6 GB iPod mini or 20 GB iPod?

[dferigmu]

Ok, I've updated this a bit:

Now that I have my Powerbook, I need an iPod to go along with it. I have put pretty much all my music into iTunes and it came out to 4.5GB worth of songs. The music I have left to put on it are 50-100 songs from a friend, 7-8 CDs coming in the mail, and then music I will be buying.

I am trying to decide between the 6GB mini and the 30GB iPod photo. I like the mini for several reasons: It's smaller, I like the casing better, and it comes with better battery life.

On the other hand, the iPod photo is only about $65 more since I’d want to buy an AC adapter with the mini, it does let me have room to grow, and let's me have access to my entire library of songs and pictures while traveling in Europe this summer and living there next year.

What do you guys think? Is the extra $65 worth the photo considering the pros of the mini?

 

[buryyourbrideau]

do the mini man, if you need more room in the future just sell that little man an upgrade. i made the mistake of buying a 40gig ipod photo and throwin down 500 for it right when it came out but hey what can you do but whatever i love it . so i guess welcome to the ipod fam

 

[jalagl]

I just posted my experience here. Long story short, I started to look for a 6GB mini, and ended up buying the 40GB iPod Photo (older version). It seemed like a better value.

 

[cmvsm]

You gotta go for the largest that you can afford. I was pondering the mini and went for the 30GB Photo instead as the new price is killer for the color screen! Your collection will more than likely only get bigger and you'll leave yourself a little room to grow.

 

[Piarco]

I had a 20gigger, and ended up getting a mini for the gym (this was around 8 months before the shuffle was released) and from that day I never used the 20Gigger again. Granted the mini can't fit on all my music, but if fits on everything that I think I'd want to listen to on the go - theres a lot of music in my library that is purely occasional music, or tunes that my friends will like when having a party.
I've recently moved to the new 6GB version, and can't recommend it highly enough...

 

[dferigmu]

do the mini man, if you need more room in the future just sell that little man an upgrade. i made the mistake of buying a 40gig ipod photo and throwin down 500 for it right when it came out but hey what can you do but whatever i love it . so i guess welcome to the ipod fam

I just remembered something: Is there a voice recorder available for the mini?

 

[JzzTrump22]

It's not that much more for a 20 gig over the mini 6 gig. But if you don't want to spend the extra then don't. If you only have about 4 gigs of music, the 6 gig is big enough. Plus i'm sure you don't listen to all the music you have on in itunes anyway. So get the 6 gig.

 

[rtdgoldfish]

I just remembered something: Is there a voice recorder available for the mini?

They all have the same connector so if you get an iTalk or similar mic it should work. Not totally sure, check out either Apple's website or Griffin, they should have a solution.

 

[ziwi]

I would think a 20 - just so I would have the option of storing - notes, data, pictures from a flash card, maybe even some audio books - I currently only have a 10, but I am of the belief that one can never have enough storage.

 

[r6girl]

i had (actually, still have it - haven't gotten around to putting it up for sale yet) a 30 GB 3G ipod, and switched to a new 6GB mini. even though the regular ipods aren't all that large, i still found it was a bit more cumbersome than i wanted for snowboarding (while in the inside chest pocket of my jacket) and for exercising (in an armband). so, i think you should focus on when/how you would listen to your ipod and choose the right one for those activities.

i do have an external hard drive, so that's not an issue for me. my music collection does exceed 6GB just by a hair, so i just choose my favorites and have those on my mini. i did get frustrated by the fingerprints/ease of scratching my regular ipod, and i do like that i can not be so paranoid in handling the mini.

i've had the 30GB for almost a year and a half now, and i never encountered a situation where i thought it was great to have my entire music collection with me AND listened to all of it. it was cool to use it back up my powerbook hard drive, though. but the mini suits my needs just fine for what i need and how i use my ipod.

marianne

 

[rkphoto]

This has always seemed to be a no brainer to me. If for $50 more you can get 3+ as much room then why not do it? I don't see any advantage to the iPod mini whatsoever. It's not even that much smaller and the colors don't look as good as the standard white iPod. Believe me you'll need the space one day.

 

[Rocky3478]

This has always seemed to be a no brainer to me. If for $50 more you can get 3+ as much room then why not do it? I don't see any advantage to the iPod mini whatsoever. It's not even that much smaller and the colors don't look as good as the standard white iPod. Believe me you'll need the space one day.

The advantages of the iPod mini, are , IMO, that it has 30% + greater battery life, the case doesn't scratch as easily, its smaller and lighter, etc. But those aren't for everyone. Sounds like most people like the massive storage on 4G iPods. I personally don't need it, so the iPod mini looks better to me.

 

[EssentialParado]

I'm in a very similar position. I have 19GB of music, growing daily (and legally! ****ing pirates...) so I always assumed a 40GB iPod would be what I needed. But then I got bored of the design of the iPod and I'm really into the iPod mini now. So even though I'll only be able to carry around 6GB at a time, I, like you, have a PowerBook with all my music stored on it, which I carry around most of the time. So if I need to change the music on it, it shouldn't be too much trouble to do a little musical shift on the go.

