Is The New iPod Shuffle To Small?
Apple recently released their newest edition of the iPod shuffle. Now as small as a stick of trident with no buttons on the iPod itself, questions are being raised about the usability of this brand new piece of technology.
First off, I’m going to talk about my thoughts on the buttons being on the earphones. Although this may be good for people who don’t care what music their listening to, moving the buttons to the earphones limits the users. By Apple implementing this “feature” onto the Shuffle, users now don’t have the option of purchasing different types of earphones from other companies. This concerns me as it may backlash against Apple and their incapability to let other companies implement their technologies with this Apple product.
Hey everyone look I got a new iPod Shuffle…… Actually wait a second, I can’t seem to find it. Yes the famous size of this iPod in my opinion is getting to unnecessarily small. It’s starting to look like Apple’s turning into a micro junky making things tinier than the tiniest of products. I was OK with the last two versions of the Shuffle but this is just getting silly. As mentioned, It’s becoming so small that Apple has decided to push the buttons up onto the lanyard of the Shuffle. I swear pretty soon the Shuffle will be to small to be visible.
Starting to hear computer voices in your head??? That’s right, the new iPod shuffle allows users to have the song name of the track their listening to spoken to them. Not having a screen was bad enough, but now having robots talking to you? That doesn’t seem to fly with me.
Ok so maybe there are a few good things about the new iPod Shuffle. The fact that they’ve increased the amount of size and capacity the device can hold is a huge improvement. From the earliest days of 1 GB we’re now seeing the size increased as far up as 4GB of storage(1000 songs). Unfortunately along with that increase of size comes with a skyrocketing increase in price. The iPod Shuffle has gone up from $69 to just under $100. I’m fine with them increasing storage space but I don’t particularly like the fact that their charging an extra $30 for it.
All in all, I don’t believe the new iPod Shuffle will be a very good product and in my opinion should be thrown off the iPod line all together. Yes it’s a cheap alternative, but what are you getting out of it? A chunk of metal with a button on top. Sorry, but I don’t think that’s worth $100.
It seems to me that Apple is running out of ideas with the Shuffle as their now moving little bits and pieces around. I think it’s time to take the Shuffle off the shelf and start promoting a newer, more usable product.
What do you think about the new Shuffle? What features do you look for in your MP3 players? Do you like the fact that the Shuffle now puts the control buttons on the earphone cords? Feel free to leave your comment about the Shuffle below.
- Apple iPod shuffle 4 GB Black (3rd Generation)
- Apple iPod shuffle 4 GB Silver (3rd Generation)
- Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB Silver (2nd Generation)
- Apple iPod classic 120 GB Black (6th Generation)
- Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation)
- Apple iPod touch 8 GB (2nd Generation)
- Apple iPod touch 16 GB (2nd Generation)
- Apple iPod classic 120 GB Silver (6th Generation)
- Apple iPod nano 16 GB Black (4th Generation)
The new iPod shuffle has its’ strong points, too. Shuffle users have grown accustomed to using iTunes to manage the playlists and having a reminder of the current track or playlist contents “read” back to you over the headphones certainly helps offset the lack of a screen on the device.
The voice over function is helpful for the visually impaired. The controls on the earbud cord are within reach and pretty simple to learn.
The increased capacity is welcomed, and yes I’ll agree the pricing is still a little high.
Apple isn’t neglecting the aftermarket headphone market, but is insisting that it use a supplied chip in the cord control switch (via Ars Technica):
Should the iPod Shuffle be dropped from the lineup? Not at all, I suggest. This is the first really innovative iPod shuffle for some time now and its’ voiceover functionality may foreshadow similar innovation with other iPods or Apple products.
New products they SHOULD add? How about the iPod Touch based netbook?
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