Apple iPod 4 GB mini M9802LL/A (Blue) OLD MODEL

by Apple

Product Details

• Item Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006HTZ6W
• Item model number: M9802LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,339 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

This season's must-have accessory? Your music. Listen in style with iPod mini. Like any classic fashion icon, iPod mini goes with everything: Macs, PCs, sequins, and tees. And with up to 18 hours of battery life, it'll outlast the latest trend. Weighing in at just 3.6 ounces, iPod mini fits your lifestyle and your bag, whether it be cocktail purse or messenger duffle.

From Runway to Subway
The chic, matte anodized aluminum case resists stains and scratches, all the while protecting your iPod mini—from, say, the jostle of overzealous paparazzi. Recessed in the case to keep its surface pristine, the 1.67-inch (diagonal) backlit screen displays full song and album titles, artists' names, and more. And iPod mini lasts up to 18 hours on a single charge:^* enough for a transatlantic flight, the limo ride to your hotel, and a few solid hours of boutique shopping. Of course, iPod mini works just as well for your everyday pursuits. With up to 25 minutes of skip protection, you can even walk the dog in style.

Put on Some Tunes
So light and colorful, iPod mini yearns for the limelight. Indulge in a little scene-stealing yourself when you wear your music on your sleeve or around your neck. With optional accessories, including a stylish lanyard and mix-and-match armbands, your iPod mini becomes an ensemble essential. Wear it running a trail or walking the red carpet. iPod mini complements any look, from track suit to tiara.

Under Your Thumb
Always striving for perfection, Apple engineers moved the iPod's buttons under the wheel. The iPod mini Click Wheel—complete with color-coordinated icons—takes best advantage of miniscule space and lets you scroll single-handedly through up to 1,500 songs from your iTunes music collection. You'll find such thoughtful construction only from Apple. Because, try as they might, the competition can't touch this.

Behind the Click Wheel of your iPod mini await features that make it the world's best digital music player. Listen to your music as you fall asleep, and wake up with music or an alarm. Store a copy of your contacts, calendar and to-do lists on your iPod mini. Or keep anything from store restaurant reviews to nightlife guides, and news articles to exercise routines—right at your fingertips.

This second-generation iPod mini has enhanced USB support with one simple connection for all Mac and Windows users. It embodies freedom and portability, allowing you to bring your favorite music everywhere you go and to everything you do. Offering seamless integration with iTunes and the iTunes Music Store, the iPod mini makes it a breeze to manage your music, and the innovative Click Wheel makes it easy to find exactly the right tune.

What's in the Box
iPod mini, battery, earbud headphones, belt clip, USB 2.0 cable, CD-ROM with iTunes for Mac and Windows, electronic documentation and getting started guide

^*Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.

Product Description

MAC/PC Mini iPod: Original box contains beltclip, earphones, USB hotsync cable and iTunes for MAC and Windows.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now a part of the iPod craze!, March 21, 2005

By 

R. K. (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple iPod 4 GB mini M9802LL/A (Blue) OLD MODEL (Electronics)

Trust me, I was the LAST person to buy an iPod. I was perfectly happy with my iRiver H140 (which I still love), and was sick to death of seeing those white headphones everywhere! But then I decided to get a tinier player for my walks to class and such. I tried out different smaller players and they all had some type of defect. An iPod Shuffle wasn't an option as the thing doesn't even have a screen. When these second-generation minis came out, I was blown away by the specs: supposedly 18 hours of battery life, price cut down fifty dollars, etc. So I went ahead and bought the blue version and yet to have any regrets. My review:

PROS:

// I did a battery test on this the afternoon I bought it. It wasn't even charged to full capacity, and on top of that, I played with it a lot, and it still ran continuously for about 23 hours. Amazing. One of the reasons I was hesitant about getting a first-generation mini was its battery life (about eight hours, I believe). Apple has definitely improved on this feature.

// iTunes, the software that you use to put music on your iPod, is great. You can make it automatically sync to your iPod or manually update. I choose the latter option as I have more music on my computer than will fit on a 4GB player. I thought having to use software would be annoying in comparison to hooking a player up like a regular hard drive and using the file tree method, but iTunes is simple and gets the job done. There are other programs you can use to manage your iPod, like MusicMatch, but iTunes seems to be the least clunky to me. Also, you DO NOT have to buy from the iTunes music store to work your iPod. You can even hide this option on the sidebar if you wish and make iTunes solely a music manager.

