I'm not really feelin' the Shuffle. It seems to me that they didn't include indexing and a screen, and decided to call it a feature by naming it the "shuffle". Someone on bensbargains had a good point: I don't think it's overpriced at all though -- $99 for 512MB flash player is pretty decent. But that Mac mini -- if I can scrounge up some cash, I'm totally buying one. That thing is off the chain!
If you look at the additional pictures, on the back it has a switch to just play the songs in order or put it on shuffle. I wasn't too excited about it until I saw that. Always on shuffle would be horrible.
Dunno about either. I'm not impressed with the shuffle at all, but I guess that's because I can have a bit of a control freak side and random as solo option has no appeal to me. The Mini-Mac sounds great for people who already have a home computer, but for those who don't, I think it falls a tad bit short as a sexy alternative to the affordable PC. Some of the things I dislike are easily remedied (like more USB ports), but every additional thing I need to buy reduces the price advantage. I definitely would like a Mac someday, but I don't see the Mini-Mac as the affordable opportunity to switch.
Then why not buy the $25 Creative Zen that that will be repackaged with the Dell logo for less, like they do now??
wonder if W will want one? he'd seem to be apple's target market: " Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
i hope people don't think a 1 gig WITHOUT A SCREEN mp3 player for 99 bucks is cheap. it might be cheaper than the other ipods but the screen is pretty important...
Agreed. The screen is huge. I would hate to play a never ending guessing game about what song is going to come up next. A lot of times I'm only in the mood to hear certain types of songs and I get annoyed when something else comes up. No thanks.
I'm worried about that tiny Mini-Mac over heating. The smaller they are the easier they burn up. True Shuffle should have had a screen, maybe the next one will, or they will come out with some accesory. I guess a i-pod mini would be best for me.
Zero need for that when you have a firewire interface. Besides, I would NEVER use the raw audio inputs on a computer. They suck. You have to get much better AD/DA converters than that and most of the good firewire units are better than adequate.
Assuming this is for bring the masses to the Mac- I don't think the masses own anything with firewire connectivity I have a firewire port, but I don't own anything that uses it.. and i've got a decent collection of gadgets and gizmos
Do you HAVE to use i-tunes to add songs to your ipod or can you drag and drop files? Does your pc see it as an external drive?
My Mac sees the ipod as an external drive. I can drag and drop work files on it to bring them home. I do think you have to use iTunes to manage your play lists though. So I think the answer to your questions are yes and yes.
That was my first reaction as well. The very first MP3 player I ever saw on the market (which I stupidly bought), had a shuffle feature on it. Pretty easy thing to make up a simple randomizer function for a file playlist. Why would Apple make this the primary marketing feature? Seems really strange.
The marketing campaign is about differentiating this from the "real" iPods. It also avoids the issue of "How is the device usable without a screen?" and "You mean I have to hit the 'next' button 120 times?" They could've just as easily marketed it as "iPod active" (since when most people are jogging/skiing/hiking/whatever they just want music there). I know I never look at the screen when at the gym. I think the sturdiness and size of the device are the two big wins for me, but the price point also helps...
That Mac Mini looks freaking sweet. I'd love to get one for my wife. Also, it would be really cool if a company (Apple?) came out with a small clip-on LCD screen for the Mac Mini, making it somewhat portable, like the PSOne (well, minus the keyboard and mouse).
