| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 |
14:28 - Smaller, cheaper, better
http://www.whatithinkiknow.com/Archive04/WIT20040223.html
|
(top)  |
Here's Damien Del Russo's take on the iPod mini:
Dude, this this is SMOKIN'. Tiny, super light, a very clear screen, and a superb control wheel. I would note that everything except the capacity CRUSHES my 40 gig - my 40 gig has a difficult to read screen and a bass-ackward control setup. Being the tech pig I am, I want the Mini. I will skip scotch for 5 months to afford the mini. Well, 3. Anyway, the Mini ROCKS...and they are all sold out.
You know what I think the killer feature of the mini is? The anodized metal case. Yeah. The original iPod, with its Lucite front and its polished stainless-steel back, simply scratches too damn easily. Yeah, it stands up to huge punishment (it really got knocked around this weekend skiing, to say nothing of being so encrusted in snow and ice that the headphone cord became rigid), but I find I'm constantly worrying about getting the back scratched. I can't just toss it onto a table or slip it into my pocket. Yeah, the shininess is cool and all, and it adds to that all-important sense of weighty mystique that overwhelms anyone holding an iPod in his hand for the first time and thinking, Damn, so this is that five-hundred-dollar MP3 player, huh? ... But what really separates the big-brother iPod from the mini is that the latter won't scratch. It's the action iPod. It's the rough-and-tumble rugby player version. The regular iPod is the style piece, designed to sit in a Dock and glow its screen at you while you work. The mini is for taking to the beach and rolling over on it in your sleep, crushing it into the sand as you bake to a lobster red.
I don't want one. I like my 20GB. But the mini is the perfect addition to the lineup, expertly poised to capture the next fattest chunk of the market.
|
|
Brian Tiemann
