...
So what’s good about this one?
*********************************
The guys and gals at Apple are a clever bunch of people. MP3 players are by no means a new thing, I had one of the first ones years ago that only held about 6 songs and lasted about an hour before the batteries died. ... Read review
The Music cases are protective yet neat and slim and equipped with the patented Multidapt® ... more
system, which gives an unmatched flexibility in how to be worn. The cases are protective yet neat and slim , with full attention for functionality. Equipped with the patented Multidapt® system for an unmatched flexibility in how to be worn. Extra protection built-in to the lid to protect the player in a discrete and stylish way. Pockets for bills, memory cards etc. Made in Nappa leather of the best quality, and form factor. The Music Multidapt® case uses Krusell's patented Multidapt® flexible personal and vehicle mounting system. Choose the option thats right for you from the Multidapt® accessories listed below (Spring Clip included with the case).
Postage & Packaging:£3.95 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Music cases are protective yet neat and slim and equipped with the patented Multidapt® ... more
system, which gives an unmatched flexibility in how to be worn. The cases are protective yet neat and slim , with full attention for functionality. Equipped with the patented Multidapt® system for an unmatched flexibility in how to be worn. Extra protection built-in to the lid to protect the player in a discrete and stylish way. Pockets for bills, memory cards etc. Made in Nappa leather of the best quality, and form factor. The Music Multidapt® case uses Krusell's patented Multidapt® flexible personal and vehicle mounting system. Choose the option thats right for you from the Multidapt® accessories listed below (Spring Clip included with the case).
Postage & Packaging:£3.95 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Protect your Apple 4G iPod nano with the beautifully hand crafted Mini Maya Pouch. ... more
Available in a variety of colour options to suit you and your device. Ideal for housing your 4G iPod nano and keeping it safe from everyday knocks and bumps.
Postage & Packaging:£4.23 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Multi-channel surround sound enjoyment from a single component! - A perfect match for any ... more
iPod. Digital amplifier individually drives two sound beam drivers and one woofer to deliver true multi-channel surround sound for an elegant iPod home entertainment home system giving you incomparable performance. Elegant, space-saving design - No need for numerous speakers and cables, Slim profile matching the sensational look of your iPod, Can be wall mounted or placed in a shelf or rack, Design is more elegant, less obtrusive than multiple speaker boxes.
Postage & Packaging:£4.79 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Connect virtually any MP3 player to your in car and take your music collection with you. ... more
Simply connect (via 3.5mm jack) to your MP3's headphone socket and listen. Also compatible with CD, Mini Disc, iPod's, mobile phones and other music devices. Apple: iPod 3G, iPod 4G, iPod Classic, iPod Color, iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod Nano 2G, iPod Nano 3G, iPod Nano 4G, iPod Photo, iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Video Creative: Zen Stone, Zen V, Zen Vision M SanDisk: Sansa E200 Series Sony: NW-A Series, NWE Series
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Listen to your iPod anywhere with the i-Speaker portable sound system. Small&compact, the ... more
i-Speaker features unique Tru-Bass technology for amazing sound reproduction with deeper, rich bass tones. Always ready to go, the i-Speaker supports dual mode power, with a choice of battery power or main's power (with the supplied USB charger) to keep your music going. iPod volume compatibility allows you adjust the volume on your iPod, while neat storage system lets the i-Speaker neatly foldaway when not in use. Maximise compatibility, the i-Speaker works not only with your iPod, but also other MP3&CD players, supporting 3.5mm stereo jack.
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
This USB cable can be used with software to transmit picture, sound, video and Contacts ... more
List entries between your phone and your PC. High Speed Transfer 2-Way (Much Faster Than Bluetooth) Transfer Photo's&Video between your handset and PC. Transfer ringtones (MP3&Midi) between PC and your handset Backup your phonebook entries. View&Edit SMS messages with your PCBrought to you byU-BopThe Accessories Boutique
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 6-10 business days...
...The guys and gals at Apple are a clever bunch of people. MP3 players are by no means a new thing, I had one of the first ones years ago that only held about 6 songs and lasted about an hour before the batteries died. Cool gadget, but pretty useless in terms of usability. Of course, as a product they evolved of the last few years but what Apple did was to put it in an incredible easy to use and visually attractive package, and heavily market it to ... ...Maybe thiat is something Apple will provide in the future though.
So any hints and tips?
