Well, Jobs has once again surpised at least me in the opposite direction I was expecting with the Mini. As much as I wish the iPod would run Black-Scholes, Implied Vol and present value calculations so that I wouldn't have to take my powerbook everywhere (but I probably would anyways), these little guys are extremely cute.Despite the form factor, can anyone here see a reason to give up 11GB of storage to save $50? Granted I might be rare in wanting to use such a device mostly for backup, but thoughts...?As Nigel Powers once said, "It's not the size mate, it how you use it."

I don't know if it's of value, but is the Mini RAM-based as opposed to ROM-based? I know it drives me crazy at times the sluggishness demonstrated by my iPod, so maybe for some there is a value to something that may be faster. Otherwise, other than color schemes and price, I can't see why someone would pick the Mini.T

Because it's different!!! Imagine everyone walking around with white ipod headphones and you're the only one sporting the new MINI ipod. The coolest factor is higher when compared to the ipod. I have a 20GB 2nd Generation iPod and only listen to about a few 100 songs all the time. It seems overkill for all that storage for the actual number of songs you will listen to.

exotiq,I think that part of the benefit to the Mini is its smaller form-factor, not just lower price. It's supposed to be the size of a business card, and .5" thick.As for B-S, IV, etc., my Palm Pilot does all that using RPN & a B-S add-in.Matt.