On a scale of 1 to 10, the new iPod shuffle is just stupid. (You could probably tell from the title what I want to rate it.)
Good lord. Where to begin. Let’s start with a disclaimer. I haven’t touched or seen the new shuffle in person. Deride me all you want, I don’t care. Apple has made several colossal, incredible mistakes with this device.
Anyone who’s read this blog before (only a rare few have come back more than once) knows that I care a great deal about Apple, and that I adore the aluminum shuffle. That review was one of my very first, and it took place almost exactly 2 years ago. I like that shuffle so much that I even got a second one and had it waterproofed. But this new one… sigh.
Let’s see. No buttons. Brilliant, let’s use an earphone-based switch. Except, wait a second, what if I want to use a different set of earphones? I can tell you for a certainty that some people (Sol) don’t like Apple’s earbuds – they just don’t fit. So now I’m locked into Apple’s proprietary earphones whether I like it or not. I will be unable to skip songs, pause and play, or change the volume without them. Epic Fail. And the controls are not very straightforward – Adrian Covert over at 
Gizmodo compares it to Morse Code. Haha.
Form factor. The new one is smaller. Small as a house key. Whoopee. I use my square shuffle when I run, and I clip it to the waistband on my shorts. It fits easily and doesn’t pinch or push against my skin. The new one is long and skinny instead of square. Maybe it occupies less cubic space overall, but it’s still longer than the square version, which means that it sticks further down the leg and is significantly more likely to pinch and press against the top of the leg while running. Wahhhh! I know, I’m a crybaby. Don’t care. I don’t see how making it rectangular and slightly smaller is an improvement. Doubling the flash memory while shrinking the device (and preserving battery function) is a technological feat, I will grant them that.
The point is, they’re messing up an excellent product. Even sight unseen, Apple just took a 7.5 and made it a 3. The earphone restriction is egregious. Moronic. Idiotic. It’s dumb. The judgement on the form factor is my opinion. Others may disagree, and that’s cool. They can write their own blog. But imho, there is no excuse for this stupidity.
Apple is a money-hungry American corporation that wants to insert themselves into our lives and control all our devices and hence have control over our actions and more importantly our buying habits. For this I applaud them. Seriously, I’m an American and a capitalist. I love Apple, even if I find some of their practices annoying (DRM anyone?) But when they start making bad (or worse yet, stupid) product decisions, that shakes my faith and my confidence in the world of consumer electronics.
As noted above, if I were force to rate this product (albeit without playing with it in person) on a scale from 1 to 10, it would get a 3. If it weren’t being compared to such a superior previous version, it might score better. But the earphone thing is pretty stupid. Gahhh.
This reiew is also published at 1TO10REVIEWS.
Jeremy,
Please, please, check it out in person.
It’s gorgeous.
The only valid point you have are the proprietary headphones. Yes, if you have Apple-incompatible ears, you’re currently SOOL. But adapters are underway. Then again, moving the controls to the headphones makes a lot of sense — I can drop the shuffle somewhere on my person, and don’t have to fish it out to adjust volume or change a track.
All the other, non-issues. It’s easy to control — if you figured out all you Mac controls, you can do that, quickly. And it’s tiny. I was surprised how small it was. Pictures cannot convey the diminutive size.
I was not a shuffle person. Never liked the old ones. But I did buy this. Because, it does all I want it to do, quite elegantly.
And my ears are about 90% Apple earbud compatible.
Well, tell us what you REALLY think. 🙂
As for DRM, that was imposed by the music labels, apple had to include it to gain their trust and content. Whom should we blame in that case?
Guys – read the byline, I didn’t write this one. I’ve never owned *any* iPod, so I really have no opinion on it…
But, re DRM – Apple is powerful enough to simply say “no more DRM” and thing *would* change, and quickly…
Well I agree with 80% of this review… The % that has to do w/the earphones. I like the size of the shuffle – but really hate the sound quality of the earbuds and the schizophrenic controls HATE THEM! I want to be able to use my noise cancelling Bose earbuds that fit my ears like a glove.
Apple LOVES DRM.
It means all the music you bought from them at ITMS only plays on Apple devices. It guarantees as long as you’ve purchased music from Apple you will never switch to a new portable player.
Hahaha! This is a real knee slapper!
I was about to post a comment about how any review that contains the disclaimer “I haven’t touched or seen the new _____ in person” is patently absurd. I was also going to point out that other manufacturers have already committed to adapters or compatible headphones — killing the argument about being “locked into Apple’s earbuds.”
And then I noticed the date of the posting — April Fool. No wonder it’s such a useless piece of opinionated trash. Don’t I feel silly for almost falling for it!