OK, now that I am over my initial excitement and the hype has died down regarding the Mac mini and iPod Shuffle, I don’t think the Shuffle is something I would want. The music plays off a shuffle playlist and there is no way for the user to control the play order. There is no visual interface or even a FM tuner. This may be nice to get someone into using an iPod, but I think the new SanDisk Digital Audio Player that I am evaluating right now is a fine player with a FM tuner and ability to act as a digital voice recorder. I also stopped buying music from iTunes because it is too much of a pain to convert it into MP3 for playing on other devices. I now use MSN Music and have been pleased with it so far.
The Mac mini still looks like a nice solution, but it doesn’t include much so after adding on the keyboard, mouse, monitor, Bluetooth feature, etc. the price starts to approach $800 or more. I think my next major purchase will actually be a laptop since I do find that my mobile devices can be a bit limiting when trying to do some tasks.
palmsolo's Mobile Life 
#1 by Anonymous on January 13, 2005 - 19:01
My approach has always been to select the music store I want and then find hardware to match. I love the Itunes interface and appreciate they have been hardline to keep the prices down. If Msn music works better for you, god bless. I rarely listen to fm in a portable device and other gadgets handle my other needs. I thought the shuffle is nice because it can double as a thumbdrive.
You are a power user and I am a power user. The mini is really meant for us. And it’s really meant for someone who already owns a pc and would like to sample the other side. So, yea, it really could be a 499 computer. I’m thinking about it as an option for my two little children. I just have to resist adding options to it (ram, bluetooth, etc, etc) that would appease the geek in me but destroy its value proposition.
…BTW, I hate being an apologist for Apple. They lost me ten years ago when there hardware lagged lagged behind, but recently got me back. It’s nice to see them innovating again.