*************************
I’m glad you asked! In fact, there is a VERY good website that can provide you with some ‘hacks’ for your new toy. A hack is basically a set of steps that you can use to manipulate the iPod into doing things that it wasn’t specifically designed to do, or ones that Apple just didn’t tell you ... more
Oh how I love me gadgets. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with small electronic devices. Some were very useful, others not so much (still don’t understand why I thought I would need an electric hairbrush….) however this latest addition to my gadget collection most definitely fits into the former.
What is it? ***************
Basically, it plays MP3 files. When you download a song on the internet, or burn a CD onto your computer, this is the format (with a few others similar ones) that is used to store them. The files are a lot smaller than they are in CD format and this allows a LOT more music to be held in a similar size of storage space. What an MP3 player does, is to provide a set amount of storage space (similar to your hard dive) where these files can be stored and provides the ability to play them back while on the move.
So what’s good about this one? *********************************
The guys and gals at Apple are a clever bunch of people. MP3 players are by no means a new thing, I had one of the first ones years ago that only held about 6 songs and lasted about an hour before the batteries died. Cool gadget, but pretty useless in terms of usability. Of course, as a product they evolved of the last few years but what Apple did was to put it in an incredible easy to use and visually attractive package, and heavily market it to make it known to much more than just the computer and internet addicts among us.
So, after they had successfully introduced us to the standard iPod, they brought to the market what I can only describe as a gorgeous little piece of technology. Measuring only 6” tall and 2” wide the compact nature of this toy very versatile and easy to carry about. This is further enhanced by the included belt clip which I have found invaluable and rather than detract from the look, fits in perfectly as it is white to match the central control and the earphones. The player itself is metal and you can order it in a number of different colours. I chose to have the light blue cover and this really does make the device look classy and feel very solid. So far, I have not got any scratches on it and from the feel of it, I don’t think that it is really going to be very susceptible to them.
Uploading your tracks is very easy to do. Once you have formatted your iPod if you are a PC user (more about that later) and installed iTunes which is supplied with it, all you have to do is attach it to the computer via USB and it will automatically sync with iTunes and update with everything you have saved there. As the iPod has only 4gigs, if you happen to have more than that stored in iTunes, it will automatically chose what to put on based on what you listen to most. You can if you want deactivate the auto-sync feature however and simply choose what you want to put on there as well. A very handy feature when connected to your computer while uploading (and when its finished) is that it will charge your iPod at the same time. I have found this very useful as if I am out and about at Uni or going to work and my battery runs out, all I need to is attach it to a USB port in a computer here and it will charge up for me. Very useful with the battery life, I can tell you!
Navigating through the options and menu’s is simplicity itself. All the functions (apart from the hold button) are controlled by the ‘clickwheel’ in the middle of the iPod. This is a marvel in itself. Coupled with the screen above it, the navigation basically works like a simple file system. First you have the ‘root’ menu’s where you have headings like ‘music’, ‘extra’s’, settings etc. Then all you would do is click the centre button to go into the sub menu where you will find the next options. For example in ‘music’, you will find selections like ‘playlists’, ‘artists’, ‘albums’, ‘songs’ etc. Again, you click the centre button to get to the next sub menu where in this example, you will find the list of either artists, albums and songs that you have stored on the device. The best thing I can liken it to, is when you click on start in XP and then hit programs. You hover over what you want and the next menu come up, then you can follow the arrows till you find the file you are after. VERY user friendly. To go back a menu, all you do is hit the ‘menu’ button at the top of the circle and it will take you back one menu so you can chose another. While you are actually in a specific menu section and listening to the songs, you have the option of skipping backwards and forwards through the tracks by clicking the left or right buttons (and by holding them down you can skip though the song). At the bottom is the play/pause button which doubles as the off switch when pressed and held.
The best bit about the navigation though has to be how you scroll up and down the categories/tracks and control the volume. The pad itself is touch sensitive so that if you want to scroll down the menu, you simply run your finger over it in a clockwise motion, and if you want to go up, you go anti-clockwise. The same is the case for the volume (which you can only control when you have the song you are listening to showing on the screen) as you just run your finger clockwise to turn the volume up, and the opposite to turn it down.
At first the touch sensitivity does take a bit of getting used to, but once you have the hang of it it becomes second nature and you will wonder why a lot of other small electrical goods don’t employ the same system.
