[Maflynn]

I've been sitting on the fence now for too long and its probably time I put my money where my mouth is. I've been waiting to see each new iteration of ipod and thinking maybe the next one will be better

I'm finally going to jump in but I'm perplexed at which one. My primary use will be for my working out. That is gym, running outside and inline skating (once the weather warms up). I figure I'll be using it with an armband.

I like the mini and the 6 gig drive is about the size of my music library. I realize my music library will surpass that shortly however.

What types of perpherials/add-ons are available for the standard model that are not with the mini. In a way I don't want to reduce the flexability/expandablity if a certain functionality exists (that I don't know about yet).

Overall I'm 80% leanng towards the mini.

Finally any idea if the local apple stores have the new models in stock?

TIA
Mike

[ort888]

For running and gym use you may want to consider a shuffle. The Hard Discs in the regular iPods can skip and screw up if you jostle them too much.

Otherwise, I'd say go with the Mini. It's a little sturdier, and can hold enough music to listen too for days. If you want new stuff on there, just change it up.

A massive amount of storage really isn't all that useful.

[Big Mac]

There are fewer compatible add-ons for the mini, primarily because it's significantly smaller than the standard iPod. I also know that the the Griffin iTalk (iPod recorder with speaker and mic-in) is not compatible because, among other reasons, the mini lacks (lacked?) recording function. It will be interesting to find out if the 2G mini has recording capability.

As for the core question of which to buy, I think the new minis really undercut the attractiveness of the shuffle, especially that of the 1GB. If you were going to buy the 1GB shuffle for $150, you may as well get the far more capable 4GB mini for $200. If you're looking for more storage, either go for the 6GB or take advantage of the strangely affordable "last generation" close-out photo deals.

[Maflynn]

Originally posted by ort888:
For running and gym use you may want to consider a shuffle. The Hard Discs in the regular iPods can skip and screw up if you jostle them too much.

Otherwise, I'd say go with the Mini.

While the shuffle's introduction was intriguing the 1gig storage is a little too limiting for my taste.

Good point about the skipping, I've seen other people at the gym with them and they don't seem to complain about it so hopefully the skipping is a minor or rare occurance.

[cmoney]

Yep, they've had them in stock since the day of the announcement!

You probably wanna go with the mini (if not the shuffle) simply because the regular iPod is really too big to go on an armband. There are a few iPod armbands out there but they just seem a little awkward to me. Plus the regular iPod weighs more and so it'll be moving around more than the mini.

Myself, I've got a shuffle for outdoor activities because I just don't trust myself enough to use my regular iPod for things like shoveling snow or what have you. As a primary iPod the shuffle probably is too limited but for working out and stuff it's perfect.

[pantalaimon]

Originally posted by Maflynn:
I've been sitting on the fence now for too long and its probably time I put my money where my mouth is. I've been waiting to see each new iteration of ipod and thinking maybe the next one will be better


Overall I'm 80% leanng towards the mini.

Finally any idea if the local apple stores have the new models in stock?

TIA
Mike

well how important is battery life to you? ipodlounge reported 26+ hours continuous play with the new ipod mini. Real life usage will be less but damn thats impressive!

[im_noahselby]

The biggest differences between the iPod mini and the regular iPods are the size of the units themselves, and the HD capacity of each model. Right now the iPod mini goes from 4GB-6GB. The standard sized iPods start at 20GB-60GB. It all depends on what you'll use it for and how much space on the HD's you actually think you'll need.

When I first bought my iPod (rev b) 10GB, I thought I'd use all of the space on the iPod, and I didn't even come close. So for me the iPod mini is perfect. The first time I held a mini in my hand, I was amazed at how small the unit was. It's like Apple made it just for me!

The iPod shuffle is perfect for the gym and running, because it uses a flash based drive. It also is convienent when used as a USB pocket drive to tranfer files from computer to computer.

Good luck with your decision!

Noah

[Big Mac]

Apple must have made some significant breakthrough in battery technology to double the mini's battery life without an increase in size. The mini now has the highest rated battery life of the entire line. One has to imagine that the new battery technology will be incorporated into future revisions of the higher end units.

[FeralCat]

Originally posted by Big Mac:
Apple must have made some significant breakthrough in battery technology to double the mini's battery life without an increase in size. The mini now has the highest rated battery life of the entire line. One has to imagine that the new battery technology will be incorporated into future revisions of the higher end units.

