and a 4, so you don't really save on parts for buying lower capacity drives (In fact, if you move to a physically smaller drive, your costs likely go up.), but because it's a lower capacity people want it for an equivalently lower price. *Not counting drives that compete on performance.

By: Nothing

Nothing — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:58:01 -0800

Okay, a little checking shows I am a bit out of touch with desktop hard drive prices, as they seem the be about $60 these days, but I don't think that breaks my argument.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 20:14:55 -0800

Knock the pricing if you will, but the design is beautifully, wonderfully retro. It's a little appliance, not a computer accessory. Now *that's* a distinction I'll pay good money for. [barfs]

By: riffola

riffola — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 20:21:38 -0800

I believe new iPods come with iTunes for Windows now.

By: jammer

jammer — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 20:36:35 -0800

I think most of you are completely missing the target market here. If you're interested in high-end MP3 players enough to read and post on this thread, odds are you have a fairly sizeable music collection, and want to be able to haul it all about with you. The mPod isn't targeted at you (nor is it targeted at me, but I still appreciate it). The mPod and iPod will not be cross-shopped by many people except Apple faithful. Those of us who are interested in the best value on the biggest size are in all likelihood going to go with a big iPod. The mPod is for those people who only own 50 CDs, and who really don't need a 15GB drive-based player, but aren't satisifed with cheap flash models. Its for the guy who wants an iPod, but wants to use it during physical activity -- try running with an iPod, and its small size will still feel way too big. The mPod is going to be on the shelf next to the Rios of the world, and the people shopping in that price range are going to see that they can get a small amount of storage for $200, or 6, 8, or 10x more for another $50. What Apple did not want to do was draw people away from the main iPod line -- thus the 5GB increase in the base model, and the lack of a price break there. That so many of the faithful are complaining about the mPod price shows that they did their market research very well, and it will work exactly as planned, IMO.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:18:48 -0800

So, Jammer, the target audience is people who have $250 dollars to spend, and are too dumb to look eight inches to the right, and see the one for $50 more that is way better? Actually, that sounds about right. Curses.

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:22:18 -0800

Yes, emelenjr, I know the iPod does all those extra things, and I was not trying to dis the iPod. Since so many people here are questioning the value of the new 4Gb model -- including you -- I just thought I would offer a different perspective with the MP3/CD player idea. I know my player is much larger and heavier and has fewer abilities than the iPod, but those are all acceptable tradeoffs to me given the fractional price. We'll see what the market thinks, I guess. Hmm... will Apple use Verne Troyer in its ads for the mini iPod? :)

By: jammer

jammer — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:26:00 -0800

So, Jammer, the target audience is people who have $250 dollars to spend, and are too dumb to look eight inches to the right, and see the one for $50 more that is way better? Nah. The target audience is people who have $250 to spend but have no compelling reason to spend $50 for another 11GB of space -- such as my friend who wants an iPod, and is willing to spend the money, but who only has about 30 CDs -- or who want something smaller or "prettier" than the iPod.

By: jmgorman

jmgorman — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:18:22 -0800

So, is it just me or did Apple pull a Dell (or someother shitty company name here) on their own products? They went imac on the ipod by copying all of the neat colors and calling it innovative. Did someone kidnap Jonathan Ives? What the hell is going on here?

By: cinderful

cinderful — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:18:31 -0800

Personally, I think Apple should take $50 off the mPod and tack it onto iLife which look sto be worth much more than $99, let alone $49 ehh?? EHHH??? (incidently, it's funny how much discussion apple gets. thread here, thread on /. thread on two other sites I read - and proabbyl many, many more. It's worth it's weight in KB . . .)

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 00:35:57 -0800

pmurray, I see your point. And on reading the rest of the thread I've come to realize how perfectly priced the mini is. Jammer, you're right, most people who have huge music collections won't want the new 4 GB models unless they're habitual early-adopters. When it makes sense for me to buy one, I'm definitely going for the 15 GB model, but it's nice to see that Apple didn't strip away any of the non-music features from the mini one. I was afraid that the mini would just be a bare-bones mp3 player to satisfy the consumers who just want a bare-bones mp3 player and not a $300 hard drive in their pocket. As for Verne Troyer, he's already been in an Apple ad.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 03:21:12 -0800

"272 gigabytes of storage in the new Apple iPod mini RAID. That's room for 68,000 songs! Ladies and gentlemen, how much would you expect to pay for such an enormous convenience? $60,000? $50,000? Well, have I got news for you! All of this raw computing power can be yours for merely $16,932. Ladies and gentlemen, that's less than $63 per gigabyte!" /Steve

By: lotsofno

lotsofno — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 03:29:03 -0800

i don't know what you're all talking about... the new ipods--ESPECIALLY with the new colors--look like butt.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 04:20:47 -0800

$149 by Christmas next year: perfect.