Of course one the main reasons you are going to buy one of this gizmo’s is to listen to your songs, and here the sound quality is pretty impressive in my opinion. I have read a lot about people complaining that it’s just not as good as you would get out of a stereo and such like, however I can honestly say that’s its pretty damn close. And to be fair, it’s a tiny devise you can carry around – something you can’t do with your stereo! I listen to quite a wide variety of music on mine ranging from piano pieces, though to orchestral stuff, right through to popular modern music involving guitars and also some dance and electronica and I am very impressed with how it handles each of the genre’s. You can change the equalizer setting to one of 22 different settings and although you may not quite be able to hear the difference in a few of them at first, when you change to a different genre, it does become a very useful thing to have as the tones coming from a piece of piano music is slightly different from the guitar music from a band like Franz Ferdinand!
So what’s not so good then Drew? ***********************************
Well, for a start the very first hurdle you will have to get across when you open the (rather attractive) packaging is whether or not you are going to have to format the thing. If you are one of the majority, and I am, who use a PC you will HAVE to do this to get it to work. To do this, you have to first charge the iPod with the included charger and then when that’s done (about 8 hours for the first charge) you need to install the software with the disk provided. This will prompt you to connect the iPod at a certain point and it will check to see if it needs to be formatted. If you have a Mac, you will have no need to do this but if not, the prompt will tell you to do it and carry out the procedure for you. All well and good so far…. However, when I did this I did as I was told and waited until it was supposed to tell me to disconnect which should have taken about 20 mins to half an hour at the most. Well mine didn’t. As a precaution, I left it there with the Laptop running while I went to uni for a few hours thinking that it would be all done by the time I got back. Nope, still told me it was formatting about three hours later! A quick check online told me that this is actually a very common thing and to just disconnect, re-boot the computer and start again. This worked this time but I can’t help but think that it would be easier for them to sell them pre-formatted for the system you use. I like to think that I am fairly technically minded and I’m more than familiar with the concept of googling, however I don’t doubt that there are people out there that would just not have a clue what they are doing and may do the wrong thing.
The battery on these machines has come under quite a bit of criticism since being launched and I can’t help but agree with this. The stated battery life is 8 hours but so far I have yet to achieve this. I would think that this would be in the situation where you basically just set the iPod to play, and do not touch ANYTHING for the next 8 hours until it stops itself and dies. However, I do not always want to listen to the same stuff in the same order all the time so I will tend to skip tracks quite a lot and go back on forward in the options resulting in the backlight being on more often and the battery going down a lot faster. I have found that the best way to combat this is to try and set up as many playlists as you can so that this reduces the amount of times you need to manually search and to set it up to play on shuffle mode rather than just going through the list. Invariably I will still always find the need to skip the odd track here and there if I’m not in the mood to listen to it but it has helped to prolong the battery life somewhat. Also, you must make sure that when you turn it off you still put the hold button on. This is because all it takes to turn it back on is one click on the central control and its off again and since its not as easy to turn it off, it will be on constantly each time any button is pressed. This meant once that it actually crashed in the on position and the light wouldn’t go out. I had to wait until it curled up and died from lack of battery to get it to work again so make sure you use the hold button all the time!
Being a Windows Media Player boy, I have to say I have not liked the transition to iTunes, and while this is not a review of said product I have to mention that I would prefer to be able to use other programs rather than being forced into that one as I just don’t find it that user friendly. Yeah it looks quite nice and there are a couple of really good features but it just isn’t sitting well with me yet at all.
Personally, I have bought this to play music. I did not buy it to play games, keep addresses in, use it as an alarm clock or note important dates into it. While these features are quite neat, I would personally either not have them at all, or have been given the option to delete them to give me that little bit extra space for some more tunes. While 4gigs is quite a lot, it will by no means carry all of my music collection so any useless space being used up does irritate me a little.
Finally, I would have liked the option to turn the stuff on the screen the other way round. This is because I use the belt clip mostly and rather than having to take it off to read the screen properly I would like to have been able just to look down at it (like a watch a nurse would have pinned to her uniform) without the faff of taking it off the belt clip and having to put it back on when I have just skipped one song. Maybe thiat is something Apple will provide in the future though.
So any hints and tips? *************************
I’m glad you asked! In fact, there is a VERY good website that can provide you with some ‘hacks’ for your new toy. A hack is basically a set of steps that you can use to manipulate the iPod into doing things that it wasn’t specifically designed to do, or ones that Apple just didn’t tell you about.
One really good one that I read is to make sure that you defragment your iPod the same way you would your computer. If you think about it, it really is just a mini computer that only has the ability to store data so its hard drive will need the same care that your main CPU will. Also, it can be a good idea to run virus checks on it if you use some of the other hacks that allow you to upload from other iPod owners computers and iPods themselves!
