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iPod Mini Sells Out
burgburgburg writes "According to USATODAY.com, the iPod mini is virtually sold out after two weeks. As we know, it had 100,000 on pre-order. It's the top seller at the Apple Store, where they advise people that there will be a one to three week wait. And it isn't a component shortage that's causing the delays. It's the huge demand amongst teens (for the colors) and athletes who like exercising with the ultralight device. While many here on /. felt that the mini was overpriced and pointed out that for $50 extra, you could buy a regular iPod with 15GB of storage instead of the 4 GB of the mini, Apple seems to have correctly identified the price point and the market they were going after. The space has become so hot that Creative's MuVo2 has also been selling well, but also for a slightly different reason. The MuVo2, which also has 4 GB of capacity, uses a CompactFlash card (which can be used in a digital camera). People have been buying the MP3 player and taking it apart for the card, which would cost more than the $200 dollars for the MuVo2."
The MuVo2, which also has 4 GB of capacity, uses a CompactFlash card (which can be used in a digital camera). People have been buying the MP3 player and taking it apart for the card, which would cost more than the $200 dollars for the MuVo2.
More is right... a lot more! I was just pricing cards for my new digital camera (the $12 Ritz model got me hooked), and found out that the going price for 4GB is a whopping $1,130! Yikes!
After dividing out, that came to 28c/meg -- about a penny more per meg than the Lexar-brand 256 MB cards ($70). So I figured a kilobuck must not be bad, if you need that kind of storage.
But 4096 meg for $200 is less than 5c/meg!
How on earth did MuVo get such a low price on their components?
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
For the inevitable ridiculous battery questions:
iPod Battery FAQ
You knew it the moment that it became popular. The iPod totally sold out. Those of us who supported it back in the old days when it was little more than a cassette player in a garage are left wincing at how they've totally gone mainstream.
White case. Headphones. LED screen. Fucking sellouts.
I have been pwned because my
Andy Mack deserves credit for that compact flash card hack. I saw it published on his website many weeks ago.
The quality of the photos on his website always amazes me.
Yea. I know.
Was I the only one that was thinking "The iPod sold out? What a poser! Down with conformity! Sold out luser!"
SCO.com uses Linux
Yeah, the main selling point to me is that it is smaller. If I wanted to maximize hard drive space for the dollar I could drag around a IDE tower.
Size and weight is _everything_.
Wow. Seeing as how 4 GB flash cards seem to be going for a great deal more than that on eBay, I think I just found myself a new work-at-home job.
True story.
...and it was the mini. Things are looking up for me! :)
I think the point is that the components aren't hard to come by, they've just not slapped enough of them together to meet the demand. Assembly time is the bottle neck not component availablity.
CharlesP
wordtrip.com
Remember this about the original iPod?
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
And now their criticisms of the iPod Mini before it even came out are biting them in the ass.Bottom line, the editors and most of the readers are out of touch with reality sometimes.
SIG:Slashdot: indymedia for nerds.
I'll put it this way: I have a lot more faith in Apple than I do in the rumor sites. Apple does their homework before they release something; they haven't really had a flop since the G4 Cube (which was a cool idea regardless, it kind of predated the SFF PCs with the same concept.) I guess their strategy now is to stay one step ahead of everyone who tries to copy them. It seems to be working, at least for now.
1) I was firmly in the "it costs too much for too little" (no pun intended) crowd. Then I saw one in person, and held it in my hand. The thing is light as a feather, and still feels more "solid", largely thanks to the all aluminum body. I have a 20GB 2nd-gen iPod, but as soon as the iPod mini has at least 12GB of capacity (size of my current music collection), I'm buying one. It's just incredible.
2) Don't forget that even though the iPod is only $50 more, this sets the entry level iPod price even lower. Before to get any iPod you had to spend $300. Now it's $250, and will probably get lower with future generations of the mini line.
3) Just to clarify, the iPod mini also uses a Compact Flash compatible drive - the Hitachi 4GB Microdrive. I'd bet all you have to do is format it as FAT32 and then stick it in your camera.
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
I'm glad Apple remains a contender and a nagging thorn in the sleep of Billy Gates' mind. The fact that Apple is still around and won't go away has to bug him on some level.
