I'm very pleased with my 4gig Ipod Mini so far, but wanted to add a few comments to what others have written.

The sound quality is quite nice, even with the standard ear buds. The capacity is right for the price, and battery life is good for how I use it (a couple of hours here and there). I have two concerns, but they are not significant enough to reduce the rating from 5 stars for me:

- I-tunes, the computer software you use to load/unload songs, is not completely intuitive. Although the software works well and downloading/purchasing new music is easy, getting songs onto your ipod can be difficult if you already have an extensive music collection. I solved this by creating a couple of specific playlists in I-tunes, and having the I-pod only synchronize with those playlists.

- Although the I-pod mini can play songs in set order, random, or direct selection, I've not found a way for it to shuffle songs from only one playlist. I like to hear relaxing songs by the pool, and energetic songs when I'm at the gym. Being able to shuffle only my "poolside" playlist or my "energy" playlist would be great. Perhaps it can be done and I just need to research more.

- Some of the help documentation isn't very deep. This is typical of Apple. Because their hardware and software have so few problems, most users never need extensive documentation. But if you want to go back and change some unusual settings (like the I-pod's name, or the shuffle method I mentioned above), how to do it is either not explained or difficult to find in the manual.

Those caveats aside, I'm loving my I-pod mini and definitely recommend it. All of my concerns are non-critical, and they could be addressed with a software update.



Link: Apple iPod mini $189