More likely is that they've added a very large RAM chip for cacheing, so that if you're playing a long playlist or album, it reads ahead for as many songs as can be fit into the cache, then spins down the HD, thus saving a lot of battery juice. One way to test this would be to see how long the mini can play on shuffle with a large number of songs. Though, now that I think about it, that wouldn't necessarily do anything either, since shuffle could just generate a long list of random songs, then load all of them into cache RAM and spin down the harddrive again. As long as their software is smart, with a large RAM cache, you would only need to spin the harddrive a small amount to load data into the cache, and as long as your screen auto-shuts off, your two main consumers of battery juice are not consuming battery at all.

In fact, I wonder if instead of RAM you could do the same thing with a NAND flash ROM chip. Say, put a 512 MB flash chip in there, figure out what songs you want, then throw them all into flash and play out of that. The problem with flash (even NAND flash) is that it is much, much slower to write to than RAM. Again, software would be the key: copy the first song to RAM, then start copying from HD to flash, and the user doesn't perceive any lag. When the first song is done, start playing out of flash ROM.

Anyway, my bet is that it's a combo of (in order of highest impact):

1) Better software management of main power consumers
2) More/different cache storage (most likely RAM)
3) Better battery tech

[Lancer409]

as seen on apple.com/ipodmini (click tech specs)

udio

* Up to 25 minutes of skip protection

same as previous ipods...

my guess, higher capacity battery.

[Cheetah223]

I say go with the mini...I've got about 14.7 gigs on my 20gigger and honestly, even though I listen to it all day at school, in my car to and from, and on the way to work and home (half hour drive) i never hear half of the music. a mini will allow you to pick the music you really want to hear and put just that so you don't have extra crap on there...98% of my music is ripped cd's, but i've got a few random songs just to embarass friends, look like a moron, etc. like spice girls, backstreet boys, and so on...obviously i've got room to spare if that crap's getting onto my 'pod.

[Voch]

I finally invested in a 4GB iPod Mini (the previous model that came with a FireWire cable...CompUSA had 'em for $179 last week...I have no USB2 on my computers) and it's absolutely fantastic. My music library is a tad over the 3.7GB capacity of the iPod Mini but iTunes makes it easy to maintain the songs on the iPod (sorting, drag 'n drop copying, and deleting) that I'm not worried about capacity.

Voch

[TailsToo]

Originally posted by Cheetah223:
I say go with the mini...I've got about 14.7 gigs on my 20gigger and honestly, even though I listen to it all day at school, in my car to and from, and on the way to work and home (half hour drive) i never hear half of the music. a mini will allow you to pick the music you really want to hear and put just that so you don't have extra crap on there...98% of my music is ripped cd's, but i've got a few random songs just to embarass friends, look like a moron, etc. like spice girls, backstreet boys, and so on...obviously i've got room to spare if that crap's getting onto my 'pod.

I noticed that on my 40GB I only listened to about 1gb of music regulary, so I got rid of it and just got a 6gb Mini. It's much lighter (and tougher it seems) than a regular iPod, and with 18 hours of battery life, you can do lots with it between charges!

[Phoible]

When I got my iPod mini this weekend, I went through my CDs and only ripped the stuff that I listen to regularly. Even ripping at 216 kbps, I'm only half full. And that's over 2 days straight of MP3s.

[vmpaul]

Originally posted by ort888:
For running and gym use you may want to consider a shuffle. The Hard Discs in the regular iPods can skip and screw up if you jostle them too much.

I gotta say, I'm a 1G owner and runner and I've never had a skipping problem. But that's just me. I know others have had issues. I have dropped my unit twice though.

Of course, I just got a Shuffle and use that exclusively for working out now. It's the best. I'm just waiting for the accessories to hit the market now.

[kikkoman]

I just purchased a 6 gig mini and I'm very happy with it. That said, I'm planning to get a 512 meg shuffle just for working out.

[b11051973]

I bought a mini for working out when it first came out. I clipped it to my waist and went. It worked fine. When the shuffle came out, I thought I'd give it a try. The thing is so small and weighs so little, I'm in love. The thing is perfect for working out. I just change up my playlist once a week and I use the shuffle feature.

When people hold my shuffle they all comment out small and light it is. I know I was amazed.

[andreas_g4]

Originally posted by ort888:
A massive amount of storage really isn't all that useful.

That is probably correct for your needs. IMO, the 20 gig iPod is perfect because of it's size and it's plenty capacity. Ripping my CDs as 128 kbit AAC helped me to use it as my backup disc for important data (say Mail accounts, correspondence etc.) AND holding my complete music.

That said, I have to say that I find the iPod mini a much nicer player. It looks super cool, is sturdy, feels nicer than the iPod (again IMO), is lighter, smaller and has superior battery life.

The problem is that I want to choose my misuc onthe road, not when sitting at home on my Mac. It's so convenient to have ALL your music with you. Sometimes I get in the mood to listen to something I didn't listen to for a long time, and it's cool that I can be sure to have it available with some thumb-moving.