In fact, my next purchase will be an Apple laptop.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Before you do anything else, visit this link:
http://www.nomadworld.com/downloads/firmware/wma-m uvo_2_4.asp
And upgrade the firmware of the unit. This is VITAL. If you do not upgrade ahead of time, you will have serious issues later on. Upgrade the firmware FIRST. It has some auto-recovery features that will prove necessary in later steps. Remove the battery when you are done. Now ground yourself.
2. At the top of the Muvo2 there are two small screws. With a very small philips screwdriver, remove these screws.
3. Open the battery compartment. At the bottom, there are two very small screws. Remove these as well.
4. Remove the back of the unit.
5. Lift the circuit board carefully. It was held in place by the previous 4 screws.
6. Underneath the top circuit board, there is a plate holding down the microdrive. At the top, there are two screws. Remove them. On the side, there is a very very small silver screw. It is smaller than the two black ones. Remove it.
7. There is a piece of black tape in the lower corner. Underneath that tape is the last screw holding down the MD plate. Remove the tape carefully, and unscrew the screw.
8. Lift the plate out. Now, CAREFULLY pry the pin-array from the microdrive. Very gently use a small flat screwdriver to work your way down the black plastic strip. DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING. It should come out easily.
9. Take the 4gb MD and format it in your camera. You should have a 4gb MD now.
10. Put the 1gb MD back into the array. Carefully press it down. Again, do not force anything, it should slide in very easily. 11. Replace the screws, place the tape over the black screw where you found it, and reassemble the Nomad. 12. Turn it on. It will report that there is a media error and go into recovery mode. 13. Select Reload firmware from the recovery menu. It will take a few seconds, reload the firmware, and then report a media error. 14. Select Connect to PC. Now, connect the USB connector to your PC. 15. Run the Firmware upgrade again, and allow it to upgrade the firmware. 16. Power it down. Then back up. 17. When it turns on, it will report a scansearch error, or a media error then throw you into recovery mode. Select Format. It should take a few seconds to format. 18. Power it off, power it back on, and you should have a working 1gb Muvo2, a working 4gb MD in your camera, and a big smile on your face.
I know it is easy to find on the web, but after reading some of the questions (many of the mod +5) on /. I wonder if some people even know google exists. ;)
Open Source Sushi
From a geek "my pod's bigger than your pod", point of view, this might make some sense.. From a consumer "I want something to listen to while I'm jogging" point of view, 4GB is how many hours of ogg audio?? Chances are that you're gonna have to change your batteries long before you have to change your playlist.
15GB is so that I can backup my home partition with a decade's worth of email... Not many people are going to care to do that.
The fact that I've got enough storage for a day's worth of music and a knoppix image for $50.00 less than a full sized ipod sounds just peachy to me.
The smaller package is just a bonus.
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
The iPod mini drive is reportedly NOT working in digital cameras, something to do with formatting..
Wired News has more on this whole thing about the MuVo2..
Guess I'll have to use this damn iPod mini for listening to music, instead of.. um.. tolkien ring??
I hate spyware and spies
My wife was annoyed as she bought a Beetle but being Canadian was screwed out of the free iPod :|.
Boy, talk about 'three strikes and you're out':
1) Canadian
2) Beetle owner, and now
3) No free iPod.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
It's called "sales." I think it must be new, because nobody on slashdot seems to understand it. Maybe there's a FAQ somewhere.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Dude, yer sooooo coool. I wish I could rail against Apple/Jobs with all your self-righteousness.
I will never understand how people can be talked into spending enormous sums on an inferior product through a snazzy marketing campaign.
No kidding. For $170, I can get a 1.5 GB Nitrus. For only $80 more (less than 50% increase in price) I can get a product with about 240% more capacity (the iPod mini).
"Oh, but what about the Muvo2?" According to Amazon, it's not yet available.
So, for $50, I get a better looking unit (arguable, I agree) FireWire support, AAC support (you can tout WMA all you want, but when the vast, vast majority of online sales are AAC, I could care less about WMA) And I don't have to explain to the average person why I bought such a ghetto player.
Sorry, but there is nothing standout between the iPod and the Rio offerings from a purely objective standpoint. Judging by the sellout of the first run, $50 doesn't mean anything to people in this marketplace, so the choice of one over the other is purely subjective. Trying to pretend otherwise just makes you look like a whiner.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
There are many regular lemmings lurking about.
