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iPod Mini vs. 4G iPod for girlfriend

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donutzeatpeople

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I currently own a 3G 20GB iPod thats about 6 months old now. My only real beef with it is the battery life, which I think is brutal. It's not that hard to recharge it during everyday use, but if I'm on a long trip it seems to run out quickly.

I'm thinking about buying an iPod mini for my girlfriend, but I'm not sure I can justify it because the battery seems to be the same as the 3G iPod. The reason that I think she'd like the Mini better, however, is that she doesn't have that huge of a music collection, and the Mini is smaller and more feminine in general. Can anyone comment on the Mini's battery life or have a suggestion as to which one I should choose? Thanks.
 
if she has no use of the extra space then i would get her the mini, i really have not heard anyone complain of battery issues with it, plus i think if she doesnt have too big of a music collection she would prefer it, its just 'cooler' than the regualr iPods....

just my two cents...
 
I don't know that the mini is more feminine, but it is more stylish, and the smaller size means being able to fit it into an overstuffed purse easier than the regular iPod. If her music collection is not huge, then the mini is the way to go.
I'm getting my wife a pink one for our anniversary. She'll be able to fit her entire collection of Prince on it (maybe...she has a ton of Prince!).
 
I bought my girlfriend a pink mini and she loves it more than my ipod. It is definatly smaller, and is IMHO a better style then the 3g. she will love it
 
i know this won't win much bonus points, but if you are concerned about the battery life and the form factor, you can't beat a combination of a flash-mp3 player and rechargeable batteries. i only mention this because you said she doesn't have that big of a music collection.

iPod mini makes for a very nice, stylish gift, no doubt. i have a silver one myself and i love it. but for my girlfriend, i got her a flash-mp3 player because she is not as fanatic about carrying a lot of music as i am.

i got her this: http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=&prod_id=YPT5H/XAA

it's very capable, reasonably priced and she loves it.
 
Most girls would go for style over function. With this in mind get her an ipod mini of whatever color she chooses. (ASK her, you shouldn't guess, her favorite color might be blue, but she might just love the way the pink one looks. You can ask slyly, like show her a commecial for it on iTMS and ask her which color she likes best)
 
I'm going against the grain here and recommending the 4G iPod. I disagree that the Mini is more stylish, as I think the classic white design is timeless.

If I were picking out jewelry for my girlfriend, I wouldn't get the gaudiest bauble I could find. I would aim for understated. Women respond to subtlety.

As a side benefit, for the $50 more that you spend on a 4G, you'll get 5X the storage. That means that she plugs it in and ALL of her music is transfered. I don't know about your girlfriend, but mine isn't the type to constantly add and subtract tracks from a Mini because it can't fit her entire music library.
 
i'm having the same problem myself. but i think i am going to go for the mini as it appears to be a bit more "cool".
 
The Mini has better battery life than the 3rd gens, from what I have read one the boards, and my own unscientific results.

The Mini is better looking. (IMO)

The Mini advances to the next song faster. (Again, just something I noticed.)

Different colors. ( A white Mini would be great though)

And if she doesn't have alot of songs, then go mini.

I got one for my girl for all those reasons.
 
tfaz1 said:
If I were picking out jewelry for my girlfriend, I wouldn't get the gaudiest bauble I could find. I would aim for understated. Women respond to subtlety.
Click to expand...


Whatever you say CHEAPSKATE!!! 😛
 
iPod Mini for size, style, and space.

I don't think battery life will be such an issue. Battery life seems to be very opinionated. Most people don't seem to mind, myself included. Then you've got others that sort of mind, like yourself. I don't think your girlfriend will be too worried about battery life though.

The girls I know seem to go for silver and blue, like the guys.
 
My girlfriend and I both have the iPod mini. My girlfriend has the pink one and she loves it. My battery lasts about 6.5 hours with normal use. When I use the iTrip, my battery life is easily cut in half. The mini is good for excerising if you get the armband. I have no complaints with it.
 
jxyama said:
i know this won't win much bonus points, but if you are concerned about the battery life and the form factor, you can't beat a combination of a flash-mp3 player and rechargeable batteries. i only mention this because you said she doesn't have that big of a music collection.
Click to expand...

