I found I wanted to extend my listening time. And musically my commute to and from work, (walking and public transport), seemed time wasted. So I decided to try an MP3 player of some sort.

After some research I settled on an Apple iPod Mini. The Mini handles the current SOTA compression scheme, Apple's AAC, and has 4 gigabyte capacity; at Cdn$250 it was about my budget limit. I never thought of using the standard ear buds, instead after an audition at a local dealer, I went for AGK K36P earphones. The AKG's are a closed design that offer a modicum of isolation from noise.

The audiophile side of me didn't expect much but my expectations were far exceeded. I won't say the resolution is close to my main stereo system but it is extremely musical and easy to listen to.

My musical taste is classical. I find that the iPod Mini does provide sufficient capacity and content management to let me listen to complete works with proper order of their movements. So far I have ripped a significant portion of my chamber music collection into iTunes on my computer where I can transfer what I want to the iPod -- I've started to use the 'Manual' management mode because iTunes tries to load your whole library on to the iPod by default and I'd fill the Mini's 4 gig capacity very quickly.

The iPod/iTunes combo isn't perfect. For a start, the display of the iPod, (as most of its competition), doesn't have enough real estate to show complete title, movement, performer information for classical music. The battery is some thing of an issue too. A battery charge lasts a reasonable time, 10+ hours, but you have to charge through your computer's USB2 port unless you shell out for a separate adaptor. The biggest draw back might be that when your battery finally quits you have to ship the whole unit back to Apple who will replace it at a charge of over 100 bucks -- ouch!

iTunes software is mandatory with the iPods. iTunes is easy to use and reliable but doesn't have all the features I would like. For example, you can't just drag and drop music as you would files in Windows Explorer. Also there is no mass change editor for changing "song" information; this would be a great feature -- especially for classical music I dare say.

But these quibbles are relatively mild and I recommend today's portable audio to anybody who is a music lover first and audiophile second.