Perfect perfect gift

After I got my 40 GB ipod, my wife inherited my old 10 GB iPod. Thought everything was great, but no. She wears hers at work all day long while running errands around the office. After a while the bulk of the full size iPod became a liability in terms of dragging the waistline of her pants down, and banging on filing cabinets and desks. Also considering she didn't come close to maxing out the storage capacity I decided to get her the mini as a gift.

So she got this mini, and I eventually sold my 4G 40 GB iPod because in the end I didn't like it as much as my trusty old 10 GB, and also because I managed to sell it for $50 less than I bought it for after a year of use. I like the new Photo iPod but am waiting for a price drop.

This thing is pretty neat. I've managed to test drive it on and off for a few months and am quite impressed. I wouldn't want one as my daily player since I like to have my entire music with me at all times. To be realistic though 4 GBs should be able to hold 95% of the music I would normally listen to in a given week, but there are times where when I had the mini with me there was a song or album I wanted to listen to but it wasn't on my playlist, that's where the extra 30-40 GBs comes in handy.

Capacity aside this is a perfect player. I like this form factor the most out of any other past or present incarnation. The brushed aluminum case is the best out there in terms of industrial design and is ten times more rugged than the shiny white polish of the normal iPods. The click wheel is an inspired solution and takes the touch scroll wheel to the next level. The interface and navigation is perfect again (I never did warm up to the 3G's row of touch sensitive buttons). In comparison to the average music player which has over a dozen buttons to input commands and navigate, the mini only has five click buttons and a touch scroll wheel all of which offer contextual input depending on where the user is at in the hierarchy of the interface. Basically what this means is that the scroll wheel either scrolls down the menu, playlist, songs, or it adjusts the volume while playing, or scrubs along the timeline if in cue mode. It functions as a linear mouse. This is in stark contrast to the buttons on your typical music player, which are more literal and draw their inspiration from CD players of the 1990's. In terms of organizing thousands of songs the click scroll wheel is still the best solution to navigating a huge library. The storage capacity of this form factor will be a moot issue in a couple of years. The physical size of the iPod mini definitely points to the future of the iPod brand as a whole.

The lightness of this thing is unbelievable; it does not drag down your pockets at all unless you stick it inside the front pocket of a silk or linen shirt. The white belt clip holder is a vast improvement over the black microfiber case of the old iPods.

Syncing with your Mac is seamless. If you have more than 4 Gigabytes of music, iTunes will guestimate the music you listen to most and load those to an auto ipod mini playlist and transfer them over in minutes.

The reason I say this is a perfect gift is because I suspect most die-hard digital music aficionados will be turned off by the smaller storage capacity of this device. However chances are they'll know someone who is a casual music listener but never could get over the $300 price point of the other iPods. This is a great way to share the love.

Also, this is based entirely on my own personal observations, the iPod mini has a huge crossover appeal to women, mostly because of it's svelte size, and partly because of it's choice of five colors. I think the way Apple has marketed it as a fashion accessory rather than as an electronic device also has a great impact. Guys I think are probably more willing and eager to spend three to five hundred dollars on some electronic toy based on capability regardless of product design or form, with each iteration of the iPod, Apple has more and more appropriated the vocabulary of high fashion in creating the mini's minimalist look.

If you are a casual music collector, this is definitely a no-brainer purchase. iTunes, in its simplicity and intuitiveness and definitely geared towards non-computer geeks. The seamless hassle free interaction of iTunes and the iPod mini will be a god send in comparison to other players that require you to manually copy folders over to the device in addition to installing obscure drivers and other hassles.

As for other uses outside of music, the iPod mini can function as a portable hard drive, although USB jump drives are getting cheaper and larger in capacity, enabling firewire mode on the mini will make it perfect for shuttling GB of data from one computer to another. Peripheral third party add-ons allow it to function as a voice recorder, or offload files from a digital camera.

There's also a tremendous choice of third party products and accessory market for the iPod mini, so much so that it almost embarrasses any other digital music player. You can get accessories to hook up the mini to your car stereo. Designer cases from Gucci to Kate Spade, to more practical aluminum, rubber or silicone from iSkin, eXo and Lajo.

Another great resource for the potential iPod owner would be http://www.ipodlounge.com it provides a great community dedicated to the various makes of iPods and does a great job of dissecting Apple's little product as a cultural signifier and reviewing the hundreds of after market products and services aimed at this thriving market. This is probably where iPod owners benefit the most over say someone who gets a Rio, Archos or a Dell DJ, Apple managed to encourage and maintain a certain cultural zeitgeist, that allows people to buy into a specific fashion statement while at the same time customize and accessorize it to their own individual taste.