The Forgotten iPod Mini - History of Apple's Shortest Success 

Premiering Saturday, April 15th, 8am PDT. Grab onto your iPod Socks, this is one big video for one mini iPod.

i got a blue iPod mini with a dead drive in 2021, i put a 64GB cf card in it, and to this day i stil use it with my music, the battery is a little tired, but i ordered a 1000mAh one on elite obsolete electronic's website, and it will be unstoppable... it lived so much things, from a logic board swap with a 2nd gen to a battery swap with that one 2nd gen... the ipod mini really is amazing, it gets the job done, and that as good as it used to 18 years ago, thank you for this amazing video Josh.

I still remember nearly 20 years ago that my theater teacher had a brand new iPod Mini, and somebody in the class stole it. He was really disappointed. And I keep thinking "I hope he got it back/got a new one" but at this point his watch is probably more powerful than any iPod that came after this.

I was in high school when these came out. I recall still seeing it as unattainably expensive, alongside the rest of the iPod lineup. The higher end models seemed to justify themselves with their big storage offerings (I just couldn't afford them), while the Mini just felt like something nearly as expensive but overall less useful (with pretty poor battery life). I had a MiniDisc player at the time that could get 50+ hours out of a AA battery, and I happily used that... right up until I bought a 30gb 5th gen iPod. Also, I stumbled into a free iPod Shuffle around the same time. Man I hated that thing. "Hm, I want to play a specific song... let me keep hitting the next track button for minutes on end until I happen to find it". I clearly wasn't the target demographic for that device lol.

Josh…this is amazing! I love these very in-depth videos on Apple products! I so appreciate your hard work on this video! Looking forward to more like this in the future! And happy belated birthday! I hope you had a wonderful birthday! See you in your next video! Stay safe!

Back then my buddy had a green one, while I opted for a Sony Minidisc player, because technically you could get more storage via the external discs (especially if the disc sizes would increase over time) compared to being stuck with the internal HDD of a Pod. The click wheel, the unique colour, the backlighting, the intuitive interface and iTunes-support. There was a lot to admire and envy 😄 The flexibility and peace of mind by just having all your music integrated into one device compared to shuffling around with multiple minidiscs were a huge selling point. When they released the iPod Photo with colour display and the ability to show pictures and cover art, I jumped ship 😄 So even though I didn't technically own one, it still recalls fond memories in my heart. The history and engineering behind the Minidisc player and format are so rich and fascinating that it's sad it's doesn't fill more in the collective conscious. I'm happy, I took the decision, I did, back when there was still somewhat of a crossroads between which solution would be the better one. My friend also had a N64 and I a PS1 and PS2. We would switch between going to each others houses and play on both platforms. I miss those days of sharing your hardware with friends. I don't know, if it's me that changed / got older or the world in general. Nowadays it seems to be more geared towards everyone owning their own separate devices and then "connecting" online. Consoles ship with only one controller for the most part and couch co--op is a feature you see and think of less and less in games.

The mini was/is the best ipod, I had a 3rd gen shuffle and a 2nd gen mini. The mini can be upgraded super easily and is easier to tear apart than it's bigger brothers, it's a beauty

I still have a modded 64gb gold 2nd gen mini (well a silver 2nd gen logic board in a 1st gen shell anyway) that I occasionally use. Its nice to have a dedicated music player with an actual headphone jack that can hold thousands of songs without using any of my phones storage. I primarily use an iPod Video but the mini is still quite nice

It's really sad that ipod got discontinued cos they were such a hit ❤

How cool is it to have a trailer for the premiere. Love that!

Got the nano in 2005, loved it. Dug it out in 2021 when my new car didn't have a CD player. It took a year but by 2022, I bought an I pad, then an I phone and finally an Apple watch. It took 17 years but the Dark Side got me in the end!

I had a white Mini 4 GB. Loved it to pieces. My first MP3 player that I'll always remember.

i just noticed that the colors in the 'mini' text on the box are the actual possible colors that the ipod mini comes in... 😲

I hadn't forgotten about the iPod mini, because a blue one sits in the official dock among my hi-fi seperates stack, for playing music that isn't on cassette, vinyl or CD.

Man I wish we could go back to the times when Apple actually had to try, and when they gave a ton of accessories with everything you got.

I’m glad there’s an iPhone Mini now to join the iPod mini, iPad mini, and Mac mini.

I love your iPod videos I can’t wait for this premiere

Getting one of these started my love of music as a small child. I loved it. Mine still works.

Wait, the iPod socks were for real?? I thought Jobs was poking fun at himself!

i loved this video and i really love when you make these long documentaries format about ipods and other apple products

Great job Josh, I appreciate how much work goes into these and they never disappoint. Keep it up man. 👍🏻

Thanks for making this, loved it. Still have my gold mini somewhere, makes me want to upgrade and use it again!

