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Good time to purchase an iPod mini?

T

teemu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 30, 2005
4
0
Finland
I've been looking forward to buying an iPod mini for quite some time now. Now that I've finally made up my mind that I want the 6gig mini, I'm puzzled whether I should buy it right away or wait until the Apple Expo in the end of September.

As I understand it the mini was last updated in the end of February, which is a tad over 5 months ago. So, chances are that an updated model could be just around the corner. Are there any rumors or speculations on the future of iPod mini? Colour screen, 8gig harddrive maybe?

So, I think this all boils down to a simple question: Buy or wait?
 
I'd wait if I were you. When ordered my iBook I could have gotten a free Mini, but I decided on using the rebate on a color iPod. The current minis didn't seem to cut it. I would wait until the new ones come out, they're bound to be much better.
 
My guess is that the mini will be updated before the holiday season. Chances are good that the update will include a color screen (it only fits with this whole switch to color iPods). An 8 gb hard drive is certainly possible too.

I agree with tikibangout that this probably isn't a good time to purchase an iPod mini. The color screens with the full size iPods are very nice, and the ability to view and transfer pictures on your iPod is great too. Unless you really can't wait to get a mini, be patient until at least October to see if color minis are introduced.
 
I agree new iPod mini's with colour displays and bigger hard drives are on the way we will probably see them at the end of the summer....

ShadOW ;)
 
osta helvetissä! waiting for mini ipod with possibly a colour screen and possibly a little bigger hd possibly coming in next 4 months is worst kind of idiocy I can think of. current ones are just fine, they play music & have good battery life. what else should portable music player do, shoot laser beams?
 
Tahko said:
osta helvetissä! waiting for mini ipod with possibly a colour screen and possibly a little bigger hd possibly coming in next 4 months is worst kind of idiocy I can think of. current ones are just fine, they play music & have good battery life. what else should portable music player do, shoot laser beams?
Click to expand...

We aren't actually talking about four months here but two to be exact. I don't care about a colour screen that much since I don't find it convenient to look at photos on a small lcd screen but I wouldn't complain if my mini had one either (unless it would reduce batterylife drastically). I could, however, use the extra space and two additional gigs, as small as it might sound, really makes a difference to me. So, why not buy a regular iPod you might ask. The thing is I really like the size of the mini.
 
I won't buy one until they are at least 8gb. Reason: I don't want a regular iPod and my music collection is around 4gb at a growth rate of 800-900mb a year. I don't want to buy a 6gb and only have it for a couple years...
 
Updates will be soon.

With the student discount, you can buy an iBook for $949 and get a free $179 iPod. That's like paying $770 for a brand new iBook. That's a steal.

What student is going to turn down a free iPod on the most popular and recently refreshed Mac for students? They're going to sell like hotcakes and help Apple liquidate their remaining iPod mini stock. Offer ends Sept 24, so expect updates in early to mid-October.
 
wait......

do people really wait for IPOD UPDATES?!?!?! WOW, wat a joke. just buy one and be happy for heaven's sake, i just bought a 1 gig ipod shuffle and i love it, go ahead, buy your mini, great machine, and please, i never want to hear about anyone WAITING for an IPOD update, thats the joke of the century....
 
bigben334 said:
do people really wait for IPOD UPDATES?!?!?! WOW, wat a joke. just buy one and be happy for heaven's sake, i just bought a 1 gig ipod shuffle and i love it, go ahead, buy your mini, great machine, and please, i never want to hear about anyone WAITING for an IPOD update, thats the joke of the century....
Click to expand...

Wow are you a jerk. It's not the joke of a century. It's called "some people don't have thousands of dollars and what little money they do have they want to use wisely."
 
If I had the choice to wait month and buy the same iPod or better for $50 less, I'd take it. Now if I had the choice of waiting 6 months and getting basically the same thing for $50 less, I'd just buy it now. It depends.

BTW, now is a great time to buy an iPod ... if you're a student and buying a computer anyway. Otherwise, especially if you want a color screen on a mini, you might want to wait.
 
I do realize waiting for an iPod update might sound ridiculous to some of you. However, the fact of the matter is that 260eur is a large investment for a student like me and I really would like to get the best gadget that money can buy. I certainly would feel ripped off if the price of the mini was reduced or some new groundbreaking features were introduced right after my purchase.

Unfortunately Apple Store doesn't offer any student dicounts for Finland yet. The education section just says "Coming soon" - Something what it has said for quite some time now. Some Apple retailers here do give student discounts but even then the price is way higher than the price in Apple Store (probably due to cassette duty).

Now, I don't mind waiting couple of months for a new iPod since I've managed to get along without one this long. I won't, however, wait any longer than that or I'll eventually end up waiting forever for that perfect iPod that is bound to be introduced "next week".
 
bigben334 said:
do people really wait for IPOD UPDATES?!?!?! WOW, wat a joke. just buy one and be happy for heaven's sake, i just bought a 1 gig ipod shuffle and i love it, go ahead, buy your mini, great machine, and please, i never want to hear about anyone WAITING for an IPOD update, thats the joke of the century....
Click to expand...

i'm waiting, as soon as apple release an ipod that is gapless or supports cue files i'll happily go and buy the best ipod there is
 
I'm waiting for them to upgrade the iPod mini, I like the features of the iPod (photo) but it's size is just too big. I've got about 40gb of music but don't need to carry everything around, and there's something satisfying about choosing what music you take with you, I worked out using a playlist that I'd need about 7gb on an iPod. So a 8gb Mini (photo) would be perfect, it's small, I prefer the way it looks and would be able to store and view photos.

Waiting is a good option, if they upgraded it a week or a month after I got one I'd be very annoyed with myself for not waiting. I don't need an iPod, I'd just like one, I'll make do with my CD walkman til then.

(I'm not going to wait for gapless playback, as I don't think that's going to happen for a while, I've just joined all those tracks that are linked together, annoying but what can you do.)
 
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