Ipod MINI

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by igroknful

I have held, examined and listened to the Mini and it's a nice unit but for $50 more you can get 15Gb.

But the value proposition is not the capacity -- rather the size. You can't get a 15GB iPod in the Mini's formfactor. The huge demand is testament to this fact.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by igroknful

I have held, examined and listened to the Mini and it's a nice unit but for $50 more you can get 15Gb.

But the value proposition is not the capacity -- rather the size. You can't get a 15GB iPod in the Mini's formfactor. The huge demand is testament to this fact.

--janak

[ruffas]

An alternative to the iPod (not necessarily the mini) is the iAudio M3 from Cowon Systems. Just launching in the UK.

http://www.mp3-plus.net/product.php?productid=12

Looks pretty smart and the reviews have been good.



iPod rivals come and go but few seem to have any impact on its popularity. The £280 Cowon iAudio M3 MP3 jukebox has a better chance than most on account of its gorgeous silver design and the fact that it is significantly thinner and lighter than the Apple player.
To keep the size of the M3 down, the screen and several menu buttons have been incorporated into its remote. This is good, because it means you don't have to get the player out of your pocket when you want to change albums, but also bad as it is a tad fiddly to operate. The screen is a little small, too.

The M3 trounces the iPod in the features department. It supports MP3, WMA and Ogg Vorbis formats, can moonlight as a voice recorder, record directly from CDs/hi-fis and has an FM radio built in. In terms of sound quality there's little to choose between this and the iPod either.

This is a cracking MP3 player and at £280 for 20GB (around 5,000 tunes) it is £20 cheaper than the iPod. Well worth considering.

http://techdigestuk.typepad.com/tech...iaudio_m3.html

[mhuie]

I wouldn't go as to say that i wouldn't touch it with a 15 foot pole, but i have one, and can say that it has a perfect interface or buttons

sometimes they work, sometimes they dont. i still like when the jogdial was a moving part (precise movements aren't that great on the new touchpad).

and the interface could use some tweaking to make faster navigation..

but its still better than 90% of whats out there... so i can't really complain