New Folderitem GetFolderitem difference?

For using Shellpath, the example in the LR tells me to use New Folderitem, but it seems to work exactly the same GetFolderitem. Is there a difference in this case (below) or what is the point of two alternatives?

Dim f as FolderItem
f=New Folderitem ("/Volumes/"+Volume(NrOfCdVolume).name+"/"+“1 track.aiff”, FolderItem.PathTypeShell)
f=GetFolderitem ("/Volumes/"+Volume(NrOfCdVolume).name+"/"+“1 track.aiff”, FolderItem.PathTypeShell)

Getfolderitem can return nil.

Hm. Think, think… -Is there any reason why I would not like to have it returning nil?