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Pogue: iPod mini competitors lack the ‘little things’

The New York Times’ David Pogue looks at four iPod mini competitors and finds that it’s the little things that put Apple’s player on top. “When your player contains a thousand songs, you need a way to scroll through them quickly. You can run your finger around the iPod’s famous click wheel fast to jet down to the W’s and then slowly to pinpoint ‘What a Wonderful World.’ But the Rio’s thumb wheel has no such variable speed; it’s four songs per turn, period. Working through any list longer than about 12 songs is an excruciating exercise. The Dell’s ‘rolling log’ control does zip farther through a list the faster you spin it, but it’s awfully hard to speed up or slow down when you’re basically twirling a section of a drinking straw. The Virgin’s up-down buttons scroll at two different speeds, but that’s still more frustrating than the mini’s ‘any speed you like.'”

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