So Apple has followed a formula pioneered by Mercedes in the car market, where Mercedes realised that they needed and entry-level product to make their brand accessible and so we now have the Apple Ipod Mini. Launched in the USA on Friday 20^th February 2004 the Apple Ipod Mini claims to have the rich feature set and unique style of its bigger brother but at a reduced size and therefore cost.

The primary changes are Size related the hard drive is reduced to 4gb enough for about 70hrs of MP3 thanks to the latest 1 inch hard drives and the physical dimensions which are 9cm x 5xm x 1.5cm and a shade over 100 grams in weight. Those Ipod aficionados won’t worry too much as the Ipod Mini retains the jog wheel interface which is without doubt the most successful design of the past few years, in fact it is a little easier to navigate which is essential considering the reduced dimensions.

Style is a key factor when it comes to purchasing decisions in this highly competitive gadgets market, the Ipod was and is the undisputed king but the Ipod Mini's aluminium exterior is pure class it oozes sophistication while feeling rugged at the same time, in fact we prefer this over the Ipod.

The main change immediately noticeable to an Ipod owner is the loss of the four control buttons for skip, play, pause and menu these are now integrated within the redesigned scroll wheel again after getting used to it it’s a definite improvement over the Ipod. The screen is smaller (but then it had to be) but the resolution seems to be higher giving a much crisper edge to text, its very easy to read and the retention of the blue backlight keeps many a gadget lover happy.

Connectivity is via Fire wire or a USB 2.0 or 1.1 cables, the connector for these is located on the bottom of the Ipod Mini, which can also be seated directly into the optional docking station that we would highly recommend for anyone who uses their pod at home or work. The docking station also allows the Ipod Mini to connect to a stereo system via line out socket this is carried over from the later Ipod models. As with its bigger brother the Ipod Mini is still a dream to drive with your whole music collection accessible from the menu system, you can browse by Album, Artist, Track, genre, playlist or composer, a departure for Apple is the supply of their own iTunes software with the Ipod Mini this replaces Musicmatch which was previously supplied for windows users.

This is a good move as the restricted hard drive space available on the Ipod Mini relies on one key feature on the iTunes software, Auto sync creates a playlist of your most frequently listened to tunes (on iTunes) and synchronises them with the Ipod Mini on connection. Of course you don’t have to use this feature, iTunes allows you to chose what to download to your Ipod Mini or which manually created playlists, if you chose to operate with the ACC format rather than MP3 you can fit more on your 4gb disk but this is not as universally compatible as MP3 so best avoided.

In terms of extras you get an alarm clock and a few games (Solitaire, brick and parachute) the ability to sync with your contacts and calendar with MS Outlook and maybe the strangest extra a kind of “name that tune” game where you guess which track it is from a sample of the intro…Weird!

Now Ipod batteries made the headlines in the UK earlier this year and while some improvements have been made the Ipod Mini battery still only runs for a claimed 8 hours and is not user replaceable, Apple are confident that the batteries in the Ipod Mini are a vast improvement on its bigger brother and are offering a replacement service while under guarantee. The Ipod Mini sits in an unusual niche between the flash based MP3 players which typically stay south of 1gb and the hard drive models which start at about 10gb and go up to 60gb.

The Ipod Mini 4gb retails for £139 without the docking station but including leads and ear buds, if we will take to it with quite the same enthusiasm as the Americans is yet to be seen but the Ipod Mini is a marvel of design, its hard to believe that Apple have taken the Ipod shrunk it and actually made it better but they have.

Update - The Ipod Mini is now available in both 4gb and 6gb sizes at £139 and £169 respectively plus the battery life has been extended to a much more respectable 18 hours, at last a Mini with a maxi battery.

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