I’m not exactly the biggest Apple booster, but I have to say I am genuinely impressed by the iPod Mini.
Much of the criticism of the product seems to be a) that it’s expensive (umm, it’s an Apple product, WTF did you expect?) and b) that it’s not that much smaller than the iPod.
I don’t understand either of those arguments, although that’s probably because I’m right in the target market that Apple’s trying to hit. For the past few years I’ve been usingFrontier Labs excellent Nex IIe Compact Flash-based MP3 player. It’s small, extremely light weight and works like a charm.
The main drawback is, of course, Compact Flash is still expensive in comparison to hard drives. So my big decision is to either a) buy a 1 gb CF card for about $240 or b) buy something like the 4gb Mini iPod for $249. Hmmm…that’s not exactly a hard choice to make.
Yes, it’s still expensive compared to other HD-based MP3 players, but if you’re like me and carry around numerous gadgets everywhere you go, then every ounce counts.
Whether or not there are enough gadget freaks like me to make the Mini iPod a hit remains to be seen, but I’m sold.