Go to http://www.ipodhacks.com/ to get this info as well as a lot of other useful hints and tips of how to get the most from your little machine. I didn't really find the instruction manual all that helpful if I am being honest and so far have basically relied on this place to answer most of my queries.
So there you go. To conclude, I would have to say that I am very happy with my purchase and now carry it around with me almost everywhere I go. It sounds great, looks great, keeps you entertained on boring busses and trains and to top it off, you can get lost for hours finding new things that can be done with it! While it was quite expensive at £179, I do think it is worth it and since apple.com/uk will send it to you free in about a week, I see no reason to look elsewhere as prices (even on ebay) are really not that much lower.
I’m going to award it 4 stars as even though I love it to bits, the battery life could be a lot better and I very much think that Apple shouldn’t be pushing their own software on me and could have had the decency to format it for me first!
Advantages: Looks Sexy, great sound quality, quick to use Disadvantages: Features aren't exactly amazing, expensive
...the MP3 player for you! Apple have cleverly packed all of the originals iPod’s best features into this mini version, oh, and when I say mini, I mean mini!
The iPod is fashionably compact and it’s sleek shape fits right into your back pocket. Or if you don’t have a back pocket, then why not slip your iPod into your belt clip and look even more stylish? The free components that are included in your purchase are:
Belt Clip
IPod Dock Connector to ... ...Power Adapter
Apple Earphones (plus two pairs of spare buds)
I felt that Apple could have included some kind of stand or dock to put your iPod mini into when your not using it or at least a cover to stop it from getting damaged when it’s not being used. When I looked on the Apple website for a cover they charge as much as £20, which I felt was a bit of an extravagance! The accessories that are not included but are able to be bought separately are ...
Lucy88 23.12.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Advantages: Sophisticated, sleek and sexy Disadvantages: Battery life, and cost
...be user friendly. Along come Apple with the iPod and revolutionised the MP3 player market with a stomping size hard disk of 60 gb that holds 10,000 songs and a Microsoft-esque interface that even your granny could use. I have always been sceptical about the Apple. Who needs so much space a cost of £200. Almost as quickly as the question could be answered Apple stormed onto the market yet again with the iPod mini.
***Why have mini when you can have ... ...were correct.
-Battery Life: Apple claim the battery lasts 8 hours on a standard charge. However, I find that a max of 6 hours is more accurate. It then takes roughly 4 hours to fully charge from empty. The other disadvantage to the battery is that it is a sealed unit, so the battery isn't user serviceable. The battery will obviously at some point where out and this can be replaced at an Apple service centre for around £75. Very expensive!
-Colours: ...
funphobic2 20.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Advantages: great looking, lots of cool extra features, loooads of memory Disadvantages: slightly unreliable, expensive, security issues
...new design termed ‘earbuds’ by Apple – although these do also make it clear to potential muggers that you have about two hundred quids’ worth of equipment in your pocket.
Another great advantage of the iPod mini is its technical designs. One player can hold almost 4GB of music – that’s 1000 songs of four minutes each. This is only a fraction of the capacity of one of the larger iPods, which can hold up to 10 000 songs, but to be honest this doesn’t ... ...with a one-year guarantee, so Apple will fix any problems caused by faulty workmanship that comes to light in the first year. Once items are replaced or fixed, they will be covered either for the rest of your original guarantee period or for ninety days, whichever is longer. Luckily I’ve never had to use this facility, so I’m not sure how exactly how ‘quibble-free’ this is.
Of course, as with all such gadgets, there are problems. Although the iPod ...
flipflopgirl 16.06.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Advantages: Great sound quality, easy to use, cool colours, small and easy to transport Disadvantages: bad instructions, battery life isn't great.
I originally bought a Rio MP3 player in Birmingham. This was great, though the memory wasn't very big and I would have had to buy a memory card (which was reli expensive)! However, after having had it for approximately a week, and it played up, then wouldn't turn on. I couldn't take it back to Birmingham, so I had to go to my local store. This was a smaller store and had not got a replacement in stock, so they gave me a refund. Woohoo! A hundred ... ...always wanted an iPod. Fact. Unfortunately though, they had always been just out of my reach on the cost front. Recently, however, I had received £15 from my aunt and uncle (late Christmas present!) and my mum owed me £25. I felt rich... I had £140 in my pocket! I knew immediately what I wanted... an iPod mini, 4GB, which was exactly £140. Firstly I searched on the internet. I was ecstatic when I found one on Amazon for a meazly £100!. I placed my ...
anxiety 02.04.2005 (22.04.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Advantages: Great sound, easy to use, stylish, small, lots of space Disadvantages: Erm.... people see it and mug you>?