Thank you for your videos! I still using my nano 6g on a daily basis and still love it

Great video, love how in depth you went!

oh i gotta say this for the ipod socks, i am 25 and remember clearly the early days of mp3, i was very young but i do remember through my father small company, he was producing both phone and ipod socks to put them and protect them, like sort of covers, and we were creating them for every possible brands, dc comics, marvel, looney tunes... and i still have a load of them in old boxes fresh as new because they have basically no use (until i get for myself an ipod mini of course)

This is such a great video. I definitely think the physical buttons were way better than capacitive ones, and the clickwheel was amazing. I think the iPod socks were an awesome accessory. And I love when Apple used to make lots of beautiful color options for their products. That bright green is such a gorgeous shade and I'd do anything for an iPhone in that exact color . Oh and I love that part at the end about keeping old tech alive. Media and product preservation ftw!

Great video. Any chance of putting the links to the clips you use in the description? Would be fun and useful.

I loved my Minis. As tech improved I upgraded one all the way to 128GB. In the end this worked great with my car's built in iPod interface. I still have that 128 GB Mini today and it still works! (verified by me 3/23/24)

I really wanted the iPod Mini as friends in college has them. However when I went to purchase one, it was out of stock but they had a new device, for the same price, the iPod Nano. I bought it and loved it for years - still have it today (no longer use)

Great video. I actually owned a 3rd gen iPod, which died about two years later, which is when I bought the HP+Apple iPod mini. I think you did it justice with this. Such a fun product.

iPod mini is the best mini for broke ppl who want that iPod experience, ez as heck to open and mod and dirt cheap. 10/10 would recommend, make sure it's a 2nd gen tho, they can get a stupid amount of storage and wayyyy better battery life

Love the mini. Fun & easy to mod.

I am currently daily driving a 4th gen iPod with a monochrome screen on it. I love this thing. It's got the cool retro feel of the monochrome screen but doesn't rely on firewire like the 3rd gen freak does. My music library keeps growing since I have seen more and more examples of tech companies removing content without warning. I'd rather keep and own my music library, and since I can put my music library on any iPod I decide to buy (I'd like to get a Mini someday) that sounds like a great way to listen to music moving forward.

Good video but the bit about USB 2 being superior to FireWire 400 isn't really true. FireWire supplies more power for 1, and for two the extra 80 megabits didn't really mean much in practice due to how USB works compared to FireWire. FireWire would often be faster on earlier machines.

Man, this is nifty! Maybe I should make trailers for my videos too.

Loved the video, and I heard that Ice Cap Zone music in the background!

Shoutout to the Sonic 3 Ice Cap Zone BGM playing 👏

This video was incredible, and the fact that I chatted with Josh was amazing :D

iPod mini, Winamp, and all that free music from limewire. Good times

13:13 "USB 2.0 was better on a technical level..." Better than what? USB 1.1? Sure. Better than Firewire? In what way? Sure, it was "80Mbps" faster, but the huge overhead of USB signaling vs Firewire meant USB 2.0 was *substantially* slower than FW. Firewire delivered more power for faster charging (7 watts vs 5.) You can run an iPod battery-less on Firewire but you can't on USB due to the additional power. This was handy if your battery died and you wanted to test if the device actually worked before ordering a replacement. The only advantages USB had over FW was that USB supported battery banks and the ubiquity of the USB A connector/charger.

I had one of the 2nd gens in blue and i absolutetely loved playing the parachute game while listening to music while on roadtrips with my family.

I could never forget this model, it was my VERY FIRST iPod EVER. 2nd gen, blue, 4 gb of memory. I really loved it. I went on to buy the Classic 160gb many years later and unfortunately the hard disk fucked itself leaving it unusable. I currently own a Sony Walkman ZX300 and the quality leap is gigantic. Still, I would like very much one day to repair my Classic and use it again. As for my blue mini...long lost in my parent's house. Someday somehow I will find it again.

Wow nice production 👍👍

91iPod sock merch when

The belt clip it came with was great, btw… I lost mine, kinda miss it! 😊

love the sonic at the end

the original iPod lineup is one of my wishlist item when I was a kid.. my parents are not rich, so I dream of buying it once I grew up.. now, just when I had the money and able to buy them, it is hard to find one in a working state (in my country Malaysia)..

I always wanted a mini. Finally bought one the other month.

My dad gave me my iPod mini in 2005 as a present for graduating from high school. I used it until last October when it finally died. R.I.P. little fella.

Great stuff! We would love to add your music on our blog

I had one of these! It was green, and I couldn't get it to work. It was heartbreaking. I researched it so much and couldn't get it to turn on at all, even after replacing parts. Sad day for teenage me 😅

big fopaw. that headphone issue. if u own one now, good luck finding the pin remotes. I got 2 before covid, so great price...

