max-payne's Full Review: Apple iPod mini First Gen. Silver (4 GB, M9160LL/A...
From here on out I will refer to the iPod Mini, simply as Mini, just so there is no confusion.
=Price: Just to start off the Mini is 250$.
First off I have been looking for an mp3 player for some time now. I always got stuck with having at most 20 songs on a CD, always whether it be in my car or on just a CD player I never have owned a MP3 player before now. And it was getting very annoying having to make a mix CD with 20 of the best songs that I was going to listen to for a long enough period of time. Usually after I would burn the CD I would always realize I put some songs on that I really shouldn’t cause they just weren’t worth it. I would always get very annoyed, so this Christmas I decided to ask for an iPod Mini, I only had about 500 songs on my computer so the Mini made much more sense to get rather than the 20-gig iPod regular which holds about 5000 songs and cost more. So I ended up getting the Mini for Christmas.
=Specs: (Taken Off Mini website)
Color: Blue
Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.0 x 0.5 in.
Weight: 3.6 ounces
Battery: Apple says 8 hours I haven’t tested
Display: 1.67-inch (diagonal)
Hard Drive size: 4 gigs, though I found you only get 3.7 usable.
Warranty: 1 year (I suggest getting a better one from Best Buy or Circuit City, if you purchase if from there)
Supported File Types: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF, Audible
Ports: Dock connector, remote connector, stereo minijack
Charge Time: About 4 hours (1-hour fast charge to 80% capacity), 3 hours 80% to 100%
Included Software: iTunes for Mac and Windows
Included Hardware: Earbud headphones, belt clip, AC adapter, FireWire cable, USB 2.0 cable
=Optional Accessories: (Not all just some)
Docking station: Dock connector, line out (for putting music into home entertainment system, and some car audio headsets). (I highly suggest this to, cause it comes with the line out and is nice for when you are charging your Mini or uploading music).
Case for Mini: Multiple variations, leather, and solid plastic. I got a solid plastic front that covers the window but has a circular hole so you can still push the controls and put in the firewire/USB connecter as well as put in the headphones, also you can either put the back that came with the Mini (belt clip) or the one that comes with plastic protector, which doesn’t connect to your belt. (I Highly Suggest getting this, while the Mini is sturdy and strong, it is better to have a little bit more protection.
Sony Car Cassette Adapter: which can take the line out and turn into a cassette to be played on a cassette player or in you car if you have a cassette player in there. (Also I suggest getting this for listening to your Mini in your car).
Car Charger: Just a plug in to charge your Mini from the car.
Portable Sound System: Almost forgot to mention it, but there is an accessory than you can buy that comes with 4 speakers, 2 sets of 2 on either side which you put the Mini in between and it plays the music out of them. Though as best as I know the speaker system is only for the Mini and not for the 20, 40, 60 gig iPod regular.
Those are just the simple Tech specs and some accessories, now lets get down to business:
=Sound Quality: This is where the Mini reigns supreme, while yes I haven’t listened to other MP3 players I have listened to music on other things, CD players, Car Audio, TV’s Home Entertainment System. And let me tell you something about the Mini, the sound quality is phenomenal, Especially with the headphones, the treble comes out high and the bass comes out very clean even at a high level. At max volume nothing gets distorted or has static, even on other headphones the sound quality is great.
The Mini also comes with a tunable EQ, which is essentially a way to make the sound better for certain kinds of music, such as hip-hop would tend to contain more bass than say country.
Also the Mini comes with its own headphones as I mentioned above, and from what research I have done about other MP3 players and what I already know about headphones in my experience are the best for the sound quality you get. My only gripe is that they don’t clip on your ear they just sit in there, which can take some maneuvering to get in there right and make them feel like they won’t fall out.
=Controls: Again another reason you pay more money for the Mini, is for the ease of use that this puppy has. I’m not talking about simple play, stop, skip controls; this thing comes with a wheel. With a menu key at the top, pause/play at the bottom, skip forward at the right and skip backwards at the left of it, as well as a select button in the middle.
Now I don’t understand how they make this technology work, but by simply moving your finger clockwise or counter-clockwise around the wheel (it doesn’t move), you can cycle up or down in the menu, and if you are in Now-Play mode, change the volume of the song, or skip forward or backwards in the song with it. The main two advantages of this, is if you are looking for a song in a list of say 600 songs you don’t want to keep clicking song by song for an hour so you just spin your finger around the wheel and you can get there very fast, also it makes changing the volume very easy.
=Display: another perk of the Mini, the display is very crystal clear, where as people with bad eye sight can even see it rather well. I would have to say up to even bad lighting you shouldn’t need to use the LED light, which make the entire screen blue and the letter black, making it easy to even see in pitch black areas.
Also it should be noted that there are about 7 different language options on this bad boy, so it isn’t just restricted to English. How ever note that Chinese language button is right below the English button, and I accidentally clicked that once and I had to do a little research online but I got it back to English thankfully.
=Case: Just a brief run over of the case, it seems very sturdy and well made, but as I was told by a person at Best Buy, that the color on the case can be easily scratched off. As well as even though it looks tough I would suggest getting a protection case for it just as added protection, rather not take my chances with a 250$ product.
=Software: This comes with its own software, first is the iPod Mini software, which is installed and updated to tell your Mini if you are using windows or Mac type computer. Also the main software, which is used to transfer the music is iTunes, which you use to put songs on your Mini, where you can sort them through there, however I suggest you read a little bit of the user manual before you jump right in there so you know a little bit of what you are doing.
*Special Note: I red that it says you must have either a Fire-wire or USB 2 High-speed port on your computer to be able to upload songs, from your computer to your Mini, I am not sure about this, but I would suggest you check that out.
=Fire-wire and USB: these are two cords that you are given with your box, they both have the same adapter for your Mini it is about 1 inch long and will look the same on either one. First the Fire-wire plug can be used to put into they back of your computer if you have a Fire-wire port, but with out it you can use the USB plug, which every computer should have. The Fire-wire plug also serves a secondary purpose in which it is how you charge your Mini, it plugs into the power adapter that goes into a wall plug-in.
=Batter Life: I haven’t tested this out that thoroughly, but it seems to keep its charge for a decent amount of time and not take that long to get fully charged. I will update if I notice and problems.
=My Conclusion:
This is where I will lay down my entire thoughts on this product. I love it, I have only had it for a few weeks, but as you can tell I gave it a 4 star rating, yes only a 4 star and it would have gotten a 5 if not for the fact that it cost a bit more than I would have liked. But for me the price was worth it for all the great stuff it comes with. Sound Quality unmatched by anything I have heard, controls very easy to use, with a very nice display screen. I would tell you if you have the money to spend and you don’t have more than about 800-1000 songs on your computer that this is the best product you can buy. If you have more songs than 1000, I would suggest going for the 20-gig iPod though, since you can store more on that.
*Final Note: I will be happy to Update this if I notice any problems with my Mini in the future.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250 Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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