// So tiny! I have to admit that when I opened the box, I exclaimed, "It's SO cute!" It's basically the size of a credit card. A little slimmer, a little longer, but you get the idea. Even the package it comes in is very compact!

// Sound quality is absolutely superb. You'll listen to songs that you've heard on your computer or other MP3 player or whatever and hear nuances that you haven't heard before. Like I said, I have an iRiver, and while that has amazing quality too, you'll be surprised how crisp this little device sounds.

// Plenty of features. Notes, contacts, games (Music Quiz, Solitaire, Brick and Parachute), clock, alarm... I have yet to use any of these extras but I guess it's nice to know that they're there in case you do. I think more efficient features would be voice recording, FM tuner, etc.

// Scratch-resistant. All of my friends' iPods are scratched up like you wouldn't believe. The mini has a lot more resistance to scratches as it has an anodized aluminum case.

// Inuitive design. Everyone knows about the click wheel. I've handled lots of different players and Apple really wins in this area. The controls are underneath the wheel, so you don't have to worry about buttons bulging out on the exterior.

// Colors-- this is a pretty trivial point, but I was initially disappointed when these "new" colors came out. I thought the earlier model pastels were much prettier. However, now that I actually have one (photos don't do justice), I think my blue one has a gorgeous, rich hue, and I imagine this is the same for the green and pink. No complaints in the aesthetics department from my end.

CONS:

// No support for WMAs. iTunes will import these as their own format, which might result in a sound degradation. I had to rip a bunch of my CDs as MP3s just to retain original audio quality.

// Apple really skimped out on the accessories. I'm used to getting a bunch of add-ons with my player for free, like a case and adapter. The mini includes a clip-on holder, headphones, and your charging cord, but that's pretty much it. HOWEVER, to Apple's credit, you can charge your iPod without an adapter (right from USB, or Firewire). Plus, to get these 4GB models down cheaper than they were before, it makes sense that they cut out the superfluous items.

// This will be a minor issue for most people, but when you're in your menus (like listings under Songs or Albums or wherever), the titles don't scroll. So if you have a lot of songs that start with the same string of words, you're going to have try them all to see which one you're looking for. On the actual now-playing screen, they DO scroll, it's just that in the menus they don't. Like I said, this won't affect most people, but it did kind of annoy me when I first saw it as all other players I've worked with scroll titles in menus.

SOME THINGS TO KNOW:

// The iPod never actually shuts off. I know that when I first got this, I was like, "Where's the stop button?!" You can put it to sleep by holding the play/pause button down for a few seconds, but it will never actually be turned off. This is a smart move made by Apple because if you were to continually shut off and restart everytime you wanted to use it, not only would it take a long time to boot up, but it would wear down its interior.

// iPod doesn't give you a straightforward way to copy your music back onto your computer after putting it on, but there's a way to do so without using external programs if it's enabled to disk usage. 1) Click on the iPod icon in My Computer. 3) Click Tools > Folder Options > View > Show Hidden Files and Folders. 3) A folder called "iPod Control" should appear. Navigate into that folder and all your music should be in several different folders within. If you don't want to do it this way, there are also third-party programs like CopyPod.

// For iPod support, Google "iPodLounge." Their forums are really helpful, too.

// Ordering from Amazon is probably your best bet. I ordered this on March 17 and received it the very next day on March 18. That was with Super Saver Shipping deal where it's actually supposed to take up to two weeks to get to you! This could just be in my lucky case, but even so, you can also always return your iPod if something is wrong with it with zero hassle and for free. Like with those other players that gave me issues? Amazon sent a UPS guy to my house to pick it up, returned it, and I got ALL of my money back. Just my two cents on that.

---

Overall, a great player. Besides a few flaws, Apple has found a new iPod-lover in me which I thought NEVER would happen! Sorry for the length of this review but I hope it helped potential buyers. Happy iPodding. :)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The iPod mini, December 10, 2005

By 

BYL - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple iPod 4 GB mini M9802LL/A (Blue) OLD MODEL (Electronics)

I've owned my iPod for about half a year now, and I half to say that I enjoy it. The sound quality is better than that of iTunes on my computer. It's pretty much the only mp3 player that integrates usability, simplicity, and convienence with style and sophistication. Plus the click wheel is simply ingenious.

