The Good
Lightweight
Nice price
Great for exercisers
The Bad
Low capacity
Models
1GB
Colors
Silver, magenta, green, blue, orange
The Price
US$49.00 for 1GB
US$69.00 for 2GB
Unlike Any Other iPod - In a Good Way
The iPod Shuffle is unlike any other iPod. It doesn’t have a screen, a clickwheel, or the ability to play anything other than music. And that’s OK. The iPod Shuffle is a different kind of iPod for a different kind of user.
Whereas the iPod Video or iPod nano are for users with many needs, goals, and interests, and iPod Shuffle is pretty much just for folks who want some music accompanying them while they exercise. Oh sure, others may use it, but exercisers are the target market here.
The second-generation iPod Shuffle is a tiny, matchbook-sized iPod with no screen and just a few buttons on its face and a clip on the back. This model can hold up to 240 songs in its 1 GB of storage and can play those songs in two ways: straight through like a playlist or shuffling at random through the contents.
Since it doesn’t have a screen, using the Shuffle at first feels like flying blind. You don’t know what music is coming next. But, once you get started and get into what your workout, this comes to be a virtue, not a limitation. Spending 20 or 30 minutes on an elliptical machine or treadmill can be a bit monotonous. Never listening to songs in the same order twice helps break up that monotony.
The iPod Shuffle’s size and weight help it seemingly disappear during workouts, too. Whereas even a nano will need strapping to your arm or something similar to keep it in place, the shuffle can just clip to your shirt or shorts, or slip into your pocket and you’ll hardly be aware of its half an ounce weight.
The iPod Shuffle’s not perfect – the 1GB/240 limit is a little low, especially when my iTunes library has over 6300 songs; the earbud cord can flop around or get tangled pretty easily – but for exercisers who want music on the go, there’s no better option.
