My experiences with the iPod mini now that I’ve had it for a month… well, technically 4 weeks. So sue me.
Battery life – The battery life was very disappointing at first. I did a little research and tickled a memory about lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries in general, and decided to wait until I’d gone through a few charging cycles. I’m pleased with the results now; I can go at least three or four days of relatively light use (45 minutes in the car each day, some random trips around town, and a bit more at bedtime). One thing that impacts the battery life is that I have to crank up the volume to drive the cassette adapter. I suspect it would be better if I used reasonably efficient headphones. And on that topic…
Headphones revisited – The iPod headphones are not good enough to give 5 stars (out of 5), but they’re easily three and a half stars. I personally give them a four star rating within their class. A minor complaint is that it’s too easy to lose the foam cushions. They’re really a big factor for comfort, though the audio doesn’t really suffer either way. But, again, inserting them properly makes all the difference as far as the frequency response. I have found them good enough to use in a pinch when I’m listening to music on the laptop.
Disk capacity ? Knowing your limits is key. I still have less than 3 GB of music on it; I added a few smaller playlists to it (like most of my classical and jazz music) and selected the “My Top Rated” playlist as well. Plenty of room to grow, yet. Once I start digitizing all of my old analog recordings (both tape and vinyl) it will probably be a little more cramped. But no matter, I haven’t yet worked out all of the technical details on that, anyway.
Practicality – I’m using this on my daily drive to and from work, as I mentioned. It sure beats listening to the radio, most days, and it’s much more pleasant than having the same CD in the car all the time. I have a good selection of music from different genres and styles, so far, and I have a lot of stuff that’s waiting to be imported into iTunes. Additionally, I have been using it to practice songs for our band… gotta love single-song repeat, over and over and over and over and … it sure makes memorizing words to Audio Adrenaline, Switchfoot, and Newsboys songs easier.
Size – My only serious complaint about the iPod mini is that it’s too small. Yes, you read that right. I really appreciate the size when I’m gathering my gadgets to go to work (or back home), but there was one occasion that I nearly panicked because I couldn’t find it. It turns out that I hard forgotten that I put it in the cell phone pocket in my jacket… but that was a good 10 minutes of anxiety that I could have done without. (Perhaps Apple should put a radio locator in these things.) However, having said all that, how can one not like the fact that the iPod mini is the about size of your average cell phone? I’m sure I could misplace the bigger iPod as easily as the mini, so for size, the mini gets a big thumbs up.
Cool factor – There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about the iPod mini. Go find a store that carries them. Put it in your hand… you’ll see what I mean.