...need to download iTunes from Apple or install it from the CD that hopefully comes with the iPod.
The software is easy to use as a player, a burner and a download store.
You need to register a credit card to access the store where you can purchase individual tracks or complete albums and audio-books from 79p each.
Once installed - which does not take long using the CDs provided - the computer will recognise the iPod and enable you to set up the ... ...can happen automatically or when you tell them to.
Personally I turn off all the automatic functions. My first experience of iPod and iTunes was when ALL of my music on my PC tried to fit onto the iPod automatically as soon as I plugged the iPod in!
Playlists and all music on the iPod can be managed from the main iTunes interface.
How does the iPod connect to my PC then?
***************************************************
With the iPod you get ...
Maniac1701d 01.09.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple iPod mini 4 GB
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Look & Design
Range of Features
Value for Money
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Reviews which might be of interest for "Apple iPod mini 4 GB"
Advantages: strong, loads of memory, loads of accessories available, attractive Disadvantages: black and white ( but it doen't really matter)
I bought my i-PodMini two years ago, and it is still in good nick, which shows how strong they are, as it has been dropped, thrown and once put in water. Not once has it malfunctioned or gone wrong. Now, that may be coincidence, so don't go trying it just to prove it!
At the moment my i-Pod holds the maximum amount on its memory, 686 songs. On adverts it is said that i-Podmini holds 1000 songs, but that is only if the songs are 2 minutes long, and to be honest, they don't exist in great abundance.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an i-Pod memory card, but actually, it's not as though I listen to all 686 songs every time I go out, so it doesn't really matter.
The sound quality is excellent, and the songs don't jump or go weird, unless you've broken it, in which case, the apple webstire will have anythng you need ...
Advantages: Very cool and sexy, Packed with features, Good sound quality through headphones, Disadvantages: Built in speaker quality, battery when online, durability, and price (but its Apple so y'know :) )
First thing is first. With any Apple product you know it will be very expensive, very cool and pretty simple to use. I have been an Apple fan for a while and have have an iPodmini (4gb), iPod video (30gb) and now my iPod touch (as well as a Mac mini =] ).
If you are wanting an MP3 player that will just play your music then you may be put off the iPod touch as for the same price you can have a considerably bigger music player. However the Album Art scrolling feature- known as Cover Flow make it more interesting, and there is nothing more fun than scrolling through your albums with your fingers!
However this is a lot more than an MP3 player. Although it will hold 2000 songs or tonnes of videos it also has a lot more features built in. With its built in Wi-Fi you are able to use Safari to surf the internet. In my experience the internet ...
Advantages: Quality is brilliant and all the functions are Useful Disadvantages: Fingerprints and Scratches
Apple IPod Touch 8GBApple has always been the forerunner in the field of MP3 players. I bought my first iPod 3 years ago, the iPod4GBmini, I was quite pleased at first but after a while the battery stopped working, but it remains to be seen whether or not this is the case with the Touch.
I spent quite a while looking around for the best price, in the end I opted for eBay! I now think that I should've waited for the right one to come around, I chose to buy a new one for £150. However, when I looked at the Apple website they were £199 so I saved £50 which was worth the risk on eBay as it often is. I also bought a case and an i-trip.
Contents
-Starting the iPod
-Looks
-Durability
-Ease of using iTunes
-Music Sound
-Video Quality
-Picture Functionality
-Interface
-The Box
-Weather
-Stocks
-Clock
-Safari
-You Tube ...
Programme play, playlist, random play / shuffle, all tracks repeat, one track repeat, Repeat all
Supported Bit Rate
32 - 320Kbps
Response Bandwidth
20 - 20000 Hz
Shockproof Memory
1500 seconds
External Hard Drive Function
Built-in
Features
Variable bit-rate compatible
Headphones
Headphones Type
Headphones - binaural - ear-bud
Connectivity Technology
Wired
Sound Output Mode
Stereo
Response Bandwidth
20 - 20000 Hz
Impedance
32 Ohm
Connections
Connector Type
1 x headphones / remote control ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm )
1 x docking station
System requirements
OS Required
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Apple MacOS X 10.1.5 or later, Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4
Manufacturer's product description
Everything you love about iPod just got tinier. iPod mini lets you bring along enough music for a three-day weekend getaway in a package so small you'll forget you're carrying it.