The iPod mini got reviewed by Brighthand today, and Steven Bush seemed to like it a lot. He characterizes the iPod mini as the best portable music solution since the introduction of the Sony Walkman 25 years ago. That’s pretty much a rave.
He puts the improvements over the iPod into five categories:
- looks,
- size,
- capacity,
- capability, and
- price.
Capacity and price will stop some people in their tracks. How can a device with less capacity than its predecessors and only a slightly lower price be an improvement? I believe Steven Bush thinks that the music capacity (60 hours) relative to its size is an improvement over the original iPod. The price (in the $250 range) has been criticized by many, but Bush repeats the explanation that Steve Jobs gave for Apple’s iPod mini pricing decision, which he appears to support.
I think history will prove Jobs right, that the iPod mini is priced in a sweet spot in between the larger capacity iPods and flash-memory based players, and I’ve said so in the past.
I think you’ll find this review helpful in making a decision about purchasing an iPod mini. If I ever get to do a hands-on review, I’m definitely going to focus on the skip protection feature and whether it improves the iPod mini’s usability during vigorous exercise when compared to the iPod.