4GB iPod mini Apple's best-selling player, plus a mini/shuffle hybrid in the works
By Peter Rojas 
posted May 5th 2005 11:05AM
posted May 5th 2005 11:05AM
Apple's best-selling MP3 player? According to AppleInsider it turns out it's the 4GB iPod mini, which is perceived by consumers as being a better deal than both the 1GB iPod shuffle, which costs fifty bucks less, and the 6GB iPod mini, which costs fifty bucks more (sales of the 1GB iPod shuffle are said to be way down while the 60GB iPod photo is reportedly selling just as poorly as ever). Then they cryptically hint about how Apple is working on some sort of cross between the iPod mini and the iPod shuffle, though what exactly that would be isn't clear (that's why it's cryptic, ya dig?). A 4GB flash-based mini? A 2GB mini without a screen? Just how many more iPod lines does Apple think they can pump out?
Suprising end to this post. No one ever really critisizes cellphone companies for their bajillion different models. If the money floats it, do whatever it takes to get your brand out there. Even if you already dominate.
The reason the 4 GB is selling better in my opinion is because it's the only iPod mini on the floors at Apple Stores. Apple doesn't display the 6 GB so people don't have it to grab and go to the register. They are selling tons of them at the Apple Stores.
People say "1000 songs is enough" until they get home and realize "1000 songs" really means more like "350 songs" when you're dealing with decent compression rates. If you do the math, you find out that the vast majority of iPod owners are *not* using the iTunes music store (200 million tracks sold with something like 19 tracks sold per user... and there are more than 10 million iPod users in the world), so they're getting their music either from their own ripped CD's or from elsewhere, where it becomes less likely they're sticking themselves with 128k files.
I bought my wife a 6GB model for her birthday and I'm glad I sprung for the extra capacity - she's only got about 20 CD's on there and she already would have filled up the 4GB model (which is really more like 3.6GB in real life). And that's mostly using iTunes' own mp3 ripper at 160k VBR.
I personally think the 4GB model is a waste of money, as is the 1GB Shuffle. The 6GB Mini is okay if you don't care about carrying all your music with you, but it still wouldn't be enough for me. My 20GB is the minimum I'd personally find acceptable, but in a "mini" player I really don't see the point in getting anything less than the most capacity you can buy, as long as the price is not out of line (and it isn't, in terms of the 6GB Mini).
Its a 4GB iPod mini photo shuffle with the Toshiba 0.85 HDD, plus a flash mem expansion for uploading your photos. Also has jPeg viewing. Of course. But not really.
Flash is the future. It's just a waiting game for the prices to drop. 4gb flash card can be bought at Amazon for as low as $276. If Apple were to buy it in bulk, we might be able to see a flashbased 4gb Ipod mini for around $225. And if the flash card prices are dropping and Apple lowers prices for their shuffle models, I think we will see the 60% market share continue to increase. Think of it as a flash drive that also plays music.
If we speculate and get it right, will we get sued? I've heard rumblings of the iPhone being the next cool Apple thing.
I don't see why it's a surprising end to the post. Apple's whole mantra is making things simple and easy, introducing more than a handful of iPod lines is only going to start confusing their customer base. Isn't the fact that Creative has so many MP3 players out one of the things Apple fans slam them over?
The perfect iPod for me would be a combination of all their current models:
- iPod mini form factor
- 2 GB of flash memory
- U2 iPod's color scheme
- iPod photo's color screen
(plus ability to transfer photos from iPhoto)
- Dock connector, but with the ability to
connect directly to both Windows/USB2.0 and
OS X/Firewire without reformatting.
Kap
I don't know about 'hybrid.' However, right now aren't the Minis using the 1.8" (or is it 1.0"?) hard drives? If so, then I could see a new 'mini-mini' using the 0.85" drives.
Somewhere between the Shuffle and the Mini would be a flash based MP3 player that can also read from memory cards. I would buy an Apple SD card + 1GB internal flash player immediately (depending on the price and size).
STEVE JOBS rules!!!!!!!!!
I love Steve, he is the greates human being on earth.
HAIL To THE KING.
PSP, DS, and all other gaming devices will cry and give up the fight to the iPod
Palm OS, and Symbian do not stand achance agains the might of Stevie J. and the iPod.