I recently inherited an iRock...hate the thing and it has only been a few days! iPods are, overall, much nicer than flash-based players IMO. But, I guess they could work...
 
donutzeatpeople said:
I currently own a 3G 20GB iPod thats about 6 months old now. My only real beef with it is the battery life, which I think is brutal. It's not that hard to recharge it during everyday use, but if I'm on a long trip it seems to run out quickly.

I'm thinking about buying an iPod mini for my girlfriend, but I'm not sure I can justify it because the battery seems to be the same as the 3G iPod. The reason that I think she'd like the Mini better, however, is that she doesn't have that huge of a music collection, and the Mini is smaller and more feminine in general. Can anyone comment on the Mini's battery life or have a suggestion as to which one I should choose? Thanks.
Click to expand...
If you were in Japan, I would recommend looking at the wide variety of flash players. Most are 512MB. Some are up to 1GB. Plenty of space. Cheap prices too.

As for the iPod vice mini iPod, here is a suggestion that you might consider if you are near an Apple store or store that sells both the iPod and mini iPod.

Here's what to do. Take her out to dinner. Have a card, some flowers, etc. Make it special. In other words, at the end of dinner, in her mind she should feel that her B-Day events are over.

Then after dinner, as an after thought, drop by the Apple store. After you enter the store, hand her a small card with a coupon in it for the iPod of her choice. The card is important. Without it, the flow will not work and will look spur of the moment vice preplanned.

This way she can choose whichever one she wants. And if she needs a day or two to decide, that is no problem.

Sushi
 
Nice thought, Sushi.

The card would need to be good quality. Perhaps wrapped (if she likes those things).

Good luck and have fun.

(To be honest, in these situations I don't think it matters whether iPod or flash or whatever - it's the thought that counts!)

... but get the mini!! 🙂
 
Definitely go for the mini. I just did the same thing a few weeks ago and she was extremely happy. It was small, blue, had her name engraved, and already loaded with 400+ tunes when she opened it up and took it out of the box. 😉
 
If you can afford the extra $50 for the 20-gigabyte iPod, I'd suggest that -- you're quintupling the space for fifty bucks, i.e. 16 gigabytes for $50 = $3.125 per gigabyte. Even if your girlfriend doesn't have much music, you can use an iPod for backups and stuff -- I almost think of mine as a very portable FireWire hard drive that can also play AAC audio.

I know it's kind of unromantic to think about gigabytes when picking a present for your girlfriend, but she may be backing stuff up on a Zip disk or something -- and noone ever said "no" to any iPod, so long as I can remember.
 
There isn't a single one of my female friends who really knows what a zip disk is, nor do they back things up and think of their iPod as a portable harddrive. 😉

Get the pink Mini. If you're worried about battery life, take the time to re-encode all her CD's into 128kbps AAC files. The Mini has also been reported to get more than 8 hours from a single charge. Actually, the Mini can hit the 10 hour mark if you don't play with the controls too much, so at least it's better than the 3G iPod.
 
JeffTL said:
If you can afford the extra $50 for the 20-gigabyte iPod, I'd suggest that -- you're quintupling the space for fifty bucks, i.e. 16 gigabytes for $50 = $3.125 per gigabyte. Even if your girlfriend doesn't have much music, you can use an iPod for backups and stuff -- I almost think of mine as a very portable FireWire hard drive that can also play AAC audio.

I know it's kind of unromantic to think about gigabytes when picking a present for your girlfriend, but she may be backing stuff up on a Zip disk or something -- and noone ever said "no" to any iPod, so long as I can remember.
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No, don't go at it like this.

This is a romantic situation. Not a logical one. Unless your GF is Spocket (a female Spock) go with your heart vice your mind.

Sushi
 
I bought my wife a 4G iPod for her birthday. She didn't like it and said I could have it (well, she wanted me to return it, but it had been opened, and there would be that terrible 10% restocking fee, and I needed a backup device, and whine, whine whine...). She decided to get a pink mini.

As a married person, this suits me fine, as it nets me an iPod. As a dating person, I'd go for the pink mini. Like everyone else advised.
 
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