However, I have several complaints. First of all, the metal outside is very easily damaged and dented. I dropped my iPod (in its case!) once on a non-concrete surface, and the corner dented a bit. Another thing is that the click wheel gets dirty. Another problem is the battery - it runs out relatively fast, and obviously, replacing it is inevitable (but IMO, only apple's scheme to get money).

I wrote the following for an ebay sale of my iPod mini. I thought it might be helpful for a lot of people.

iPod 4GB really only holds less than 3.7GB. Apple defined GB as something bigger than it actually is (like instead of 1024kb per mb they did 1000... or something like that). Plus there are already installed programs on iPod.
Charge - 2 (80% full) hours or 4 hours (100% full)
Battery life - Apple claims 18 hours, but in reality it's nowhere close.
Tips on the battery:
Don't use backlight unless needed; backlight kills battery.
Wait until your battery is out, and then charge overnight to full capacity (this is my own theory; I think it works because supposedly rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (ie the iPod one/rechargeable batteries in general) run longer this way.)
Use iPod regularly (helps the battery stay alive, the Li-ion works better)
Fast forward reduces battery.
iPod can be used as a USB (look for enable disk use in iTunes), so if you have an iPod you wont need a USB drive.
iPod can open and read text documents (see users manual), and this helps if I need something to read/have something that I need to refer to often.
Music file format - AAC, MP3, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV
Using iTunes, you can convert almost any format (e.g. wma, midi) into AAC or another iPod-compatible format
iPod supposedly crashes easier when it has to deal with more than one format, so convert everything into one format
iPod can be used with regular computer speakers. Lots of people don't know this, so they go out and buy "iPod-specific" speakers which cost like $100+. So don't. Get a nice set of computer speakers, and you can listen to your iPod anywhere there's a power source.
iPod and hearing loss.
I play violin quite a bit, and as a result I'm going partially deaf in my left ear. Because of this, I take special care of my ears while listening to iPod.
Recording studios record everything, and this includes the extremely high pitches that the human ear can't hear. These high pitches make your ear drum vibrate extremely fast... which causes more damage than regular pitches. Luckily you can control this on your iPod in several ways. What I do is that in iTunes, I control the EQ settings so that any sounds 16kHz (the high ones) are reduced. You can also choose the "treble reducer" EQ setting on iPod, but this reduces battery a bit. I also recommend getting a set of noise-reducing headphones (NOT earbud headphones like the iPod ones). That way, you can listen to your iPod at a much lower volume in a loud environment.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You're basically renting an Ipod..., August 2, 2005

By 

H. Wilson (New York City, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple iPod 4 GB mini M9802LL/A (Blue) OLD MODEL (Electronics)

The Ipod Mini, as well as the larger models, resembles a tragic hero: great design (scroll wheel kicks @ss), user friendly (menus are optimally designed), great iTunes software (i still use it to organize my music without the ipod), trendy, firewire capabilitiy, and small. But there's a dark secret that Apple doesn't want you to know--you're renting the MP3 player, not purchasing. These things break down so easily, freeze up constantly and battery life decreases dramatically (seemingly programed.) No conspiracy theories here, but what a compelling story line it makes. Create a great (actually just good) MP3 player, get consumers in love with the product, have the product break down and earn more money as repeat customers blinded by the trend waste another 300 bucks on another Ipod. Basically, if you're lucky enough not to experience what MANY others have experienced (just check other review sites--not the optimists who just purchased the ipod several weeks ago), then you'll have a fun little MP3 player. The problem is that the competitors are not as sleek (except Creative Zen-- but Zens are even less reliable) and are just as flimsy. In fact, many others are rated lower (expert & user) than the Ipods, which make the task of buying a DAP even more difficult. After much research, I've just purchased a Cowon Audio X5L 30 GB DAP--contains many features missing from the Ipod, 30 hours battery life (confirmed by DAPreviews experts), similar size, video & photo viewer, and excellent sound (Cowon is good for that). Some problems, like doesn't use ID3 tags so you can't browse by artist/album, but since i already wasted money on an iPOd and have iTunes, I can drag the music organized in folders. I'm excited about the Cowon. Hopefully, I won't be disappointed.
Summary: Tempting, trendy, easy to use but not reliable enough to warrant spending that much money. DO your research and you'll be able to find something else that will better suit your needs.