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Apple today announced a brand-new iPod shuffle model that they claim is the world's smallest, and unless anyone else disagrees, I think it might be true. The new form-factor is half of the size of the previous shuffle, and at 1.8" tall and 0.3" thin, it's smaller than a AA battery, and a wee bit shorter than a house key. No surprise, Apple designs the shuffle to be a fashion accessory, and for the most part, it looks good. I can't help but feel it's way too small for my personal tastes, though.
Aside from the addition of more storage (4GB), the touted new feature on this model is "VoiceOver", a technology that reads out the song artist and titles for you. Yes, it sounds like a robot, but I'm not sure it's meant to be used for serious matters. Because the shuffle lacks a screen, this voice is designed to aide in finding your way around your music collection. With it, you can select different playlists or songs, before switching to them.
For that to work well though, you'd have to make sure your collection is sitting on the shuffle in an ideal fashion, and everything should belong to a playlist, else it's going to take a while to find the song you're looking for. The player itself features no buttons, and those are rather stored on the earbuds cord in a convenient location. That fact there brings me to another huge "con", though. Because the earbuds are tied into the shuffle, you'd be unable to use your own, or upgrade to headphones. If you don't mind Apple's earbuds though, this might not matter too much.
Update: According to a response from Apple to CNET, the company will be allowing third-party manufacturers to produce earbuds/headphones that will work in the new shuffle. An adapter will also be made available to allow you to use your own headphones. It's nice to have the option, but that suddenly brings the shuffle much higher than its $79 USD price tag.
You’ve probably made multiple playlists in iTunes. One for your commute. One for the gym. One for just chilling out. With the new iPod shuffle, you can sync your playlists and always find the perfect mix for your activity or mood. VoiceOver tells you the name of each playlist, so it’s easy to switch between them and find the one you want without looking.
Source: Apple iPod shuffle
Aside from the addition of more storage (4GB), the touted new feature on this model is "VoiceOver", a technology that reads out the song artist and titles for you. Yes, it sounds like a robot, but I'm not sure it's meant to be used for serious matters. Because the shuffle lacks a screen, this voice is designed to aide in finding your way around your music collection. With it, you can select different playlists or songs, before switching to them.
For that to work well though, you'd have to make sure your collection is sitting on the shuffle in an ideal fashion, and everything should belong to a playlist, else it's going to take a while to find the song you're looking for. The player itself features no buttons, and those are rather stored on the earbuds cord in a convenient location. That fact there brings me to another huge "con", though. Because the earbuds are tied into the shuffle, you'd be unable to use your own, or upgrade to headphones. If you don't mind Apple's earbuds though, this might not matter too much.
Update: According to a response from Apple to CNET, the company will be allowing third-party manufacturers to produce earbuds/headphones that will work in the new shuffle. An adapter will also be made available to allow you to use your own headphones. It's nice to have the option, but that suddenly brings the shuffle much higher than its $79 USD price tag.
You’ve probably made multiple playlists in iTunes. One for your commute. One for the gym. One for just chilling out. With the new iPod shuffle, you can sync your playlists and always find the perfect mix for your activity or mood. VoiceOver tells you the name of each playlist, so it’s easy to switch between them and find the one you want without looking.
Source: Apple iPod shuffle
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Probably the biggest selling point looks to be how easy it would be to hide one of these things... except now students can discreetly change the tracks without needing to move the player. 