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New Ipod Mini (USB) from Apple vs. Old Ipod Mini (FW) from Amazon

L

lom8104

macrumors regular
Original poster
So which is better? Amazon is selling the older 4g ipod mini (with firewire) for $179. Apple is selling the new 4g Ipod mini (with usb only) for $200. Am I correct in assuming that the older one from amazon has the included ac charger\dock while the new one does not? Am I correct in assuming that firewire is faster than USB 2.0 (I have a new pb so i could use both)? If so, i seems like the ones on amazon are a steal so long as i am not missing any other differences besides the color coordinated buttons on the scroll wheel.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001A99LA/104-6297991-9395939?v=glance&s=pc&n=507846

BTW: Is the ipod mini mostly seen on women??
 
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get the one with firewire... usb will make you want to knife yourself due to the slooooooooooooooooow transfer speeds.

i see mini's on guys in dc all the time.

besides, who cares- it's like guys wearing pink shirts- are you man enough to tote a mini? 😛 😀
 
USB2 and Firewire has about the same speed...

The new iPod minis should have better battery life than the old ones...

If you have one or more USB2 ports on your Mac go with the new one, if you "only" have Firewire port and USB1 you may go with the old one, or just as good, get the new one and buy the optional FW cable... the price on the old ones aren't very good, specially when compared to edu prices on Apple Store...

Real men can also wear the mini... (just avoid the pink one, maybe... 😉)
 
I just realized that the new mini has 3x battery life compared to the old one. Is it possible to purchase a replacement battery for the older mini? I assume they have the same form factor.
 
No Dock, but much better battery

The iPod mini never came with a dock and the new ones don't either. The old mini's did come with a charger that could be used with the included firewire cable. The new ones don't have the FW cable and I don't think they have the charger anymore either. Still, 18 hour battery life as opposed to 8 hours. I would get the new mini just for the extra battery life. Even if you don't need 18 hours, just remember that rechargable batteries slowly lose capacity over time. So in two years the 8-hr battery may only be giving you 5-6 hours between recharges whlie the new 18-hr battery would probably still be giving you over 12 hours - something to consider.
 
lom8104 said:
I just realized that the new mini has 3x battery life compared to the old one. Is it possible to purchase a replacement battery for the older mini? I assume they have the same form factor.
Click to expand...

IMHO, the battery life issue is negligible, unless you're clocking your mini for 16 hours straight just for testing purposes. I find 6-8 hours plenty of hours long use.

The Amazon mini iPod prices are great; the old 4GB's come with the FW cable PLUS the AC adapter, which Apple conveniently omits in the updates. If you ever want to charge your 'pod apart from your PB, you need an adapter and they'll come in handy. In other words, Apple took away $50 in accessories to give a $50 discount -- c'mon, do you actually think Apple is trying to give you a "deal" or the illusion of one?

Amazon doesn't charge tax (edu store is nothing more than a tax break); with my promotional codes uses, I bought one there for $139 flat.
 
lom8104 said:
I just realized that the new mini has 3x battery life compared to the old one. Is it possible to purchase a replacement battery for the older mini? I assume they have the same form factor.
Click to expand...

The batteries on the iPods are replacable, but not by the user. Apple offers a service to repalce the batteries and so do a few other third-party services, but this costs about $75-$100. That is much more than the $20 you would save on Amazon. I still say get the new mini, the new shade of blue is cool, IMO.
 
djkny said:
In other words, Apple took away $50 in accessories to give a $50 discount -- c'mon, do you actually think Apple is trying to give you a "deal" or the illusion of one?.
Click to expand...


Yeah they took away $50 in accessories and gave a $50 discount......that's not a great deal........oh wait.......they added 10 HOURS of battery life to it for a total of 18. So buy the accessories, pay the same amount as the original iPod Mini prices, and get one with 18 hours of battery life instead of 8. Sounds pretty good to me. That's why I sold my Blue iPod Mini with a tiny 8 hour battery life (which by the way with the 3G iPods are the iPods with the worst battery life out of all iPods ever made) and bought a new 6GB Blue iPod Mini with 18 HOURS. My iPod Photo has 15 hours and it is great.....I never have to worry about charging it.
 
The iPod mini never came with a dock.

But no AC adapter...that sucks. It's a pity the new AC adapters use USB...I have several AC adapters with firewire connections lying around from previous iPods that have been in the family.

Does anyone know if the shuffle can be plugged into a USB AC adapter to charge?
 
Jovian9 said:
Yeah they took away $50 in accessories and gave a $50 discount......that's not a great deal........oh wait.......they added 10 HOURS of battery life to it for a total of 18. So buy the accessories, pay the same amount as the original iPod Mini prices, and get one with 18 hours of battery life instead of 8. Sounds pretty good to me. That's why I sold my Blue iPod Mini with a tiny 8 hour battery life (which by the way with the 3G iPods are the iPods with the worst battery life out of all iPods ever made) and bought a new 6GB Blue iPod Mini with 18 HOURS. My iPod Photo has 15 hours and it is great.....I never have to worry about charging it.
Click to expand...

Well, I've owned multiple iPods spanning all the gen's, and though I love them, this whole "hours/life" thing is a marketing trick. I get more than 8 on the (now) rev. A Mini's; sometimes, I don't. Same applies for their glorious 18 hour pronouncement -- just like the pronouncement that you can fit 1,000 songs, etc. oops, they forget to take compression rates into account, etc. which varies by individual.

All this to say, if you buy the new one, great. I didn't, and I'm fine, too -- esp. since I only paid $140 for the Rev A which I'll perhaps sell for $200+ on CL and get it, too.
 
djkny said:
IMHO, the battery life issue is negligible, unless you're clocking your mini for 16 hours straight just for testing purposes. I find 6-8 hours plenty of hours long use.
Click to expand...

I disagree, If I dont change the songs that often or have the backlight on I get around 6 hours. I hardly find it enough. I would love to get a new mini just to have the extra battery life.
 
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