iPod Mini Autopsy

tritone writes "Some fearless soul has disassembled his iPod mini and provided pictures and commentary about the process. This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process. That's $249 well spent in the pursuit of knowledge. See the full report at www.ipodlounge.com."

Comments

Fool!

[joelgrimes]

He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Re:Fool!

[Trespass]

There is also a geek saying that your understanding of computer hardware is in direct proportion to the amount of equipment you've fried. You want to know how it works. When you make a mistake and break something, hey, there's a good chance you won't make that *exact* mistake again. It's cumulative.

Re:$249?

[metallicagoaltender]

i think the mini-ipod will be a complete flop, too price for too little.

If it was being manufactured by any company besides Apple, I'd agree wholeheartedly, but we all know it will do reasonable well, simply because it's an Apple product.

Re:Hype?

[damiam]

When you can strap a discman on an armband and go jogging with it, then you'll have a point.

Re:Waste of money indeed!

[markov_chain]

We've been through this already: mini iPods have enough space for most people, so there is no value in getting the roomier one. On the other hand, the smaller physical size makes them much more convenient.

Re:$249?

[YomikoReadman]

I think you are failing to realize that those products are aimed at two different markets. The regular iPod we all know and love is not being marketed at the demographic interested in a minature MP3 player, along the lines of the RCA Lyra, or other products along those lines. In that same vein, the iPod Mini is not being marketed towards the folks out there who are interested in a MP3 player with anywhere from 15GB all the way up to 40GB.

I think that once you take that into account, you'll find that the iPod Mini is about the best deal on the market, from a formfactor v price standpoint, as well as the fact that it's the cheapest player in that market.

Picky, picky, picky

[michael_cain]

This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process.

Wouldn't that technically make it a vivisection? Since it was alive when he started?

Re:$249?

[L.J. Hanson]

"i think the mini-ipod will be a complete flop, too price for too little."

I'd say 100,000 units preordered isn't a flop.

Fool?

[Anonymous Coward]

He who doesn't break things to find out what it is isn't a geek. (Anonymous Coward)

Re:$249?

[falcon5768]

well since they have sold 100,000 of them in pre-orders alone I highly doubt its a flop...

It seems that a lot of the reports are pointing to tech savy females and not us gun-ho more bang for the buck males buying them... I know my girlfriend wanted a pink one the minute she saw it despite the 249.00 price tag (hers is shipping now)

Duh...

[Christopher Bibbs]

Expect the $100 iPod sometime between when they've sold an iPod to nearly everyone that will pay more than a $100 and a competitor can come close to offering a product with equal sex appeal for less than $150.

Re:$249?

[MoonBuggy]

There are fashion conscious male techies too y'know!

I'm getting a silver one simply because it looks better and I'm not huge on music to be honest - my collection in total is only 3.5GB and I don't listen to it all anyway. Why would I want to pay more for a large, less attractive (although still well designed) device with 11GB more that will be totally redundant 99% of the time. The only thing I can possibly think I would need it for is if I got one of those memory stick readers and backed up my photos so I only needed one stick.

Before anyone says $250 for a 4GB device is overpriced, look at the competition. Sony 256MB MP3s are about 150GBP here, and that's more than $250. The Creative MuVo 4GB (comparable size and capacity, but nothing like the build quality I've seen in the past from Apple and no more than average design) costs ~200GBP from Amazon, again much much more than the iPod for an all round inferior product.

Having said all that, if build quality doesn't matter to you then I'm sure you'll find a player from some unknown manufacturer on eBay at a huge discount from the iPod. I, on the other hand, am the kind of person who spent 200GBP on a second mobile phone because it was made from titanium and looked good when I was going out. I'm more than happy to pay a premium for looks and quality.

Re:When,

[Chiron Taltos]

will they put out the f*cking $100 one? The one we were all hoping for? Right after Duke Nukem Forever comes out, right?

How does what users hoped for, equate to vaporware? Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall Apple ever saying they'd release a $100 iPod.

Not quite an autopsy

[Stephen Samuel]

I think that the phrase "Fatal biopsy" would be more accurate -- It started out 'live', but didn't survive the investigation.

RIP (Rest In Pieces)

Re:Well...

[ePhil_One]

The issue wasn't that the battery wasn't covered under warranty, I think everyone accepts that batteries, even rechargables, are consumable items, just like the brakes and motor oil in your car. The issue was that Apple wanted hundreds of dollars to replace the battery, making it cost effective to simply buy a new iPod when the battery died.