I bought an ipod mini a few days ago. When I first hooked it up to my computer to instal the software music that was already on my computer automatically went to my ipod. I want to get more songs on it, but I can't figure out how. In the book it says when you hook up the ipod itunes will start, and the music will go in automatically, but it does not do that. Does anyone know what to do?

This is simply them reacting to the h10 which is getting rave reviews. Then again, iriver no way comes close to the commercial/pop culture value that the Apple brand has, so I'm not even sure these changes are needed.

One of my friends just got one of these for xmas.

Yeah, him and few other million people.

yea, i think ipods suck. my sister got one and for the same price i got a multimedia player. i dont see why people have to have and ipod, the only ipod i would ever get is the shuffle so when i only want to listen to music, y waste battery on my iriver and listen to the shuffle.

You don't see why people would get one? Maybe because they're easy to use, work with both PCs and Macs (even Linux with a little unofficial hacking), play files from the largest online store (iTunes)--although I'll concede that it doesn't support WMA, which nearly every other store uses, but iTunes has a large selection and I don't think 99-cent songs are too much to ask, plus the DRM restrictions are still very generous.

Then there's the whole "why buy clothes at Abercombie when Wal-Mart sells clothes, too"-factor, i.e., fashion. But at least it's usually significantly less than anywhere close to being twice others' prices--really not that bad.

(Oh, and BTW, they have good service/support, or so I've heard.)

I got one for Christmas, and I love it.

Luckily, if you don't like iPods, this *is* capitalism. Don't get one if you want something else.

"You don't see why people would get one? Maybe because they're easy to use, work with both PCs and Macs (even Linux with a little unofficial hacking), play files from the largest online store (iTunes)--although I'll concede that it doesn't support WMA, which nearly every other store uses, but iTunes has a large selection and I don't think 99-cent songs are too much to ask, plus the DRM restrictions are still very generous."

While the iTunes music store selection is pretty good the vast majority of the stuff there can be purchased at other digital music services. I am not sure that has much added value there. They aren't the worse DRM restrictions I have seen but I don't think that they are any less restrictive than some of the alternatives. iTunes is ok unless you have any desire to use a portable player other from an iPod.

"Then there's the whole "why buy clothes at Abercombie when Wal-Mart sells clothes, too"-factor, i.e., fashion. But at least it's usually significantly less than anywhere close to being twice others' prices--really not that bad."

The whole fashion argument doesn't hold a whole lot of water to me. If 50%+ of teenagers wore the same s*** would you want to buy it? Ipods are stylish but if you are trying to have your own distinctive look it isn't a very good choice. When you walk around the college campus with your iPod you are just going to be another person in the crowd.

The fact that they are playing catchup with iRiver and Creative Labs says a lot about how complacent Apple has become with their Ipod lines. They have become so concerned with looks that some of there products have fallen a bit behind in doing what people bought them for. Today the only thing an Ipod Mini has over it's competitors is being able to play iTunes tracks and that it is made by Apple. The comparable Creative Labs Nomad has more colors, more capacity, and is generally is a better bang for your buck. Those who don't care about iTunes or Apple's chic look don't have much reason to favor an iPod over their competitors.

I think the DRM from iTunes is pretty fair. In fact, it is easy to use itunes songs in ANY other player. After you purchase a song, burn it to a CD. Then, reimport that CD as an MP3 and now you have a file, with no DRM, that will play on any player.

my thoughts exactly. I buy the music, I do with it what I want! What gives these big companies the right to control what I do with my music and my computer? They didn't contribute to buying it.

Think Different. iPod = Think Peer Pressure. Then there's the problem of students wearing the signature white headphones and being mugged for their iPod. Firmware on the iPod is awful, batteries die regularly, interface is nasty, iTunes bugs frequent. Why do people persist in supporting this rubbish?

why support wma? what advantage does wma files have over mp3 and ogg? I bought an iRiver because it would play ogg vorbis, not because of how much it holds.

I have to agree I have an ipod I must say I am very disappointed in the battery life and firmware. I am selling mine on ebay there are much better players out there. Get off the craze it's not worth it.

yea on ipods u have to get a new battery every to yrs and u cant upgrade the firmware. with ANY iriver, they come out with new firmwares for each divice. the audio quality is great, there is an eqializer so u can customize sound of each song, but irivers dont have games and thats the advantage ipod has over it. but the style issue, yea ppl think ipods are cool because ppl have ipods. but thats only because of all the advratizing. sure ipods are cool and have a touch control, but no one relizes that the iriver H10 has one too. and has a color screen. and the style of all irivers is awsome. my favroite ones have diagonaly placed buttons like on the PMP-100 series as i have, there are controls on the front and it looks the same as the older model of mp3 player ifp 800. id recomend anyone and everyone looking for a mp3 player or portable media player(aka mp4 player) to go to www.iriver.com

You might be right about the iRiver, but you CAN upgrade the firmware on the iPod. Apple just doesn't release that many updates.

I think the last firmware update they had was to make the iPod unable to play songs from Real. Nice, huh?

I agree with robertM. For the price of the ipod i would get my whole family one. I stick with minidisc players myself but digital media has gotten so far. Even though i am young (13) most people take my comments, i don't think that the Ipod Mini needs to undergo any significant drastic changes. I agree with making it color screen because more and more people will pay attention to it. But think about all the other multimedia handhelds that are making its launch, the PSP is susceptible to play movies music view pictures and has the ability to play games. Apple will surely be able to keep up though.

Majored in English, did you?

iPods have firmware updates, Apple just doesn't feel the need to update often, it's very rare to happen.

As far as the issue of a better player, from what I've found the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra suits my needs best. Enough said.