indiboi.com

I need to remember to read all those rss feeds that are not personal websites, like Engadget. Of course all problems would be solved if I kept apple.com as my start page instead of blank. What I’m getting at is nobody mentioned the new Mac Mini, nor the iPod shuffle to me. Zilla mentioned iWork 2005, which while interesting doesn’t really get me all wowed up or anything. None of the RSS feeds I read mentioned anything about them, and even worse, Seryozha, my adorable macfiend didn’t even mention it, lol.

I guess it’s one of those things, we, as Apple users, are just supposed to know about these things; plan ahead on our schedules to watch the live feed of the expo and ready the bank account for imminent spending.

Just for fun, I was reading over the opinions of all those “non-sheep” out there, you know, die-hard wintel fans, the black sheep, or the anything with a dozen or more security issues means it great sort of people. It’s the usual bullshit, the lusers too cheap or stubborn to ditch Windows bash the Apple fans by calling them sheep and that we’ll buy anything that’s white with an Apple logo on it, pointing to ill-designed yet ‘just as capable’ flash players that are supposedly ‘oh so much better’ than the new Shuffle.

There are two reasons to buy a Shuffle:

1. You can’t quite afford the iPod, want to get your feet wet with something considerably less expensive, but will eventually buy the iPod anyway
2. You already own an iPod, but understand there are situations where having such an expensive piece of technology with you is less than desirable.

I fall into category number two. I don’t take my iPod on short 2 mile trips to the smoke shoppe or Sheetz. There is a certain hassle involved with choosing a playlist or album for such a short trip so I’m usually going to listen to the radio — and thus have to endure horrid pop music for the duration of the trip. The concept of having something so tiny that I can just keep in my coat pocket is very appealing, especially when I just turn it on and it plays music that I’ll actually want to listen to.

The lack of screen and having to fiddle with choosing which music to listen to is precisely why I want one. This brings us right back to the two points I’d made, this isn’t meant to be your only MP3 player, it is to augment your existing iPod.

Another important point is that the Shuffle isn’t just an MP3 player, I actually see the ability to play music as an added benefit; the Shuffle is a 512MB or 1GB USB2 flash drive that also will play music.

I spent $80 a little over a year ago on a 128MB flash drive, the idea of spending $99 on something from Apple that also performs that function is a rather comfortable one; like I said, I also then get the benefit of being able to play music. I won’t take my iPod with me when we go out clubbing, I don’t like the idea of leaving it in the vehicle, a broken window would result in the loss of a $400 piece of technology.

Of course, then there is the Mac Mini. Oh, how I want one of those! I was just complaining to Zilla about the need for a desktop Mac, because the 12″ screen on the iBook just doesn’t cut it for working with Photoshop or Illustrator. I almost always boot to Windows from Linux so I get the beautiful screen real-estate that my flatpanel will offer me. The fact of the matter is that I do not need a new computer, I have four already, not counting my brother’s or mother’s computers. While I would love a new iMac, or even better a PowerMac, the budget just doesn’t have that sort of financial leeway for something unnecessary.

My LCD has three inputs on the back with a button on the front to switch between them, I can so easily see sitting the cute little Mac Mini on the desk and switch back between them on the monitor.

Coming in at a starting price of $500, it’s much easier to justify getting one of those, and in reality it would meet my needs much better anyway. Of course, after upgrading the ram, drive, getting wireless (bluetooth & G), and input devices (also wireless, of course), the price comes to more like $1000, but it’s still considerably less than any other offering.

I’m quite convinced that within a couple of months I’ll have one sitting on my desk, at least when I don’t have it sitting downstairs in the lounge. I’m also going to be making quite the push for Matthew to get one, the pricepoint will definitely be a nice little help in that regard.