People like the colors, price point and 500-1000 songs is still a lot of music for most people.
i think a flash based mini would make a much better option over a shuffle (which just isn't MY thing). but i'll hold off an any new iPod purchases until apple can offer gapless playback (unless my 20GB unexpectedly gives up the ghost).
How about a 10GB Gigabeat! ;)
http://www.gigabeat.com
Check out the 360 view and then tell you aren't drooling...
I know I'm working this player to death (maybe) but i realy think it's the only one so far that has it all compared to the iPod.
re:#1
The reason cell phone companies can do that and get away with it is segmentation of the market. The cell phone market can be very segmented, meaning the people buying cell phones use them in many, many different ways. There are the people that just want to make a call and care about nothing else, the people that like fashion, the people that like all the bells and whistles, business users, executives, power users, etc.... There are tens, maybe hundreds of types of users.
So the cell phone companies produce a model for each user.
But with DAP market is not as segmented. Apple had a good thing going - 20G+ for the people who want all their music, the Mini for those that want a small form factor and good storage and the shuffle for the people who want a cheap player/flash based/micro form factor and don't mind changing up their music often.
There may be one or two other segments, but not that many. If you start offering multiple choices in each segment, it starts to get confusing and you saturate your own market segment, which equals loss of sales.
@Jeff
I think you over-estimate the amount of people who rip their music at higher than 128kbps. People like you and me do, sure - but we're also the people who would almost never consider an iPod mini, due to its smaller HD size.
The people who do buy iPod minis, at least in my best guess, are also the type of people who put a CD into their computer, hit "Rip" in iTunes, and don't know a thing about bitrate or the difference between an MP3 and an AAC file or any of that kind of stuff.
gigabeat?drool?lucky i didn't puke on my ibook.
and jeff, 160kb mp3s don't take up 3.6gb of space with only 20cds.
anyway, a hybrid? maybe a smaller mini with built-in usb 2 and flash based?
The gigabeat looks very nice but 16 hours battery is quite low IMO. Once you are viewing jpgs and listening to your higher bit rate files that will slaughter the time.
I bought my Mom one of the 1gig shuffles. I could afford to get her a mini or even a photo, but I know that kind of tech would scare her. I ripped her CDs to the shuffle for her and thats all she needs. I add more songs when I see her, about once a month or so.
She never synchs the ipod, she is happy with whats on there, and she knows how to operate it.
For people who are afraid they are going to break anything techie, the shuffle is a godsend.
Jeff, as shidoshi mentions you are greatly overestimating the # of people who use higher bit rates.
You are also using very old data: Apple has sold over 300 Million tracks as of March 2nd. They are expected to crack a half billion in the coming weeks.
And the 10 million iPod figure was for 2004. In the first quarter theyt sold another 5 million. So, yes, the # remains at about 20 tracks per iPod owner, but that's a foolish metric. You don't need an iPod for the iTMS nor do you necessarily use the iTMS if you have an iPod. It's much more likely that Apple has 2-3 million users who have bought an average of 100-150 tracks. 2-3 million users is, by the way, substantially larger userbase than any other music service.
"But with DAP market is not as segmented. Apple had a good thing going - 20G+ for the people who want all their music, the Mini for those that want a small form factor and good storage and the shuffle for the people who want a cheap player/flash based/micro form factor and don't mind changing up their music often."
And? Every other player has a DAP line of 5-30 players. Apple essentially has 3. Are you claiming Apple is making a huge mistake by expanding their line to 4 players? When they started with the high end, owned the market, aimed for the high-end lowend (expensive flash players) with the Mini, a market they then owned and in some respects destoyed, and now they're grabbing a huge share of the lowend in a couple of months time... Apple's making a mistake? What about other companies that have 30 players and only 2% of the market? Apple has the brand, each of its models is distinctive, and I don't see any reason to presume a major mistake when all the evidence points to consistently performing excellently.
STEVE JOBS rules!!!!!!!!!
I love Steve, he is the greates human being on earth.
HAIL To THE KING.
PSP, DS, and all other gaming devices will cry and give up the fight to the iPod
Palm OS, and Symbian do not stand achance agains the might of Stevie J. and the iPod.
re:#14
Another reason there are a gazillion cell phones is that most people don't "buy" a cell phone, they "buy" the cell service, and the phone hardware is just a part of the package. Where the phone hardware starts at "free" and goes up from there depending on the feature set the consumer is looking for (the more different phones options, the more potential customers for cell service provider).
