iPod mini

[inspiron8200guy]

No, I do not have the dock. The dock is nice if you don't have to bring your USB cable everywhere. The dock also has a line out port for connectiing it to your stereo. The dock costs something like $30 here, I don;t know what that is in Australian dollars. The 4GB modle works fine for me. If you have a huge library or think it may become bigger than 4GB, get the 6GB. The difference is $50 US. The differnece between USB and firewire are that USB suppies a 5v charge while firewire suppies a 12v charge. Oh yeah, the dock is non-essential. As long as you have an accessible USB (or firewire) you should be fine.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: ArtVandalay
I got a free first-gen mini. It does the job, but if I were spending my hard-earned money I'd buy something else. It has low battery life, the battery drains even when it's off, it doesn't allow me to sort the way I want to (artist -> year), doesn't support ogg-vorbis, wma, flac or wav, has bad sound quality, a proprietary method of loading music onto it (I use various OSs), it renames the music you load onto it (not all sound files are copyrighted, you know - sharing is legal in many circumstances, especially if you're not a top-40 whore)... shall I go on? I like the iAudio and iRiver products, they seem to have a ton of features, the way tech toys should

In fairness, ALL players drain the battery -- even when they're "off".

Ever leave a fresh set of batteries set in an MP3 player for a few months?

I love my iPod Mini. Maybe someone got a bad battery. If it is a first gen unit the battery life is only rated around 8 hours but the 2nd gen (ala mine) are rated for 16+ and I've gotten over 16 hours on a fresh charge.

 

[imported_rod]

I think the 2nd gen iPod mini actually has the best rated battery life of any compact MP3 player - 18 hours.

RoD

 

[imported_ArtVandalay]

Originally posted by: Pabster
In fairness, ALL players drain the battery -- even when they're "off".

Ever leave a fresh set of batteries set in an MP3 player for a few months?

The ipod does even moreso because it doesn't actually turn off - it goes into standby. This way you don't have to go through a ~30 second boot process every time you turn it on. I'd prefer it the other way, or to at least have a choice.

As long as I have the attention of a 2g mini owner, I had a question about them - how do you charge it? As far as I can tell, it doesn't come with an a/c adapter, doesn't come with a firewire cord, and doesn't come with the dock. Do you have to use USB? And how long does it take to charge through that?

 

[imported_rod]

I just got the iPod mini 6GB (Blue) today.

I haven't really found out yet, but it says that via USB it should fast charge to 80% in under 2 hours. And considering that my computer usually stays on for at least that long, it seems fine. You can also charge it via an AC adaptor/dock/firewire, but you have to buy them seperately.

Thanks Guys
RoD

 

[imported_ArtVandalay]

Problem with charging via USB is that USB ports vary greatly in power - USB has no power standard. Even the best of them supply less juice than firewire.

 

[imported_rod]

Well, you can charge it through Firewire, but you'll need to fork out $15 for a cable. USB seems to be working fine for me.

RoD

 

[halfadder]

Newer Techology sells a 600mAh battery for the iPod Mini, it replaces the stock 400mhA battery for a potental 50% longer battery life. The going rate is $24.95 for the battery and the installation tool kit from places like macsales.com.

I love my regular iPod, but I do like the anodized aluminum iPod Mini, it reminds me of a MagLite.