Andrew J.
02-21-2004, 12:03 PM
I bought a blue mini at the Apple Store on Prince St. in NYC yesterday (I got in line at 4pm and was person #25 or so in a line of several hundred people that extended down Greene St. from Prince all the way to Houston and around the corner...not sure how far it ultimately extended) and it goes without saying that I love it.
My favorite feature by far--an unheralded usability enhancement over previous iPods (I have a 2G and I'm pretty sure this feature wasn't in the 3G) is the customization of the main menu. I was able to remove everything I didn't want from the top menu and add the stuff I wanted so that now it has just four options: "Artists", "Albums", "Settings" and "Sleep". Very elegant. What's also cool is that if I put the mini to sleep from the top menu while it's playing a song, when I wake it up, a "Now Playing" option is added to the menu so I can instantly click back to the info on the song that was playing when it went to sleep. This option is also there if I surf back up to the top menu when using the mini...obviously, it'll revert to the song info on its own eventually (and where the "Sleep" menu option on the top menu is concerned, yes, I could just hold the pause button) but it's great that Apple is letting us ADD types do this stuff instantly. Everyone's lavishing praise on the mini's physical design--as well they should--but its software and interface design really deserve being shown love too.
My favorite feature by far--an unheralded usability enhancement over previous iPods (I have a 2G and I'm pretty sure this feature wasn't in the 3G) is the customization of the main menu. I was able to remove everything I didn't want from the top menu and add the stuff I wanted so that now it has just four options: "Artists", "Albums", "Settings" and "Sleep". Very elegant. What's also cool is that if I put the mini to sleep from the top menu while it's playing a song, when I wake it up, a "Now Playing" option is added to the menu so I can instantly click back to the info on the song that was playing when it went to sleep. This option is also there if I surf back up to the top menu when using the mini...obviously, it'll revert to the song info on its own eventually (and where the "Sleep" menu option on the top menu is concerned, yes, I could just hold the pause button) but it's great that Apple is letting us ADD types do this stuff instantly. Everyone's lavishing praise on the mini's physical design--as well they should--but its software and interface design really deserve being shown love too.