I suspect that Apple would actually prefer this model (due to recurring revenue), where consumers "buy" the iTunes service first and then decide what hardware (i.e. iPod) to use with it (i.e. "free"? low-end iPod device, then increasing cost iPods with additional features sets).
However, I don't think most MP3 player consumers think this way today, they think hardware first (device convenience, features, etc.), and then decide what music service they want (if any), with many just transferring music they already own from existing collections.
Yeah, I fit 1,030 songs on my girlfriend's 4gig mini.
I'm jelous of her non-scratched up screen. I finally saw the iPod photo. Playing parachute in color is almost worth upgrading (from 4g 40gig)right now!
Kevin pull your head out of Jobs' holy arse you retarded Maczealot.
apple still sucks
I just bought a 60GB iPod photo to replace my 3G 40GB iPod, which was always sort of flaky but lately wouldn't hold a charge. I was originally going to get a mini but I really like having an iPod that's bigger than my collection (just over 40GB) so that I don't have to manage the transfer at all. So I now have a shuffle for the gym and the iPod photo for everything else. I don't think I'll be using it for photos but I have to say I'm liking the color screen much more than I thought I would. I'm not surprised it's the least popular model because of the price, but hopefully this "investment" will last me a little longer than the 3G iPod did.
Jeff: 20 CDs filling a 4gb mini with 160k files? That's not even close to possible if you do the math. It would only bring you up to well under 2gb even if every CD was filled to capacity with music (and most aren't).
Personally I have a 40gb ipod that has everything on it, but you can't carry that in your pocket everywhere you go (or I can't unless I want to start wearing saddle bags). I tossed out my 256mb usb flash drive that hung from my keychain and got a 1gb shuffle instead that I carry with me always. Now I have all my most current tunes and audiobooks with me at all times and a USB 2 flash drive to boot. And I'm by far using the shuffle more, just walking back and forth to work and enjoying the reduced load in my pockets.
My wife has a mini because she mostly uses it to work out. The point is that no one device is ever going to meet every need, so personally I think having a diverse line is good, Apple just has to be careful not to overreach like it did in the early 90s with it's PowerMac line.
I also bought a 60gb Photo, as I was fed up of my 20Gb 3g getting full up and having to manage the thing. The great advantage is that I can now use the Photo to store high resolution backups of all my photos, along with all of my documents and files. In short, I use my photo to backup my system instead of buying an external hard drive or something similar.
And to those who use this as an opportunity to rip in to the shuffle: sell your existing USB Key/Stick and use the cash to buy a 1g shuffle - for the added music playing functionality that it has over your standard data storage device, its well worth it, and its so easy to set the size of the data storage part of the player. The real advantage is you never have to worry about it getting damaged or being too bulky - I simply wanted an additional device to use whilst at the gym and in situations where a normal ipod is, dare I say it, too big to carry. Nothing beats being able to sling the shuffle around your neck and stick it on shuffle play - its so light you barely notice it.
everyone has an ipod now (who can afford it and has no brain), that's why their sales are down
my iopd locked password miss pleas free solution my iopd name Apple iopd 4GB Blu color Serial No.YM7150XDV8W Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China Model No:A1199 EMS No:2115 Rated 5.30V--1A Mx.
Is there only me hanging on until an 80Gb comes out? My 40 is already way overful and there is little point getting a sixty as I am already half way to filling that!!! I NEED AN 80Gb iPod!!!!!!
]Isn't the fact that Creative has so many MP3 players
]out one of the things Apple fans slam them over?
alex-
as an apple fan, and an owner of both an original nomad jukebox and a 256MB muvo NX, I can tell you that I couldn't give a rat's ass about how many product lines a company has, just the quality of the lines that fit *my* usage. Creative's players just generally don't do anything for me (outside the muvo NX/TX line). Sure they're feature laden, but if you never use the features and they only serve to make the UI a bitch to use for simply 'playing music' what use are they.
