Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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201 of 209 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for what it is -- a dumbed down Ipod in a small package, January 22, 2005
This is an amazingly small version of an Ipod that can hold a fair amount of music (about 12-15 CDS or so) and play it back with the really great sound that Apple's much pricier Ipod players have. The great thing about an Ipod is that you can essentially load your CDs onto it though Apple's Itunes software and then use your Ipod to access the CDs or lists of songs you create from these CDs on your computer. The negative of this the Shuffle player is that you basically load down a batch of CDs or lists of songs from your computer and have pretty limited control on how you access them - either just shuffling though them on a random basis or skipping through them in order. Is this a bad thing? It depends on what you want. If it is a chance to have a good batch of songs to play through without a lot of need to select specific songs, it is great -- kind of like a super radio station that can play selections you want to hear, either randomly or in some basic order. If you want to create a music library in your pocket to easily select from a mix of songs, the Shuffle doesn't work well.
The unit is great when you want a mix of music (say for a plane trip or for a week of daily runs) or a program in a certain order (say a talking book). The unit is incredibly easy to load up (just plug into the USB port of your computer -- also charges here) and Itunes software is a cinch to use to import music from CDs (or purchase music files from Apple).
Given the price, it is (by the standards of Ipods) a good deal as a way of getting great sounding music in a small unit. It presents a nice alternative to a heavier and much more expensive Ipod -- good things as long as you accept its limitations.
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compact, sleek and no screen!, January 18, 2005
My friend just got his iPod Shuffle and lent it to me for a couple of days. I was'nt ready to buy one myself, but after trying it out, it does seem pretty good. It's just another ordinary flash mp3 player with an iPod logo. I've given a breakdown of some, not all of the aspects of the Shuffle. Here goes:
---Design---
A really neat design(always expect something new from Apple), small and lightweight.Its roughly the size of a keychain and is very light. Navigation is easy, 4 buttons, Next, Previous and volume up/down. A nice tab at the back allows you to shuffle your playlist(not playlists) or play them in order.
---Compact---
Carrying around the iPod shuffle is really easy. No worrying about dropping your iPod and breaking the silver cover or the screen. Really fun and practical to use while jogging or in the gym. The strap which comes with it is a bit tacky and not too useful since the Shuffle can very easily slip into you pocket. Actually, it's so light, that you might even forget that you're carrying it.
---Battery---
Amazingly, I churned out 10 hours of playback on shuffle mode. There are two reasons behind it having a reasonably good battery life. Firstly, since it doesn't use any screen(which really eats up battery), and because it uses flash memory;no hard disk spinning and thus, battery usage is kept to a minimal.
---Cost---
[For a low price] you get an iPod, with 12 hours of playback, with a nice shuffle option, with 1GB of flash memory and no screen. Flash memory is old stuff now...hard disks like the Mini's are small and hold up a massive amount of songs. Then again, this is supposed to lightweight and a cheaper alternative to the Mini and the iPod. Lastly, if you already have a Mini, skip this one. If you have an iPod, and need something light to use at the gym or for jogging, this is a very good backup player.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GUIDE TO IPOD SHUFFLE AS A SECOND IPOD, June 19, 2005
Breaking news: The price on this recently dropped from $149 to $129. It is now very compelling to buy this 1GB model given the small delta to the 512MB.
This review is for current regular iPod owners that are attracted to buy an iPod shuffle as a second player. I own both a 40GB iPod Photo and one 1GB iPod Shuffle.
Initial reactions out of the box:
Out of the box it is as simple as any other iPod and its documentation is simple yet effective. Loading the songs (on a USB 2.0 PC) is slower than the regular iPod charge, which is blazingly fast. It takes several minutes to load the 240 songs on the 1GB model (mine took more than 10 mins on the initial load). The autofill menu is simple and lets you choose from your library or from one of your playlists, either in sequential order or at random. I'd personally would have liked more flexibility (e.g. to load several playlists into it).
When loading it is useful to select the option to reduce high-resolution MP3 into lower rates. The Shuffle only supports AAC and MP3 files up to 320 kbps, which is much more than what most people use (it also supports MP3 VBR files). However, if you do use higher resolutions, there is an option to load everything on 128Kbps AAC.
Sound quality:
Once I have loaded it fully, I have tried it with several types of speakers and earphones. I first tried it with the standard white iPod ear buds which are very convenient, but come across flat, similar to any iPod. I then tried it with a pair of BOSE Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones. The results with the BOSE headset are pretty good; you can not tell a difference from a regular iPod. The music comes across well defined and bass comes across rich and full. This is at the same level as regular iPod, but I somehow expected a less full sound. Finally, I tried it on a set JBL Portable OnTour speakers and again the iPod shuffle stand up really well related to its 40GB iPod Photo sister.
I used the shuffle for a while and I can tell you, the sound quality is pretty good. Apple has done a great job reproducing the same high quality sound as in any iPod, which is much better than many low cost MP3 players out there.
Synchronizing both players:
Then I focused on Synchronization with iTunes, synchronizing both my regular 40GB iPod and my shuffle intermittently. I didn't notice any interoperability issues. You can own both and synchronize both and run into any issues. Remember that iTunes does not allow you to synchronize two regular iPods into one iTunes library (I guess to provide some protection to the music), unless you buy one of the 3rd-party software programs out there. In this case (iPod and Shuffle both on one iTunes) both players can synch with the same library.
Usage models that best fit each player:
iPod Shuffle:
- Exercise at the gym. It's so light and convenient you won't go back to a regular iPod.
- Trekking and walking.
- Short flights. Even with just how easy is to operate a regular iPod you still have to go through a little procedure to get it out, select your music, put on your headphones, and look for where to put it (challenging if you are in coach). You can easily board a plane with your lanyard and turn it on as soon as you can.
- Reading books in the park, your house. Why bother carrying the big iPod if you are basically going to use if for background?
Regular iPod:
- Long trips (e.g. transcontinental) - you are likely to listen to different types of music within the trip.
- Parties (you do want the flexibility or changing your playlist if the mood of the party changes!).
- Listening to specific songs or albums not in a list. Don't even try on the shuffle - the lack of a screen will definitively frustrate you.
- Car trips.
Use Smart playlists to make shuffling a more pleasant experience.
Use Smart playlists. You can easily organize your library by genre, personal rating, time of publication and many other parameters (or several of them at once). If you have a large music library you can easily build smart playlists for "Top rated Rock", "My top rated Songs", "60's Latin" (Bossa Nova lovers) or "90's Soundtracks". Then when you autofill your iPod shuffle simple pick the music that suits your mood and you are on. Changed your mind in the middle of your flight? Simply use your laptop to reload from a different list.
Definitively a winner as a very convenient second player. If you like shuffling on a regular iPod, don't even think about it and get it as a second player for those times where being light is worth the loss of flexibility.
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