Ipod Mini...a cute thing.

Author's Rating:

Pros: *Cute! Trendy! *Holds lots of music in a small space.

Cons: *Set up was a royal pain. *The earbuds are definitely not for me.

The Bottom Line: 
In spite of tricky setup and earbuds, I'm glad I have my mini to take all my favorite CDs with me!

Author's Review
So, around Christmas-time I fall under the spell of the commercials again. Last Christmas I started telling my husband "Look at those ipods. I think I want one." Then this Christmas, it starts up again. Now I really, really want one. But seeing as the cheapest one costs $250, I never expected to find a cute little pink ipod mini under the tree for me on Christmas morning. I am smitten. It is adorable.

Setting it up was an adventure. Of course, my computer doesn't have enough USB port. They're all taken up with other things. Dear hubby trots off to the store to buy a 2.0 USB hub. Something still isn't working right. Turns out, I don't have a 2.0 USB port in the computer! Next day, dear hubby trots off to the store again and buys the proper port. After much fussing and problems with my mouse and keyboard not functioning, everything is back up and running.

Installing the software is another adventure. I swear, this was the slowest experience of my life. (And I'm pretty computer savvy with a newer computer.) I'm used to Windows applications where the lovely installation Wizard just zips you through the process. Some long time later, the software is done and I can finally plug in the ipod.

I plugged it in and iTunes is supposed to launch. It didn't. I got a message on the ipod "Do Not Disconnect." This goes on for an inordinately long time. I finally decided that something was wrong. Working my way through the troubleshooting section, I have to reset the ipod. Sometime through the process I also have to update the software and restore the thing too.

Finally, after a long, long ordeal my cute pink ipod is working and I can download music to it!

I have only filled it about a third of the way with music mostly from my CD collection and some from iTunes's music store. I find iTunes to be a very slow (and potentially expensive) experience. I am not a picky audiophile and I am satisfied with the sound quality. I like the ease of use the clickwheel gives. I like how the menu organization works. The hold button is my best friend because I was always hitting the clickwheel and changing things accidentally. I do not have problems with battery life, but that is because of the way I use my ipod. I do not use it for extremely long periods of time. At most, I might use it for an hour or two. My biggest complaint is about the earbuds. I cannot use them at all. They do not fit my ears and fall out constantly. I have had to buy different earphones so that I can use my ipod at all.