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Apple iPod Mini MP3 Player Review
Author: Daniel Topler
Date Posted: February 25th, 2003
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Bottom Line:
If you liked Apples iPod but would like something smaller then maybe you need an iPod Mini, its the size of a credit card, sleek, has a top-notch design and one of the best user interfaces around. Memory size is limited and can be a tad expensive to upgrade. We put the iPod Mini under the microscope, find out what we found in our official review.......
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Using the iPod Mini
Luckily, with the release of iTunes for Windows, non-Mac users have it pretty easy, unlike the previous days when using MusicMatch Jukebox was a requirement to have an iPod. iTunes for Windows is virtually identical to iTunes for Mac, and provides an easy-to-use environment for loading songs to the iPod. For the sake of this review, the iPod Mini was tested on both a Mac and PC using both Firewire and USB 2.0.
Before being able to “sync” the iPod Mini with the PC, you need to install some software/drivers. Placing the CD in your drive loads the wizard, will first ask you for your iPod Mini serial #, and then continue with the installation. Once its complete, the computer will restart and you will be ready to load songs on your iPod Mini.
Loading songs is as simple as drag and drop. As long as you already have your music library in iTunes (which will not be explained here), you can start the transfer of all your music within a few seconds. You can transfer music to your iPod in one of two ways; automatic, or manual.
Manual mode has just been described to you, it basically lets you drag and drop specific songs and playlists to your iPod until it is full. If you have a larger collection of music (over 4GB, the capacity of the unit), Automatic mode may be best for your specific needs. First off, with Automatic mode, it will automatically transfer all your music considering you have less then 4GB of songs. Once you download more songs and go to sync your iPod once again, it will update just the new songs on the iPod, basically letting you automatically have your entire collection of music with you, without you personally needing to do anything.
If you have more then 4GB of music, things tend to get a little complicated. iTunes will transfer the songs that have the highest rating (you can set a rating for each song, out of five stars, from either iTunes or your iPod), as well as the songs that have been listened to the most first, and then transfer the remaining songs, considering there is additional space remaining. This is extremely smart of Apple, because many people have a music collection that is larger then 4GB, which this device cannot accommodate.
The speed of the unit is great. I had my partial collection of 198 songs transfer in about three minutes. It ends up being about a second a song, which is fast enough for virtually anyone.
If necessary, you can use the iPod Mini (as well as all of the iPods) as an external hard drive, as well as an MP3 player. When the drive is mounted, it will show up as a letter in My Computer (PC) or show up on the Desktop for access in the Finder (Mac). This way, you can drag and drop any kind of file to be later accessed on the same, or different PC. You cannot transfer music this way, however. I did find it to be a great backup resource, instead of burning a countless number of CD’s.
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