I really liked my ipod mini. Dang where did I put that thing?

@34:27 I like my "iPhone 17Pro UltaraMax SR Maga XDR RetinaMini".

I vividly remember watching this like a year ago

the ipod mini isn't forgotten, still use it everyday

i love the use of "and when they're bored they delete" uh... no... you can keep it on there, when you own it, you OWN it, you don't (and most people didnt) delete it unless you genuinely get sick of it

Just bought an iPod mini while watching this lol

The iPod Mini. The very first Apple product I ever bought. I bought a 4GB one in 2005. It wa yellow black white screen, so no real color really. It was cool. Than I gave it to my first girlfriend in 2006. I had the little black mini. I loved the circle touch thing, so easy to use. I don't buy Apple anymore. But I use to be a big huge Apple fan.

i do love the mini ipods

In 2004 non-Apple music players had really bad user interfaces, and in 2023 what few of them remain have not improved at all. I'm looking at current-generation (though produced up to 5 years ago) still have the same tiny 2 or 3 row screens with buttons located all over the device which do different things in the menu.

Someone PLEASE tell me the name of the 16 bit sounding music at 10:25. I have heard it quite a bit from 91 tech but I can't Shazam or Google to recognize the song properly cuz 91 Tech talks over it

I got an ipod mini from a friend after it was run over by a car. He assumed it was broken, and he already had another full sized ipod to fall back on. I took it home and charged it and found out that it was perfectly fine, just a little squished. These things were built like fucking tanks. Thank god for spoiled friends.

Heeeey! I loved my iPod socks!! 😂😂😂

I actually have a full box of iPod Socks I found at a garage sale for $5

The NANO was the coolest iPod

Just like with the iBook Clamshell (I'd have LOVED one that kept the same aesthetic but was maybe a liiiittle smaller and had a little more juice in the GPU...) it SUCKS that the iPod Mini didn't get *just* one more generation... *JUST* one more hardware revision. I fully believe if there had been a Mini with a color display and video playback, they would be just as collectible today as the 7th gen Classic is. the 3rd gen Nano comes close to what I want (plus i have a bit of a soft spot for it, it was my first iPod) but lack of repairability and upgradability lets it down bad especially when the batteries start to fail...

6:00 I wanna see the full news report for itunes lol.

This speaks volumes about how Steve Jobs would not wait on a successful product to make something even better in his opinion

I disagree with your opinion on 3rd gen's buttons. I really like the artificial click sound.

I had iPod Socks. I thought they were really cute haha

I think just proves how much a genius Steve Jobs was. He innovated Apple products with in 10 years

fucking loved my ipod mini 1st gen, and my ipod nano 3rd gen, the "fat nano"

Do older ipods like the Mini still work with modern day itunes? Or do you have to do some shenanigans and tomfoolery to make them work?

Can’t Wait

I haven't forgotten. I have one with 512GB and all my music lossless

When is your 2023 iPhone buying guide

2005. My first day in college and everyone had a mini.

i love my minis still use them with wav files

cómo ago para subirle volumen a un mini mp3 de tercera Generación iPod

I miss mine ❤

Oh man I remember when my dad bought the new iPod touch

My first iPod

When I was a little kid I wanted this so bad.

Can you do a video on the ipad air 2 again?

Man I remember upgrading one of these to an ssd for a girl I had a crush on years ago

I would have used my mini more but unfortunately the battery is messed up an I couldn't find a replacement in my region. When the iPod enters sleep it just doesn't wake up and requires a force reset. So I just keep using my 5th gen video.

Can’t believe I have one working in 2023😂

I can’t find any tutorials on how to get music on these things that aren’t outdated, can anyone help?

i have a first gen ipod mini, still works, battery is trash though, and i only have a 30pin to firewire connector

The iPod was amazing I remember when my older Sister got one for Christmas one Year and that was basically all I wanted to worry about I didn't even care about my Gifts I just wanted to play around with her iPod.

Toques ❤️👌

I just flashed modded 1st gen blue iPod Mini to 64gb!

iPod mini isn’t a forgotten success. It was a massive hit. Everyone had one.

I have the socks and no iPod mini 😂

I don’t see people buying them anymore. You can get an older iPhone for less than 100$ now that has Apple Music on it

ipod mini 2 can do like 256gb of flash as well, seems a ton for its time

25:53 fin.

This was my first iPod and boy, I couldn’t wait to move on to a newer model, this thing sucked compared to any model after that and I was stuck with it for a hot minute 😆

5:24 Back then everyone realized that the best way to combat piracy was to have a better, easier and cheaper way than to go to the shop and buy or rent physical media. Even Bill Gates famously said "As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours."