An iPod for the Rest of Us?

Well, Mr. Jobs went onstage today and introduced the iPod mini, something that the rumor sites and some of the big news sources had been buzzing about for the past week or so.

But is it an iPod for the rest of us? Don’t think so and here’s why:

Available for Windows and Mac users for $249… with that you get 4 gigs of storage space, holding up to 1,000 songs, a choice of one of 5 colors and a set of ear phones. For $50 more, you’ll get the new 15 gig iPod regular size unit that holds 3,700 songs, a choice of one color and a set of ear phones. Why waste your time spending $249 for hamburger when you could get the steak for $299?

Now I really wasn’t expecting Apple to drop the price down to $100 as a lot of sites were chanting about lately, but I was kinda hoping that Apple would see the light, as in that the rest of the planet is making MP3 players that are priced a bit less steeply then $249 and that still give users a product that starts them off. But not Apple…. it’s either save up the $249 for our “entry” level model or you can just sit there and wish and hope a lot.

What would have been wrong with an entry level iPod that sold for between $150 and $200… held maybe 500-750 songs, and served as the start-off point for the rest of us? Then the next step could have been the $299 iPod. Oh well, guess we’ll all just have to wait till next January in San Francisco to see what new surprises Apple will pull out its hat.