Really? I kind of thought they all committed suicide =).
I was at the local Apple Store Yesterday picking up an iTrip for the 10gb iPod I got on clearance from amazon. In my 10 minutes there, I saw three mini sales and the following conversation between two stereotypical female blonde mallrats:
bmr1: "Man, I really WANT one of these things"
bmr2: "So BUY it, what color would you get?"
bmr1: "Blue-no-pink, I like the pink, but my credit card bill already sucks."
bmr2: "Girlfriend, untill your visa's got three grand on it, I don't even wanna hear you bitch about your credit card bill."
I'm thinking 'Bravo for managing your debt' and 'Good god, I thought bmr's only existed in movies'. Shows what happens when you got to a mall less than twice a year, I guess.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
How to legally obtain music for your iPod.
Step One: Buy used CDs of the music you want on your iPod
Step Two: Rip to MP3 or AAC.
Step Four: Transfer files to iPod
Step Five: Sell all those CDs you just bought to another used CD shop
And as a plus, you've thumbed your nose at the RIAA by buying used CDs.
Of course, if you're a really cheap sod, you just borrow CDs from your local library and rip them.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
All it really validates is that most consumers are fools and will fall for any hype the Apple marketing department throws at them. If people were intelligent enough to do a little research, they could find that buying a full-blown iPod for only 50 dollars more would be a much wiser decision, space wise, or another portable mp3 player entirely, rather than shelling out an insane amount of money for an Apple iPod that is shiny, pretty, and has "cool" commercials...
People can see themselves, rather easily, that the larger iPod is only $50 more.
But here's a mind-boggling concept - perhaps they know, but are basing choice on something other than $/MB!!!
A smaller device can be carried more often. I got one of the original palm pilots, but really didn't use it. Then I got a Palm V which has been in my pocket every day for the last few years. Similarily, the smaller size of the iPod mini makes it much more practical to carry about. For my use of an iPod the larger version is fine, but there are a lot of people that want as small a device as possible to work out with. Heck, one of the standard accessories you can buy with the iPod mini is a armband! Although a normal iPod is small, I would not want it bound to my arm for any length of time.
Now in addition consider a further possibility - perhaps, there are a lot of people that don't even have 4MB of music. Perhaps they only like boy bands and the collected greatest works fit into a few hundred k. For whatever reason, there are a lot of people that are not that in to music and do not have a huge variety, or a need for a large library on the go. For these people, the new iPod is simply $50 less for an even smaller product. In fact I have a 5GB iPod, not much larger, and have never really felt that much of a pull to go for a larger one as long as this works - it holds enough somgs for a ten hour roadtrip, and I can re-load when I want to switch it up. Again, if I were buying now I might go for a $50 less device just because I lived with 5MB for so long as was perfectly happy.
I'm not even going to go into fashion because I am pretty sure that's a minorty of what is making this device popular.
Last question - do you always supersize every fast food meal you buy? Why, it's only $0.20 more for a pound of frys!! Who would be stupid enough to not buy that!!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Hi!
But hey, at least a pickup truck helps to compensate for your tiny penis.
Cheers,
GNU/Wolfgang
You forgot: 4) Married and wife is annoyed That can't be good.
It's a tech company. You've never heard of them?
I actually have one of these ridiculously overpriced pieces of pop-garbage. Here are my thoughts about it.
I consider myself a power user of gear. I'm an older geek with some disposable income, but I hate wasting money. I usually take weeks to shop for and decide on a new toy. I have an older flash player and before buying the mini, I purchased and returned many other players currently on the market. I found that they were all either poorly constructed, or suffered from poor interfaces.
For example, the battery cover on the Rio Chiba falls off at the slightest touch. You have to snap the player into the belt clip if you want to keep your battery cover.
The Nitrus seems nice until you start using it. The volume buttons are mushy and don't always work. The only button on this player that works and feels nice is the "Riostick." But even that doesn't hold a candle to the clickwheel on the mini.
I have also used some of the RCA players, but Music Match is a horrible, crashy piece of software and getting files onto the player is unnecessarily difficult. My old flash player uses Music Match, and I found that as a result, the player tended to collect dust. I only went through the hassle when I really needed to. Usually only for long flights.
