by Nick Todd

Created on: June 12, 2009

While the new iPod Shuffle from Apple Corp. seems to be very stylish, innovative, and all around cool, it is a big step away from the other iPods. The differentiators of the other iPods and this iPod are the size and the ease of use.

The size of the iPod shuffle is so small you can easily hold it between two fingers. While this may seem neat, there is great potential for this expensive toy to get lost. It's aluminum, it's tiny, and it has an integrated clip to snap onto your clothing which can be nice if you are an active bike rider, jogger, or just like to sit around without having to hold your iPod.

The next part I will mention is the ease of use. Or rather, the lack of ease of use. The Shuffle is advertised as the 'first music player that talks to you'. A computer generated voice tells you the name of your songs because of the lack of a screen on the iPod. The bad part is sometimes it will mispronounce the name of a song or artist. If you at a party or an alike situation and you want to play a specific song, it would be difficult to find the song you want without having to listen closely to it. Most iPod docks will not dock the Shuffle. Unlike previous Shuffles, there is no Autofill feature with the latest version to automatically rotate your music each time you connect to your Mac or PC; it's up to you to keep its contents fresh. The 2G Shuffle's five buttons (volume up, volume down, back, next, and play/pause) have been eliminated entirely, replaced with three squeeze-to-click buttons in the right-side cord about four inches below the ear. Those three buttons provide ten functions: Click the Plus to increase volume, Click the Minus to decrease volume, Squeeze the center to Play, Squeeze the center to Pause, Double-Squeeze the center to skip forward, Triple-Squeeze the center to skip back, Squeeze-and-hold the center to tell you the track name and artist, Squeeze-and-hold and keep holding the center to pick a Playlist, Double-click and hold the center button to fast-forward, and Triple-click and hold the center button to rewind.

In conclusion, I would recommend paying a lot more money to at least upgrade to an iPod Nano. Get the screen. The Nano or the Touch are still very stylish iPods though a lot more money. The Shuffle can hold about 1000 songs. To me, it does seem to be a cheap alternative to the other more expensive iPods that you wouldn't want to take everywhere. But as always, Apple does through in a very nice pair of headphones for you to use with your iPod. If you do decide to get this iPod, it may be easier just to use it as an 'on the go' iPod that you can still listen to music without the fear of blowing a lot of money should it get ruined.

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