iPod Mini Sells Out

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-03-05-mini_x.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-03-05-mini_x.htm</a><br /><br /></div>Apparently Apple's new iPod <b>Mini</b> is proving to be a <b>huge</b> success (pardon the pun). USA Today reports the little multicolored music player is selling out in less than two weeks after it began appearing in stores. And has sold nearly 100,000 units so far. That is amazing sales performance for such a short period of time. <br /><br /><i>"The demand is incredible," says Wahrman at J&amp;R, who had 25 of the silver minis left in stock Thursday. Best Buy and Amazon, on their Web sites, said they were sold out. Savvy entrepreneurs were auctioning minis on eBay with starting bids ranging from $299 to $310."</i><br /><br />Personally I am somewhat torn. I own a 10gig iPod (the new model with solid state scroll wheel), but although I would be losing considerable storage space, the Mini looks so darn tempting. :?<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/B0001A99LK.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg" />

[mcsouth]

I continue to find myself surprised and torn over the whole Apple iPod thing. Yes, they are great examples of solid design, and deserve to set the industry on its ear with regards to their appearance and ease of use.

But.....I have most of my music encoded in MS's WMA format, which I find offers better audio quality at smaller files sizes than most other formats (I haven't tried the ogg vorbis thing yet, though). The simple fact that the iPod doesn't support this format doesn't surprise me, given the history between Apple and MS, but it does essentially diminish my desire to buy an iPod - I simply don't feel like trying to re-encode my entire music collection.

I'm also not too thrilled with the pricing, either. Apple obviously realizes the demand for their little engineering marvels, and the pricing reflects that, but for me, even the Mini is a bit too pricey. If the units accepted more music formats, and weren't tied so tightly to iTunes, I might reconsider, but for now, I'll just have to stand by and watch ...........

[entropy1980]

Once they hit about 12 gigs in size I will step up to the plate but until then my 10 gig 3G Ipod will have to do (although it doesn't hold my whole collection as it is!) I have been a a pretty big ITMS fiend with about 300 songs purchased so far. As far quality goes mcsouth.... AAC is far superior to WMA many double blind tests have shown AAC to be more consistent inreproduction of sound across the range of human hearing. I re-ripped my entire collection (around 300 cds) to AAC when iTunes came out for windows so I could maintain the same collection on my powerbook and PC.

[Gary Sheynkman]

Well there goes my prediction that this iPod wil flop since its not really a bargain. It appears Mr. Jobs did his homework.

You do know that you find the PINK iPod tempting? :lol: :wink:

iPods are great except for the fact that they dont have line in on the fly encoding. Multiple format support (ogg, flac, wma) would be nice as well

[Suhit Gupta]

I'm not surprised to some extent. But I still find the pastel colours annoying :(.

Suhit

[Janak Parekh]

I'm not surprised to some extent. But I still find the pastel colours annoying :(.
Including the neutral "silver" one?

In any case, all the reports I've heard suggest photos don't do the Mini any justice.

--janak

[Kent Pribbernow]

Actually, from what I understand, Apple is targeting the multicolored Minis at women.

[James Fee]

Including the neutral "silver" one?

In any case, all the reports I've heard suggest photos don't do the Mini any justice.

--janak
Saw them today at the Apple store here in Phoenix. The wife loved the pink one and while they aren't my type, everyone in the store was asking about them. I'll stick with my current iPod thank you, but the more mini iPods Apple sells, the better it is for the rest of us. :D

[Janak Parekh]

Actually, from what I understand, Apple is targeting the multicolored Minis at women.
Oh, without question... although I wouldn't mind checking out blue myself.

--janak

[David Prahl]

Can we expect a review of a Mini in the next few months? This site is just so new that I'm not sure what kind of products will and will not be reviewed.

[Suhit Gupta]

Including the neutral "silver" one?

In any case, all the reports I've heard suggest photos don't do the Mini any justice.
I guess the silver one doesn't look so bad. Perhaps I need to go down to the Apple store and see them for myself.

Suhit

[Kent Pribbernow]

Can we expect a review of a Mini in the next few months? This site is just so new that I'm not sure what kind of products will and will not be reviewed.

That's up to Apple. So far they haven't been very cooperative. :evil:

[Janak Parekh]

That's up to Apple. So far they haven't been very cooperative. :evil:
I'm not surprised. I suspect DMT isn't the only site asking to review the Mini, and obviously Apple underestimates the power DMT will have in a year or two. ;)

--janak

[Kent Pribbernow]

Oh yeah, and they turned me down as well. So that's a double insult. :lol:

[David Prahl]

That's were you "pull a Gandalf":

&lt;yell>
&lt;magic>
"I'm not trying to rob you! I'm trying to help you!"
&lt;/magic>
&lt;/yell>
http://www.eng.um.edu.mt/~jabrif/whq/gandalf.jpg

:lol:

[klinux]

I like my 20GB (2nd gen) much more than the Mini. Nevertheless, it is tempting to get another one, even if it is pink!

[ShinKen]

I just recieved my new silver ipod mini a couple of days ago and I love it. As someone mentioned pictures do not do justice to this device. The 4 GB of storage does not bother me (I have around 15 gigs of songs on my harddrive), as I just picked the songs that I like listening to over and over, when I did that I still had a little bit of room left.

[Deemo]

I think what has helped it sell out is the fact that I think this is the player that has a 4 gig microdrive in it and once you take it apart it is half the cost of buying the drive as a separate part.

[ctmagnus]

Nope, that's a Creative player. afaik, all the iPod drives are permantly attached.

[Janak Parekh]

Nope, that's a Creative player. afaik, all the iPod drives are permantly attached.
Actually, the iPod Minis' use a "removable" Hitachi 4GB Microdrive as well, but it's formatted in such a way that it can't be used in a desktop/laptop/camera. Only the MuVo's can.

--janak

[Bob12]

Actually, the MD in the iPod Mini can be used in other devices. You just have to format it with something that will recognize its size. I used the SanDisk 8 in 1 card reader that hooks to my PC via USB 2.0. While I haven't tested it in its ultimate destination (the camera is not due until mid-April) I have run other tests on it and, once formatted, it works like any other microdrive.

[Jason Dunn]

Actually, the MD in the iPod Mini can be used in other devices. You just have to format it with something that will recognize its size. I used the SanDisk 8 in 1 card reader that hooks to my PC via USB 2.0. While I haven't tested it in its ultimate destination (the camera is not due until mid-April) I have run other tests on it and, once formatted, it works like any other microdrive.

Hmm - isn't that strange. Comments I've read said that Hitachi put a specific model of drive in the iPod Mini that would not work in external devices. Glad to hear different!

[klinux]

The latest news I have heard is same as Jason's i.e the MD in iPod Mini is in True IDE mode instead in either one of the CF modes. As a result, I still have yet to hear of any iPod Mini's HDs being actually used inside a camera.

[kiwi]

:D

My blue one should arrive in a few days.. I paid more than RRP but I wanted portability in a small package not capacity. I4 gig is plenty for an afternoon of rollerblading etc

b

[Bob12]

My Canon EOS 1D Mark II is scheduled to arrive mid-April. I'll post the results either way. Obviously, I'm going to be highly disappointed if it doesn't work. But, as I said in the previous post, it functions as expected through a card reader so, we'll see. I do know that Hitachi is developing one that is iPod specific.