Who would have ever guessed that *I* would be researching responsible spending?!
I'm spending this lovely Thursday at work surfing around for a decent pattern to crochet myself an iPod case, since I doscovered earlier that this week that iPod + sun = OWMOTHERFUCKERTHAT'SHOT. Which led me to this other train of thought, which I'd like to blame on my father, who used to lecture me on the "true price" of beef*.
I don't understand the appeal of the iPod Mini.
Aside from the color options (which, yeah, SHINY!), it seems like a complete waste of money.
1. A 4GB Mini goes for $199, or $50 per gig; the 6GB goes for $249, lowering the price to $41.50 per gig. edit: Math and me, not so much. $50 more, 2GB additional space ($25 a gig!), that doesn't seem so bad, right? I was wrong, it's the 4GB that's the biggest waste. But they're both still a waste in the eyes of the regular iPods, since an additional $50 upgrade ($100 total, from the 4GB Mini) gets you 14 additional GBs than the largest Mini available.
2. To compare, the smallest iPod offers 20GB of space for $299. That's ten bucks a gig, guys. Remember that, though cheaper, the Mini gives you one gig for every fifty dollars you spend. Yes, the 20GB is $150 more than the largest Mini (heh0, and some may feel that they don't want to spend that kind of money, but consider that for those $150 you're getting a crapload more apace (16GB), which translates into 3500 more songs, provided you use your iPod for strictly music. One could use those additional 16GB as an external hard drive (that's what I did) and store movies or favorite TV shows.
3. Ideally, and not altogether surprising, the most expensive iPod model IS the best bang for your buck. When you pay $450 for 60GB, you average $7.50 a gig. Again, the difference between models is $150, but unlike before (when you got 16GB for your upgrade), here you get 40GB. To compare, the 60GB is $200 more than the 6GB Mini, but holds 54GB more.
So, to conclude, looking at the math, I don't understand the logics of buying a Mini. I suppose it's seems more "in reach," since someone is more apt to have $199 at their disposal, rather than $450. But when you think that buying two 4GB Minis (in which you'd spend roughly the same price as one 60GB iPod) still doesn't get you a QUARTER of the space of a 60GB iPod, it just... well, for lack of a better word, why waste that kind of cash?
Maybe the colors really are that shiny.
(And, lo, don't even get me started on why someone would pay $150 for one of those iPod Shuffle things, given that it holds a quarter of the songs you could put on the smallest Mini [$199].)
* The lecture always went exactly like this: "It's not about the TOTAL price, Tahlia, it's about how much you're paying per pound. Anyone can pay $15 for a cut of steak, but if my steak cost $10 per pound and yours cost $20, who got the better deal?"
I don't understand the appeal of the iPod Mini.
Aside from the color options (which, yeah, SHINY!), it seems like a complete waste of money.
1. A 4GB Mini goes for $199, or $50 per gig; the 6GB goes for $249, lowering the price to $41.50 per gig. edit: Math and me, not so much. $50 more, 2GB additional space ($25 a gig!), that doesn't seem so bad, right? I was wrong, it's the 4GB that's the biggest waste. But they're both still a waste in the eyes of the regular iPods, since an additional $50 upgrade ($100 total, from the 4GB Mini) gets you 14 additional GBs than the largest Mini available.
2. To compare, the smallest iPod offers 20GB of space for $299. That's ten bucks a gig, guys. Remember that, though cheaper, the Mini gives you one gig for every fifty dollars you spend. Yes, the 20GB is $150 more than the largest Mini (heh0, and some may feel that they don't want to spend that kind of money, but consider that for those $150 you're getting a crapload more apace (16GB), which translates into 3500 more songs, provided you use your iPod for strictly music. One could use those additional 16GB as an external hard drive (that's what I did) and store movies or favorite TV shows.
3. Ideally, and not altogether surprising, the most expensive iPod model IS the best bang for your buck. When you pay $450 for 60GB, you average $7.50 a gig. Again, the difference between models is $150, but unlike before (when you got 16GB for your upgrade), here you get 40GB. To compare, the 60GB is $200 more than the 6GB Mini, but holds 54GB more.
So, to conclude, looking at the math, I don't understand the logics of buying a Mini. I suppose it's seems more "in reach," since someone is more apt to have $199 at their disposal, rather than $450. But when you think that buying two 4GB Minis (in which you'd spend roughly the same price as one 60GB iPod) still doesn't get you a QUARTER of the space of a 60GB iPod, it just... well, for lack of a better word, why waste that kind of cash?
Maybe the colors really are that shiny.
(And, lo, don't even get me started on why someone would pay $150 for one of those iPod Shuffle things, given that it holds a quarter of the songs you could put on the smallest Mini [$199].)
* The lecture always went exactly like this: "It's not about the TOTAL price, Tahlia, it's about how much you're paying per pound. Anyone can pay $15 for a cut of steak, but if my steak cost $10 per pound and yours cost $20, who got the better deal?"