Mar 13 2009
iPod Shuffle Refresh
Yes, another Apple release hit Wednesday - this time it was the Shuffle. Big news? No, not really.
The new Shuffle is small - real small. Like, the size of a tie clip. But while small is good, there is such a thing as too small to be usable.
In this case, the Shuffle is so small that Apple put the controls for the device on the headphone cord. That’s bad news for a number of reasons. Most notably, headphones are easy to break, and Apple headphones are expensive to replace. Nice way to suck some money out of your users, Apple. And although you can use third party headphones with the new Shuffle, you’ll need a separate dongle in order to do so.
So, while the device will start at $79 you’ll be likely shelling out some extra $$$ if you want to use your own headphones. And, given the quality of Apple headphones to date, you’ll definitely want to go third party here.
Another notable fault of all Shuffles so far has been the lack of a screen. This Shuffle is no different, but instead the device reads out tracks to you with text to speech. It’s an interesting solution, but still, I’d rather have a slightly larger MP3 player with a screen, thankyouverymuch.
All in all, the new Shuffle seems to be right in line with other recent Apple announcements - more of the same, more boring, and more ways for Apple to fleece its users.
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