I bought a 15GB iPod for Judy some time ago because she likes to take to listen to music while she’s running. That iPod replaced a piece of crap Creative Nomad II which was a piece of crap. Oh, did I already say that the Creative was a piece of crap?

It’s no wonder at all to me why the iPod is so successful. Companies like Creative just didn’t seem to understand that a music player is more than just hardware. It’s about the software and how well the hardware and the software work together. These days, it’s also about how seamless the hardware, software, and service (a la legal downloads through the iTunes Music Store and the like) work together. Getting songs onto the Nomad was a pain in the ass and their tech support was useless. I bought the Nomad to save a few bucks, but the time and aggravation getting it to work just wasn’t worth it. I ended up paying quite a bit more for the iPod, but it not only works, but works damn well. Creative’s offerings have likely improved since my experience, but it’s a bit too little, too late.

Well, that’s my rant for the day. Anyhow, I used to always snag Judy’s iPod for my workouts when she wasn’t using it. It really makes working out so much better. And now that I live farther from work, the iPod’s great to listen to during my commute, especially with all the yakking that goes on during morning radio.

So it was time to have an iPod for each of us. I had originally decided to get Judy the iPod Shuffle. In fact, I had already ordered a 1GB Shuffle from Amazon a couple of weeks ago, but it was backordered. As I waited for them to get some in stock, Apple introduced the new Minis with a whopping $50 price reduction to $199. It was now only $50 more than the 1GB Shuffle (previously it was $100 more) so I cancelled the Amazon order for the Shuffle and got a Mini instead. Judy decided to get pink, probably to prevent me from borrowing it.

Now there’s no more fighting over who gets to use the iPod. Here’s some pics, well actually just two of Judy’s hot pink iPod Mini. Isn’t it purrty?

Posted by Roger at 9:40 pm.