Mini iPod report

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Small, But Powerful
by Maria O. Arguello

I bought an iPod mini for my grandson, Michael, from the online Apple Store. He had not requested it until he saw his twin sister having so much fun with hers at Christmas. Soon he was asking me for one and asking her if he could listen to some of the songs and audio books she had on her iPod. So I had to get a Splitter from Belkin to connect 2 headsets or speakers to one jack, and a Car Connecting Pack from Sony to play the iPod through the car stereo so he could listen in the car. Gabriela and Michael, my grandchildren, have heard several audio books like Aesop's Fables, Charlotte's Web, Harriet the Spy, Dinosaurs Never Say Please, Hatchett, Huck Finn, and The Secret Garden.

I started downloading them from the Apple Music Store and while it is so simple to do, it is more expensive than the audio books purchased from Audible.com. Once you get your account with Audible.com configured, it becomes very easy to download books to iTunes and transfer them to an iPod. With my subscription I can download any two books for $19.95 a month. I have downloaded Living History by Hillary Clinton and Open House by Elizabeth Berg (Oprah's book club) for myself. Once I buy a book, I archive it and can download it over and over again.

The iPod mini came the day before they were available at the Apple and reseller stores. Apple resellers received silver ones only. I had the only blue one in the area, which I found out when I was showing it to the cashier at Springboard Media in Philadelphia. He was so surprised to see me with a blue one. I also got the free iPod laser engraving which allows you to personalize it with one or two lines of laser-engraved text.

I have been able to show it off at the following MUG meetings: MacBUS, MUGSNJ and SJAUG. There were a lot of oohs, and aahs, beginning with the opening of the well-designed Apple packaging. The iPod mini has a 4 GB hard drive, which holds up to 1000 songs or 70 hours worth of music. The battery lasts 8 hours Apple claims. It also comes with a clip carrier, sleek ear bud headphones, and FireWire and USB 2 cables. It auto-syncs with Mac or Windows, has games, calendar, contacts and notes. As an additional accessory I got an Incase Belt from Incase Designs, to carry and protect the iPod. Michael can carry it around to enjoy his music and not lose it.

I love it. I'm sure my grandson will, too. It is a surprise to him as I hadn't committed to buying one before his birthday in June. My favorite color is pink but he wouldn't have wanted that color. It seems to be the most popular color.

— Maria O. Arguello
President