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IPOD MINI VS. NEW 20GB IPOD

C

Cheap-Chopstix

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 13, 2003
82
0
in a tree
I'm debating whether to go for the mini or the new 20gb ipod. I like the look of both models but kind of like the more compact and aluminum design of the mini more....plus it matches perfect with my pbook. The one big advantage for me that the mini has is that im buying an extended warranty from Futureshop and it is an exchange warranty for the mini. Meaning that if i ever have a problem with the mini they'll exchange it for a new model no problem. I wouldnt mind the extra space teh 20gb would give me to store photos, videos and other crap for back up. The longer battery life also peaks my interest as well if it is as good as they say.

Well i;ll probably check both out as soon as the new ones come instore.

Thx
 
Well, I guess the question is if you need the extra space or not. I went for the mini because I only have 2+ GB of music and don't plan on buying lots of CDs in the future (iTMS is not yet available in my country :( ). So, for me it was a no brainer. OTH, the regular iPod has all those extra features such as photo storage capability.
 
go for 20gb

The storage the storage the storage need I say more. the battery life the battery life the battery life.
Seriously, You really get alot more for your money with the 20 gig and you can buy Applecare for it as well. Although they will not replace it they will fix it usually with a three day turnaround, Unbelievable service.
Good Luck
 
My wife and I just sold our 3G's and bought a Blue Mini and a 40GB 4G. To be honest I really like the minis......and we've owned every generation of iPod since they came out. I've carried it more than the 4G and I have 30+GB of music. I was able to fit my entire favorite collection on the mini. Of course the battery life isn't as good, you cannot record onto the mini, and you will not have storage for backing up other stuff. But the aluminum design doesn't scratch/scuff like the plastic on the 4G's. And since there are no cases for the 4G's right now (other than Apples which scuffs the iPods anyway) then you will have to be very careful or your 4G will be very scratched up within a week. It's a tough decision, but if you do not need a lot of size and do not need line in recording definitely go for the mini.
 
Future Shop can be a pain in the ass for returning stuff even if you have purchased the warranty. Also I haven't seen then new 4g iPods or the minis at futureshop yet when did they say they would have them in by?
 
I ended up with one of each ...

I bought a blue mini when they first came out and have really enjoyed it. But it did not take long to realize that 4 GB was not enough. I got a 20 GB 4G a few weeks ago because I really wanted to have all my music on an iPod. I did this with the intent of selling the mini. When I held them in my hands, side-by-side, I desided to keep them both. I use iPod in my truck and listen to my music via an iTrip. I keep the mini in my gym bag and use when I work out.
 
easy call for me.

if you ask me (which you didn't), it comes down to a simple decision: size vs. quantity

which is more important to you? the minis are very cool and have sold amazingly well, much to my surprise. i underestimated the importance of compactness for people.

for me, quantity is much more important. i have a 2nd gen 20GB and i'm frustrated right now b/c i've got about 21GB of music (when i bought it, i had about 5GB of music on the computer). now i have to weed through my "iPod playlist" (the only playlist that i have now b/c not all my songs fit, therefore my normal playlists aren't complete) to dump stuff off to fit new music. it's just annoying. i want ALL my music w/ me at all times. when the mood strikes, i want to have the song at hand, not go "aw, crap, that's not in the 4GB of music that i transferred."

my biggest envy of the mini's had been the clickwheel. now that's not an issue AND they dropped the prices of the 4gen? a tiny size is great, but for $50 more, you get FIVE TIMES the storage. for me, it's the iPod all the way...
 
wow forgot i made this thread so long ago.......well anyways i have been still debating the mini vs reg. ipod for awhile now......i juss recently got to hold a mini in person and boy are they tiny juss alittle bigger then my samsung cell. I could probably get by with 4 gigs of musice thats juss about the # of songs i have now probably less if i deleted the crappy ones i dont listen to anymore. The storage of the 20gb is tempting but how well does it store other stuff....if i plugged it into another persons computer does it recognize it as an external drive? can i juss drag and drop items into it? Im thinkin about getting an external drive for my pbook in the future(which will hold so much more stuff anyways) anyways thats why im not too concerned with the extra space. My cousin is ordered the new 20 gb so im gonna take a look at it once he gets it and make a final decision.

PS-i do regularly go to the gym.
PS 2- when using it as an external drive does it have to be formatted for windows or mac?
thx for all the input.
 
While I love the look of the mini, I just can't justify the price versus the full size 20GB iPod. So my vote goes for the 20GB iPod.

As to your question about plugging it into other computers, you will have no problems with other Macs, but you'll need to format the iPod fat32 if you want Windows compatability too.
 
Why get a 20 GB?

If you're considering getting a 4G iPod, you might want to consider the 40 GB, or waiting until the long-expected 60 GB appears (Expo Paris, anyone?). I know, they're more expensive than the 20 GB, but they're not THAT much more expensive, considering the extra capacity, which you can use to store photos, files from your HD, and in the future, probably video as well (although I doubt the iPod will ever display video itself; it will just stream it to an external display). Or, you could encode your songs in Apple Lossless format to increase the quality of your playback if you get upgraded earphones or use your iPod with a stereo system.

If the price IS a problem, you might want to consider investing the money you would pay for the Future Shop extended warranty on getting more iPod instead. Remember, the reason Future Shop salespeople push their extended warranties so hard is that Future Shop makes a HUGE amount of money on them, because most people never use them. If you never purchase an extended warranty, you will get burned sometimes, but over the course of your life, you will probably spend much less money on replacing or repairing things that would have been under extended warranty than you will on purchasing all of the extended warranties. After all, you are not just paying for their estimate of the average cost of repairing and replacing items, but also for their profit on top of that.

Best of luck on your decision (if you haven't made it already), and enjoy your iPod!
 
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