Even with all my music I'd rather carry around a tiny slice of cool than a small brick (iPod shuffle is TOO small, though!)

Good luck on your decision

-Luke (waiting patiently for a yellow iPod mini!)

 

[Xeem]

I picked up a new mini recently. I haven't used an iPod photo yet, but I have used my dad's 4g 40 gig pod and my brother's 2g 10 gig quite a bit. I recommend the mini on the basis of size; regular iPods seem huge after you've used the mini a while.

 

[dferigmu]

The advantages of the iPod mini, are , IMO, that it has 30% + greater battery life, the case doesn't scratch as easily, its smaller and lighter, etc. But those aren't for everyone. Sounds like most people like the massive storage on 4G iPods. I personally don't need it, so the iPod mini looks better to me.

Those are the reasons I like the mini. I did just get back from the Apple Store and I think I should change the thread to the mini vs. the 30GB iPod Photo. The normal iPod is probably due for an update soon and it doesn't seem like a good deal compared to the mini and photo iPod's.

I did also remember that I'll be living in Europe for about a year. Would it make sense to buy an iPod photo to be able to store photos as well?

The only other things holding me back from getting something other than the mini is the fact that I don't like carrying really expensive things around with me and the fact that the iPod batteries last only about two years or so. The mini might be good for letting me join the iPod world and then maybe I'll get something better in a couple years.

 

[BayAreaMike07]

ipod mini

Can you upgrade an Ipod Mini Hard Drive From 6GB to like 10GB or 15GB????

Please HeLp...

 

[iPC]

30gb photo.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

I just remembered something: Is there a voice recorder available for the mini?

No.

 

[trentcanuck]

mini

If you're buying an iPod to play music, then I say Go for the Mini!

I've owned iPods of every size and model (except 2nd gen and Photo) up to a 20 gig size, and I have happily settled on a new 6 gig Mini.

Everyone here seems to be stressing that the regular iPods are bigger (capacity); but for me, the DOWNSIDE is that the regular iPods are bigger (size). As someone who has owned 20 gig iPods, after even a few weeks of using a mini, the other one feels like a big, giant, white brick --so I sold it, and DON'T miss the extra capacity.

I own probably 100 gigs of music (only about 15-20 gigs in my iTunes library), and I buy 5 new CD's a month (so my library is growing by 1 gig per month) and still I say that for me—and for most people— 6 gigs is enough size.

The key is Playlists and especially Smart playlists (see http://www.smartplaylists.com for creative playlist suggestions).
I once read someone say, "Better to have 5 gigs and smart playlists, than 20 gigs and no playlists". -Which I guess summarizes as "its not the size that matters; it's how you use it" )

If you have regular access to you computer with your library on it, even switching a full 6 gigs for a completely different 6 gigs is pretty quick.
For me personally, even if the battery life were equal, and EVEN IF price were equal, I would still choose a 6 gig Mini over a full-size iPod. The fact that the mini has better battery life makes it a no-brainer for my purposes.

If you're not going to have your computer in Europe (and if you have more than 6 gigs of music that you would miss having with you), then that's an extra consideration in favour of buying the big iPod. On the other hand, as a traveller, pick-pocket and theft is always a concern (especially with a big-ticket item), and so I would prefer the ability of the Mini to fit subtly in a pocket —the big iPod is not comfortably pocket-sized. For travelling anti-theft purposes, I'd also ditch the attention-grabbing white earbuds too.

Heck; for me, have owned both sizes, if my choice were limited to either a 4 gig mini or a 40 gig regular, and they were both the same price, I STILL would pick the mini!

That's my opinion, based on my experience and usage. Your needs may differ.

 

[aafuss1]

I also was at first going to get the 6GB mini, but I was able to get a 20GB 4th gen iPod on sale for $AU399 (down from about AU$440).

And no voice recorders aren't compatible with the mini.

 

[dornoforpyros]

hmmm 4 times the storage for an extra $50...yeah 20gb no question. Than again my 40gb is starting to become a little cramped so I'm biased.

 

[Solafaa]

I have the U2 pod and i love it, i only have 8GB worth of music but i can also use my pod to transfer files between home and office. The good thing with having all your music on 1 ipod is that if your compter crashs you will have them backed-up if you dont have an external HD. In the end you will have to know what you will use it for, i dont use my ipod or the gym, i use my shuffle for that so i dont mind having he larger pod for travling.

 

[dferigmu]

6GB iPod mini or 30GB iPod photo?

30gb photo.

I have a question about the iPod photo's screen though. Without the backlight, it seems much harder to see than the mini and 20GB iPod screens. Is this the case, or is it just me? Doesn't this mean you have to use the backlight to see the screen, which will result in less than 15 hours of battery life?