The jukebox was slow to load, had a horrible UI (which was itself, slow) and was more of a luggable, than a portable. Despite losing the ability to make playlists on the go, not having line out or mic in recording, the original iPod trounced the jukebox in every other possible fashion. I only used the playlist feature on the jukebox, because there was no other way to make them, never used the mic in. I missed the line out, but just using the headphone jack with the volume up all the way was a more than acceptable trade off for all the improvements the iPod added to the HD player market.
The 256MB Muvo NX is actually a decent little player, but a bit small (in capacity) for my taste (256 was my min req when purchasing, I still don't understand 16-128MB flash players - way too small for me.) It has an annoying problem where you can't just copy a bunch of songs to it in iTunes - you have to put them in subfolders and manage it in the finder if you're gonna put more than 30 songs on it. Then after I finally got 60 songs on it, I only ever hit play, skip, stop and volume (and wished I could randomize, so I could go longer between updating the songs on it). The NX doesn't have FM, nor do I want it. It can record, but as with the jukebox - I've never used it. But, I hate the small size and always figured I would upgrade to a muvo TX when I could get 1GB for a decent price.
So the muvo was still $120+($199 retail) for 512MB at the time the shuffle comes out and the 1GB is hard to find and way to expensive (over $200). I upgraded to a 1GB shuffle that does everything I used my muvo for plus it can shuffle (which the newer TX can do as well) and it can play my iTMS purchased songs all for way less than the elusive 1GB muvo TX (barely more than the 512MB TX), and all I have to give up is a screen I hardly used at all? Well, that's a no brainer!
Since then the only players I've seen that've caught my attention are the new sonys with the OLED displays - sure I'd like a display back, but currently it would cost $30 more than a shuffle at the same capacity and is a bitch to manage in sony's own software from what I'm told, and won't play iTMS songs. So, I might buy one out of morbid curiosity, but I don't know - seems like a lot of crap to put up with just to have a display back that I don't need, but would occasionally *like* to have...
tf:
Sorry, that was actually a typo. It was supposed to say "Apple HAS a good thing going...", meaning they have not saturated their market yet. Funny how a single letter changes the entire meaning of a sentence/paragraph.
think about it, it's the cheapest ipod with a screen.
furthermore.. 4G is a LOT of music.. the iPod photo was never going to be a must have technology anyway.. it's only for the rich people, who, ironically, buy to have a color interface, not because they have tons of photos...
but apple is really pushing people to get a digital camera, and making iLife more and more an integral part of the Mac OS X, so that eventually, we'll all have thousands of photos to .. presumably...put on our iPod photo..
by then all iPods will have color..
PS. a hybrid shuffle/mini... er.. shuffles that come in all the miami vice colors?
"Posted May 5, 2005, 5:10 PM ET by Steveland
Is there only me hanging on until an 80Gb comes out? My 40 is already way overful and there is little point getting a sixty as I am already half way to filling that!!! I NEED AN 80Gb iPod!!!!!!"
Who listens to 80GB of music!!!!!!???? That is so stupid. I would die from that. iPod shuffle 512 Domiates.
"Who listens to 80GB of music!!!!!!???? That is so stupid. I would die from that. iPod shuffle 512 Domiates."
i do. i have 400-500 cds (which is a small collection compared to some of my friends) and along with the burned cds and mp3s not from my own albums, i am pretty much at the point where i have to start pulling songs out of my 40 gig ipod. When i get on the train in the morning i either let it shuffle around or i pick the music i am in the mood for at the time. And i listen to it all... i really do.
yeah, my 512 shuffle rocks when i am at the gym but i would not be happy if that was all i had on me for my subway ride. i never know what my music mood will be. If i continue to buy music as i have my whole life, and i'm sure i will, i am gonna need that 80 gigs (or more) real soon.
I'm willing to bet that toshiba will be the first to bring a 80GB player to the market with their Gigabeat line... yeah they make the HD's
I just bought an iPod mini (4GB), and transferred my music to iTunes - I have only 704 songs, but this is listed as 15.35 GB of music - I was only able to transfer 171 songs to my iPod before it was full. I must be doing something wrong because that is very far from the 1000 advertised. Is there any way of changing the size of the music files so that more fits on the iPod?
Thanks.
Who in the world would want a player that doesn't allow you to pick your own songs is my question. I mean...there are tons of better players with the shuffle option...it seems to be a waste of money.
1000 songs that is tarded