I did like the Rio Cali, even though the battery cover on this is a bit wonky too. But the player is $179. After adding an $80 256 meg SD card, I would be at $259. Why not buy better design and 4 gig for the same price? The marketing guys at Apple knew what they were doing. Though, if I were in the market for a solid state player, I would probably pick up the Cali or one of the iRiver players.
So, after trying many players, I decided to look at the iPod. When I first picked one up, I instantly knew that I had just moved into a new world. These things (minis and full-size iPods alike) are industrial design masterpieces. They feel good in your hand, they are solidly built, the backlight and display are beautiful, the wheel control is BRILLIANT, the GUI is transparent and iTunes is a simple pleasure to use. With the aluminum case, I feel like I could stand on this thing and not hurt it. The On-The-Go playlist deserves mention too.
The whole iPod experience is unobtrusive and pleasant. The mini fits seamlessly into your life. I have several gadgets that I carry with me. I wish they were integrated into one well-designed device. Until that happens, I need my pocket gear to be SMALL so that I can actually take it with me and use it. I can't even feel the mini in my front pocket.
I thought about getting a full-sized iPod, but I'm glad I didn't. The trade-off for size is worth it. I think the "for only $50 more" argument is silly. How many damn songs can you listen to on one charge? The mini holds 3 days worth of music! Your battery will drain after about 9 hours. With your firewire or USB 2 cable, you can quickly swap out music while you charge. iTunes is so easy to use, that the swappage is no hassle at all. And I have not found an easier way to rip CDs and organize files than iTunes.
For the record, I don't fit the "Mac Trendoid" stereotype (although I don't know many Mac users who do.) I have a beer gut, poor social skills, and I'm balding. I pretty damn practical and far from stylish. My wardrobe consists of jeans, t-shirts and sneakers and I only replace them once a year, if my wife is lucky. I'm probably one of the Curmudgeons mentioned above. But I do enjoy the finer things in life, and well designed electronics is one of the finer things.
This is also the first Apple pro
1) Canadian
...oh wait.
2) Beetle owner, and now
3) No free iPod.
4) ???
5) Profit!
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How does this make them any better than a "power hungry" monopoly like Microsoft? ....basically all I'm saying is that Apple is as money-hungry Microsoft and I don't think they have any more scruples than MS does in getting paid. To think otherwise is foolish...
All publicly-traded corporations are legally required to be money-hungry, and Apple is certainly no exception. However, one of the things that makes them better than Microsoft is that Apple is not a monopoly and does not abuse its position the way Microsoft always has. How many times has Microsoft been found guilty of breaking the law? How does that compare to Apple?
Besides that, Apple makes better quality products.
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MS's lock on the Office market made it impossible for Apple to pursue its lawsuit (which was a stone cold cinch) re: the theft of the QuickTime code that made up MS's media player solutions.
The $150M and the continuing support of Office Mac (which, by the way, is absurdly profitable for MS) were part of the settlement deal.
Had Microsoft not had the power to utterly destroy Apple (by stopping development of Office, and making a big stink about it) Apple would have been able to wring far, far, far more money out of MS.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Don't be ridiculous. If you want to buy a Sony product, you have to buy a Sony product.
But you can just as easily buy one from a dozen other manufacturers.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has a monopoly on the entire personal computer industry. If you don't think they use that monopoly power to destroy competition, you're a poor student of history.
Yes, Apple killed the clone manufacturers. However, the deal struck with the clone mfr's was absolutely murdering Apple. They were losing enormous sales to competitors (who didn't have to do their own R&D), and couldn't sustain their own in-house development.
Apple decided to stop doing this, and they've been doing great since. However, seeing as how they have, what? Five percent of the PC market, calling them a monopoly and comparing them to Microsoft makes you look pretty silly.
Of course Apple is money hungry. That's OK, in and of itself. They make some great products to get money, and I think thats just fine.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Butt-ugly, web site is confusing to navigate, cites dimensions and weight that go far beyond the iPod, hard drive seems to be 2.5 inches which makes the whole thing clunky. Button arrangement is needlessly complicated; software said not to work on any Unix on the web site (the iPod works flawlessly even on various free Unixes out there). Doesn't play official successor to MP3, AAC.
The one interesting positive point is that it plays Ogg Vorbis, but I only see such files every few months...