iPod Shuffle to be fashion statement
January 18, 2005 by Mike Wendland
Forget the criticism over no display screen. The Shuffle is one hot product. The Shuffle offers the simplicity and ease of use that Apple engineering is so justly famous for.
Here’s my Front Page review of the Shuffle from today’s Freep. MIKE WENDLAND: Apple’s latest tune player comes with sense of style
I couldn’t disagree more. The overall reaction I seem to be seeing (even from Apple enthusiasts) is that Apple missed the boat on this one. People love being able to select an individual song and play it, or share a new song with somebody, or repeat that favorite song of theirs a few times in a row. That is fine if you typically listen to CDs on shuffle and I’m sure you are not alone, however I strongly disagree with your statement that this is how most people listen toCDs. One of the strong points for flash based music players is their portability and usefulness for running, working out, etc.
Unfortunately with the iPod shuffle, you might be left running on a treadmill to Frank Sinatra, or other music that just doesn’t fit the mood. Granted, playlists can be customized, but a lot of people have a wide range of taste and may not want to go through the trouble of changing their playlist based on their current mood.
Mike, thanks for yet another great article. I hope you can follow-up with another that goes into depth about the shuffle’s autofill capability. It seems to me that autofill is the true genius idea behind the shuffle (a feature that no other player on the market has, as far as I’m aware).
Autofill seems to be next revolutionary but logical step in listening to your music. The best way I heard it described is that the shuffle is like a portable “radio” station that only plays the songs that you like.
I disagree with MichaelB because I’m under the impression that autofill can be customized to avoid certain types of music. So for a workout, you should be able to tell shuffle to only pick music from the dance/techno genre and autofill with that. Or if you’re going to need music for studying, you could tell Shuffle to autofill with classical or jazz.
In any case, it seems to me the secret of the Shuffle’s sauce is a combination of its low price, flash-based hardware, and autofill. There seem to be a lot of underestimatation of Autofill in the initial reviews, so I would love to hear your observations on the value of Autofill.
The iPod Shuffle is going to be a success, and not because it is just another iPod. I have read numerous critiques, including Creative’s CEO, who say, “Lacking a screen is a glaring flaw.” I, a college student consumer of digital music and accessories, disagree with such critiques.
These “haters” are not taking a complete look at the iPod Shuffle. Apple really nailed how users listen to music. Plus, the integration of iTunes 4.7.1 and iPod Shuffle is amazing.
On Usage:
A regular iPod uses a screen because many users navigate through their entire music collection. But when you take the iPod Shuffle’s storage size into account, this is merely a playlist, even at 1GB.
My friends and I discussed how we listen to music, and most of the time it is in a playlist on shuffle mode. When we are on the move, we often stick our iPods in a pocket and mash against what we believe is the forward side of our iPod’s dial to change a song. And this way of using our iPod, on the move, is key to what will be iPod Shuffle’s success. It functions as an iPod for active people. Get it critiques? The iPod shuffle is not meant to function as its bigger brothers with a screen. Personally, I don?t need to see the name of the song I am playing (from my own library) to know what it is, *especially at 250 songs or less.
My friends and I like that the iPod Shuffle does not have a screen, it?s one less part of the iPod that could fail. Plus, the added benefit of an internal battery charged from a USB port is a “way” better trade off.
I already own a 4G iPod, and I plan to add the iPod shuffle to my digital music portfolio.
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Brandon Colton
Tempe, Arizona
I usually enjoy your columns and respect your opinion, but I think you’ve done your readers a disservice today. On the front page you tout the new iPod Mini as if it were innovative instead of an inadequate, me too offering meant to attract the low end market who can’t or won’t pay $500 for an iPod. I’d be happy to get together at your convenience to show you my year-old MPIO player. It’s about the size of a pack of gum, uses SD Cards, came with a silver! lanyard, cost about $100 AND it has a display which allows me to choose songs by name. Oh, and it also allows me to shuffle either by folder or the whole device. And it has an FM receiver which I can record from and I can record messages to myself. I currently have the 128MB built-in and a 128MB card which is room for 5 CDs and two “compilations” of about 15 songs each. Been thinking of upgrading the SD Card ’cause thy’re so cheap now, but I’m not sure I need any more music in there at one time.? What’s?that iPod Mini Apple gave you got again?? Oh yeah, your battery lasts longer, cool!? Think that might be because it has NO DISPLAY??
Regards,
John S
Just read your article about Apple’s new “Shuffle.”
Last December I was in CompUSA and bought something like (and better) than the Shuffle.
>From PNY called the “Vibe.” It’s 512 Mb (1 Gb is available) and all the features of the Shuffle … PLUS … it has a built-in FM radio; PLUS … when you hear a song you like, you can record that song; PLUS … it has a built-in voice recorder; PLUS … an equalizer; PLUS … a screen!
And of course you can use it as a flash drive!
All for the same price as the Shuffle.
AND, for about $25 it’s guaranteed for TWO years.
I absolutely love it.
Joe
Hello, nice post. Bookmark it.