The dreaded iPod question...

I run with my iPod-mini all the time and it's great. The form factor is
perfect for running. I'd say buy the armband, it works great and is
pretty comfortable. As for skip protection, the iPod has about a 20
minute skip protection. This is achived by the device reading data from
the hard-drive into some solid state ram and delivering the music to you
from there. This method accomplished two things: skip-protection, and
increases battery life.

Since all iPod uses a computer hard drive, if you actually ever got it
to skip, tou would have probably destroyed the device in the process,
considering that the "head" that reads the data from the hard drive is
only angstroms away from the serface. So close that a dust particle
could jam it up.

The second benefit to the iPods disk access scheme is that is only spins
up the hard drive when the data in the RAM (short-term "skip-protection"
buffer) after it has read through a major poriton of it. Since spinning
the hard drive take a good deal of battery power, the iPod's large
buffer is a key factor in is relatively good battery life.

The iPod and iPod-mini do use different hard drives, but really only
differ in physical size and capacity. I say keep the mini, unless you
really have a need for more storage than 4 gb. The form factor of the
mini is great forrunning, and I have not found that I need more that 4
gb of space, even on long road trips. 1000 sougs is alot of music, any
way you slice it.

Hope this helps,
-Jason

wizeguy said:

For Christmas I got a 4 gig mini iPod. I currently run with a Sony arm
banded radio. I know the dangers of running without being able to hear
and am willing to take that risk. I also understand that dropping one
of these suckers isn't a good thing to do. My question has to do with
the size/weight vs capacity vs skip resistance.

I'm tempted to return this and add $50 to the cost and go to the full
size 20 gig iPod. I don't really need to carry around my entire music
collection but it would be handy in the non running world were I spend
the rest of my life. I wonder if the mini would work better in the
running world vs the full size unit. Does one have better skip
protection then the other? From what little research I've done it
sounds like they use differnt hard drives. Is one better suited for the
bouncy running world?

I appreciate any feedback I get. Its tough to look at this all sealed
up and wonder. If apple made a 10gig mini I'd be all over that.

Thanks Jason.

Most of the postings that I've read talk about the full size iPods
(3G?) working great for the 20 minutes of buffer time, then not working
from then on because of all the bumping around. I gather that the hard
drive has/had difficulty refilling that buffer with all the movement?
Have you had any problems refilling the buffer with the mini?

Btw... which arm band are you using? There seem to be tons of
accessories for these.

I am not sure what those other guys are doing with their iPod's, but I
have not been able to get mine to skip. I have taken it on long road
runs, long trail runs, mountain biking, bouldering, and skiing. And I
took some good falls skiing and it played on, not missing a beat. (In
fact the White Zombie bouncing through my head as I bounced off a mogul
or two was kind of interesting and fun.)

I bought Apple's arm band for the mini:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9445G/A

It works great. The only thing I lack for mine it some sort of
semi-waterproof enclosure for damp conditions. I have noticed that it
get a bit sweaty if I have it clipped to the waist belt of my bottle
carrier, especially if my jacket slips of the iPod, but I have not had
any problems yet.

I also bought one of the early version of the iSkin cover. See
http://www.iskin.com

Have fun,
Jason

wizeguy said:

Thanks Jason.

Most of the postings that I've read talk about the full size iPods
(3G?) working great for the 20 minutes of buffer time, then not working
from then on because of all the bumping around. I gather that the hard
drive has/had difficulty refilling that buffer with all the movement?
Have you had any problems refilling the buffer with the mini?

Btw... which arm band are you using? There seem to be tons of
accessories for these.

I take it the iskin covered iPod doesn't fit inside the apple arm band
case?

Thanks Jason for all your help.

I take it the iskin covered iPod doesn't fit inside the apple arm band
case?

Thanks Jason for all your help.

yeah, so i generally use the iSkin cover when i am not using the arm
band and it is just floating in a pocket in a backpack or bottle
carrier. it keeps it from getting too beat up.

wizeguy said:

I take it the iskin covered iPod doesn't fit inside the apple arm band
case?

Thanks Jason for all your help.

I've never tried the mini, but I have run with a full-sized iPod (first
with my old 10GB unit, then with my 40GB unit after upgrade). No, they
don't skip. But they also don't work after 20 minutes, as others have
suggested. Once you've exhausted the buffer, it just shuts down -- and you
have to stop for a couple minutes before it'll start up again.

Both situations were with my iPod in a Marware case on an armband, or
clipped to a waistband. I did try running with the iPod in my hand (it gets
heavy after a while), and got marginally better results some of the time,
but not consistently. Maybe if you're a lightfooted runner, you'll have
better success. Otherwise, I'd try the mini, or go out and get a flash-
based player for running.

"wizeguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1104163921.762038.33090
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

For Christmas I got a 4 gig mini iPod. I currently run with a Sony arm
banded radio. I know the dangers of running without being able to hear
and am willing to take that risk. I also understand that dropping one
of these suckers isn't a good thing to do. My question has to do with
the size/weight vs capacity vs skip resistance.