by Ann E. Smith

Created on: June 13, 2008

The iPod shuffle is truly an amazing product, and it's hard to remember what life was like before these existed, especially when working out.

But for those of you who are in your late 30s or older, you can remember the bulky and cumbersome portable tape players and CD players that existed prior to the iPod shuffle. While these players perhaps seemed great at the time, they required frequent battery changes, were heavy to carry or clip on, and were limited in the amount of music they could play. Additionally, if you wanted to play more than one artist, you had to manually burn CDs or tapes, which could be a time consuming project.

Luckily, consumers now can choose the iPod shuffle for their portable music needs. The product is a true winner, with many great features.

Reasonable price tag
Consumers can purchase a 1GB shuffle for as low as $49 or a 2GB one for $79. The price for the 1GB has come down considerably since the first generation shuffles first went on the market.

Lots of space in tiny package
The 1GB shuffle can hold up to 240 songs while the 2GB shuffle can hold up to 500 songs. Amazingly, the shuffle itself is just over one inch in height and one-and-a-half inches in width. Long gone are the days of bulky portable music players, with the shuffle being more the size of a packet of matches.

Easy to use, anywhere
The shuffle is extremely light in weight and can be clipped onto your shirt sleeve or belt. It is amazing to be able to work out with this tiny gadget clipped to your sleeve, leaving your hands free. There are minimal buttons on the shuffle, and it can be clipped onto your sleeve so that you can easily reach over and fast forward or rewind songs, pause, change the volume, etc.

Mix it up
With the shuffle, you can do just that: shuffle your music! Instead of getting bored of hearing the same songs in the same order, the shuffle makes it possible to have a different listening experience each time you turn it on. One slight drawback is that the shuffle seems to want to play some of the same songs more than others, but you can quickly fix that with the touch of a fast forward button.

Long play time and short charge time
The shuffle comes with a built-in battery that will play for 12 hours when fully charged. No more frequent trips to the convenient store to buy more AA batteries. The length of time to charge the shuffle is only four hours, and the shuffle can be charged through the USB drive on your computer.

Style, style and more style
The shuffle is good looking to boot! There are multiple color options, and many of them are vibrant, which is fitting for this cool product. If you are wearing your shuffle in a visible location like your shirt sleeve, be prepared for people to ask you all kinds of questions, as they will want one, too.

Overall, the iPod shuffle is a fantastic product, and this reviewer is a huge fan. The shuffle brings the joy of music to consumers with great ease and flexibility. Big, albeit great, things really do come in small packages.

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