By: GhostintheMachine

GhostintheMachine — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 05:24:30 -0800

Yeah, but when the hell is iTunes coming to Canada, that's what I want to know. ...and Apple doing something wrong happens about as often as Microsoft doing something right. Both are surprising, but both happen more often than people realize because, well, it's so unexpected. For the record, I regularly use both OSX and WinXP and have no real love for either.

By: benjh

benjh — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 05:29:38 -0800

If it had been another 1/2 size of the iPod mini, it would have been worth it. I was looking forward to buying something to wear while working out. Just overlay the contact sensor over the screen, and cut the size again. So what do they do? They want to charge $30 for the arm band as well.

By: gen

gen — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 06:51:58 -0800

MetaFilter: the shittiest piece of shit I've ever installed on my shit ;)

By: rikabel

rikabel — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 06:52:59 -0800

I think the mini iPod is partly meant to be 'jewelry'. Wearable technology (or 'techstyle') is going to be huge this year, or so my PR friend assures me, and Apple are ahead of the curve on this one. Judging by the colour choices it is also aimed at ladeez. (Where is the black version?) For what its worth, I think it is excellent and they will sell bazillions. Loads of people I have spoken to want an iPod but certainly didn't need 10Gb, let alone 15. I have quite a lot of music and I'm perfectly happy with my new 10GB iPod - I felt no need to get 40Gigs, apart from for bragging rights. I'm particularly impressed by the way they have integrated the buttons into the scroll wheel - I hope it is easy to use. Ease of use is what a lot of people seem to be missing when they diss the iPod. The seamless integration with iTunes makes it virtually idiot-proof. I don't know for sure, but I imagine the software bundled with the Creative Zen is not in the same league. And the scroll wheel works brilliantly. Also, I'm really glad they are doing ear-buds now. The original headphones suck. Bit annoyed that I have just bought some Sony MDR-EX71's though - the Apple buds would have accessorized so much more nicely, dahling. (Having said that, I'm not sure I want to announce to everyone that I am listening to an iPod, particularly in Brixton where people are regularly mugged for their phones. The miniPod looks a bit like a mugger-magnet.) Oh no, I have become one of the 'Pod People'!

By: rikabel

rikabel — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 06:56:59 -0800

Oops, that link should have been: iPod - therefore I am. Sorry. Silly me. I'll get my coat...

By: rolo

rolo — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 07:38:56 -0800

What IS all this fuss about? This is not a cheap iPod, this is a small iPod, and it seems there is a significant market for very small .mp3 players, and in that context, the price seems about right. Capacity isn't everything, particularly for many people who don't have much more than 4 gigs to spare on their computer hard drives. It is also so fast to make up and download playlists to the iPod then it is perfectly feasible to keep a huge music collection on your computer and change the selection on the iPod every other day. I'm a huge iPod fan, but if you prefer a slightly clunkier machine for less money, there's plenty of alternatives. So what's the problem?

By: scalz

scalz — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 08:18:09 -0800

Why is it so hard to understand the pricing? Apple is counting on the fact that some will say, "Oh wait, only $50 more for the larger 15GB iPod! I think I'll buy it." Some may look at other vendors' pathetic offerings in the flash market and say, "Wow! For only $50 more I can have the iPod mini. I've heard so much about the iPod and the ITMS. I think I'll buy it!" And some will say, "Look at Rio's new 4GB offering. For the same price I can buy the much cooler iPod mini and use the ITMS!"

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 08:38:25 -0800

So next year there'll be cheaper ones with a smaller drive? Phil Schiller, Apple vice president of worldwide product marketing, also said Apple had not ruled out making an iPod at capacities smaller than 4GB. There are various 2GB drives that Apple could use in a less expensive iPod, and the company has recently focused on convenient ways to sync music from iTunes to the iPod players. -- from here

By: inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 16:17:32 -0800

I think most of you are completely missing the target market here. If you're interested in high-end MP3 players enough to read and post on this thread, odds are you have a fairly sizeable music collection, and want to be able to haul it all about with you. Ha, if that were the case, I'd still be waiting for the terabyte iPod. Have to admit I'm tempted by the mini, although the extra $50 for an extra 11GB is also tempting...