Comments on: Mac, iPod retail sales dip in April

Piper Jaffray analyst combs through NPD retail data to predict slight declines in Mac and iPod sales for the quarter.

[monkeyfun14]

I can't understand why anyone would buy that shuffle. Look up proprietary and you'll find the shuffles picture.

[Perry_Clease]

I can understand why, I have one. What I can't understand is why you troll these Apple stories.

[ckh1272]

"by Perry_Clease May 18, 2009 1:29 PM PDT
I can understand why, I have one. What I can't understand is why you troll these Apple stories."

Sadly, it's about all he knows, it seems!

[Perry_Clease]

"Sadly, it's about all he knows, it seems!"

I was skeptical of the new Shuffle... until I tried one.

First off on the negatives side:

A. The supplied earbuds don't fit my ear very well and fall out very easily. I have seen others using the same style earbud, with or without the inline controls, and have no problem. A matter of how the ear is shaped.

B. Currently only Apple carries earbuds for new Shuffle. There are two models the ones that ship with the Shuffle and ones that fit in the ear canal. However, I have seen an from Scoshe offering replacement earbuds with inline controls as well as an inline control dongle that lets you use any earbud. Others will come out with similar products.

C. It is small and easily lost

d. Needs a USB port to charge

On the plus side:

1. It is small and easily carried. I have used it as a tie clip.

2. I really like the inline control and VoiceOver. I suspect we will see this on other iPods and the iPhone. You do not need to look at the iPod to adjust volume, jump to the next or previous track, or select playlists

3. Other than fit, the earbuds are fine. I do like them better than in-canal earbuds when laying in bed as they do not drive into the ear. Audiophiles need not comment, this device is not meant to replace a quadraphonic home listening theatre.

4. I am getting better than the 10 hours of advertised battery life. That, of course, will go down over time.

[monkeyfun14]

@Perry

Is my comment any worse then some Apple troll?

[Perry_Clease]

"Is my comment any worse then some Apple troll?"

No, but two wrongs don't make a right.

[Perry_Clease]

"by topgunb2 May 18, 2009 3:35 PM PDT
@Perry "The supplied earbuds don't fit my ear "

Change your ears mate, something's certainly wrong with them, since apple cannot be wrong :)"

It would probably be easier to change my ears than get Apple to include better universal fitting buds :)

These type of earbuds do allow more ambient noise in than in canal type, a safety feature when out walking the streets. If someone got flattened by a vehicle Apple's lawyers could argue that a person can hear traffic above the sound coming from the iPods. Buying in-ear buds is conscious decision and is done at one's own risk. I have a pair of Future Sonic's Atrios that block out so much ambient noise that when their is no music playing I can hear the blood coursing through my veins.

[Mark_Anderson]

I tried the shuffle but settled on a Sansa Clip as it's a much better MP3 player.

YMMV.

[michael_j_x]

whilst I can see why someone would want to buy one, if their old ipod is having battery troubles or if they simply don't already own one, I don't see why I would want to spend money to replace a perfectly working ipod that I purchased last year with one of the new range. I have no issues or problems with the previous generation ipod that I own, to want to go out and buy a new one. The same goes for the Macs. Since they are build to last, and they are quite expensive to replace, I don't see any reason why anyone with a Mac that is less than 3 (or 4) years old, will want to replace it. And in my opinion, there is going to be a significant decline on the number of people switching from PCs to Macs, for the following reasons:
1)tougher economic times
2)the positive publicity that Win 7 is generating,
3)netbooks

[Angmarr]

The Fanboys and the Trolls goes around & around, around & around, around & around/

And the sales of Computers goes up & down, up & down, up & down ...

[sciontcya]

In other breaking news:
GM/Ford/Intel/MS/SONY/KODAK/LG/Samsung sales also down...

Whoda thunk it???

[DMAN3k]

Why is this even newsworthy?

[t0mat0]

WWDC? Have you looked at year vs year data for pre-WWDC sales?

[liquidmetalband]

The sales dip can be attributed to the economy, not competition. When Windows 7 comes out, you'll see Apple's sales go down due to competition.

[sciontcya]

Classic.
Just like Vista did?
Yep, a big, black hole in my AAPL holdings LOL - thanks for that!

[The_happy_switcher]

How are the Zune sales holding up? Oh wait, metrics can't measure things that small.

[databrain]

I have a brilliant idea! Why not drop the prices of macs to more realistic prices? I am sure that's going to help sales.

[anilsudh]

And reduce profitability

[anilsudh]

Can CNET be any more negative and biased!!! Looks like CNET management has taken bribes from MSFT and gang.

[Rolker]

anilsudh

I think you got it wrong. I don't know if you've notice, but a lot of Cnet articles are about Apple, iPhone, etc., and these articles usually are positive.
I actually think that Cnet is much more harsh with other companies, and actually support Apple more than others.
But even if you don't like it, all the companies are having problems due to the economic situation. And even though you probably think that Apple is the greatest around, they'll also can't escape these troubles.

[AppleSuxLeo]

And they are going off a cliff in May ! Windows 7 and Palm Pre...like two left hooks to the head of Apple.

[ckh1272]

Wow, now there's a surprise. A negative Apple article and King negative has finally spoken!! All hail!! LOL!

[sanjayb]

Yes, maybe Windows 7 will is one hook. But the Palm Pre for now is a phantom punch. It's all hype until it finally comes out.

[vonuexkull]

What the heck! I did buy one of those ipod shuffle... so far so good... Thanks Apple.

[seven7dust]

Well just like last quaters results showed
The u.s isn't the only country in the world
Thx to Apple recent global push u.a sales aren't that important anymore