Comments on: This iPod Shuffle is a disaster

Apple is known for offering products with great designs. But in the case of the new third-generation iPod Shuffle it made some strange--and bad--choices.

[grissomb]

they should have opted for side mounted controls, an oled screen in the body and a more recessed phono jack. I'm considering buying a 2nd 2nd gen shuffle so that if I kill the one I have now, I don't have to scour ebay for a replacement

[GreatSK]

I guess I agree for the part that they should have added (secondary) controls to the device itself (no matter how small), but as far as the navigation goes this should be quite interesting.


Just wondering, does this mean that itunes now generates texts for every song and adds it as a music file to your shuffle.(As it will use the OS basic voices...). Well I hope that the 4th gen will have a wireless headset basic (including this kind of navigation) and the 5th gen will allow you to use voice search... ah well... dream...

[jtjj1234]

About the size, I don't think that's an issue at all- in fact, this latest one has got to be the most gorgeous MP3 player ever made.
The controls on the headphones are an absolute waste though. Now I can't use my Ultimate Ears earphones? =/. Perhaps opt for side-mounted controls. The idea of adding an LED to the player defeats the whole point of the shuffle though, as it increases the price point significantly once you do that.

[Hep Cat]

"they should have opted for side mounted controls, an oled screen in the body and a more recessed phono jack."

Yeah, then people would have had to buy special headphones anyway, and would have complained endlessly about the cost of the OLED screen.

[fleurya]

I couldn't disagree more with you and the author. This thing is absolutely perfect for exercisers/runners and all of your suggestions are just no good. In-line controls are perfect for controlling music when you running because they are in a convenient location. Running with my 2G Shuffle there wasn o good place to clip but on my collar and it was difficult to reach and change while running. Trust me, I tried every other way and it was the best.

OLED screen would add a lot of cost, size, and be useless to someone who wants to control music without unclipping it, looking at it, trying to control the music then clip it up again. All while trying to run or exercise? You gotta be kidding!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with 4GB of memory now that you can sort through playlists! That's like saying a 120GB iPod is super-insane overkill! My biggest complaint of the 2G Shuffle was I had 2GB of memory but would never use it because I would never want to click through 5 albums by song to get to the album I want to hear. This new Shuffle actually makes the space usable!!

I'll give it to you that the headphone thing kinda stinks. A quick fix is to make it a 2 part cord so you can just plug in whatever headphones you want, but then Apple couldn't make money sell adapters. All in all, if you use it the way Apple envisions, the way I'll use it, it's amazing!

[aMUSICsite]

Have to disagree, I think the on-headphone controls on the iPhone are great and being able to do more with them would be cool. I think Apple needs to standardize their headphone controls and make them open to 3rd parties, but as technology get's smaller we are going to have to come up with new control methods.

After all this is not the only iPod, people also said the first gen iPod was a disaster but it proved very popular. As to the size thing, I used to loose my first gen iPod in my bedroom, so being smaller is not going to make this and more or less of an issue than before.

[ausernamenoonehaschosen]

How often do headphones break? Of all the headphones I've mangled for years in pockets and such, none has ever broken. I think saying that if they break the replacements will be expensive is simply looking for an excuse not to like it. Also, audiophiles won't be getting this, the general public will. The huge majority of foks out there don't care about high quality earphones because all headphones (with few exceptions) sound the same to most people. They won't care they you need to use Apple's earphones. The thing most people care about is whether the earphones are plugs or not, and apple has both in ear and plugs to cover both groups.

[stewarth]

I like my 3rd gen Nano 4GB. ($99 at Ritz Camera). It is certainly small enough. Has a pretty good screen. And let's me use any headphone I want. (Like the really great Active Sports SB-881's!) Weight difference between the little Nano and the Shuffle is negligible and the regular iPod control wheel makes it a cinch to use. Skip the Shuffle. Go with a Nano.

[aberrantclone]

Really stupid design. I have two 2nd gen shuffles that I use exclusively for working out. I use Sony over the ear headphones so the darn things stay in my ears when I'm running. I'll never buy one of these. I predict it will be the Edsel of ipods.

[bluemudkipz]

I agree. How hard is it to add a little volume switch to the side of the Shuffle, like the iPod Touch and the iPhone? Sure, it might get a little bigger, but the general population prefers something called - ahem - CONTROLS ON THE DEVICE to controls on the stock earbuds.

[KevLeviathan]

Completely agreed...
If the headphones break they will probably be a good $39 or $49 just to replace! Not to mention if you want to use OTHER headphones...
Yikes.

[kc6hur]

My Guess: What they will do is offer a special headphone adapter that has the controls on it that you can then plug your own headphones into. Either that, or some third-party makes the adapter. After all, look at how they they now offer mostly mini-video connectors on all there new machines and will gladly sell you and expensive adapter to you desired format.

[Notoapplefanbois]

Are you kidding me?

This is one of the best things apple has come out with, ok, except the voiceover could be a better voice.

4GB in the smallest mp3 player ever? 1gb is the usual for a thumb drive sized player.

[Kev_Orng]

when they say smallest ever, they are referring to the physical dimensions, not the amount of storage for data.

[ubikk23]

smaller is not necessarily always better. Theoretically, you could make a hearing-aid sized player with a micro SD card these days, but who would want one?

[Notoapplefanbois]

@ubikk

If it had an inbuilt earbud and it was decent then I would, as long as it's under $100

[Seaspray0]

The author is right. It's too small, there's no display so navigation is not simple, the earphones are not standard, volume control should be on the unit, a computer voiceover detracts from the audio enjoyment, it only has 10 hours of battery life (which won't cover playing 4 GB of music)... but it's got a clip.

[paullyjay]

I can't believe it's taken anyone this long to see the blunder, I get through about 3 sets of headphones a year through general abuse and also don't like Apple headphones, it doesn't take much to ruin a great idea!

[myles taylor]

This long? What has it been:4 hours?

[Kev_Orng]

Oh, we all noticed it right away, but it can take an hour or two to write, edit and publish a halfway decent article about it. And for the rest of us, we all have real jobs so we couldn't post our outraged comments on the article instantaneously as we'd like to.

So yeah, we all noticed it just as fast as you did, don't worry.

[ubikk23]

Who wants to bet Steve Jobs didn't do the final sign-off on the design because he was ill?

Ladies and Gentleman: Presenting the future of Apple without Jobs...

[razor.rodriguez]

Do you really think this is a blunder? Let's think about that for a minute...Apple, as usual, creates a piece of hardware which if you wish to replace, will cost you a premium price from them or other manufacturer who would have to pay royalties to apple in order to manufacture earbuds that work with it. This is classic Apple. They are opening the door to another line of products they can sell you at a premium price. Wasn't the initial appeal of the iPod the little control wheel that made using it easy? Now you're paying $79 for a 4GB memory stick. Wake up and smell the ripoff

[pentest]

"Who wants to bet Steve Jobs didn't do the final sign-off on the design because he was ill? "

How many months ago was the design finalized?

More than 2 I bet.

[pepestudio_dotmac]

Apple, time to go back to the drawing board and create the new iPod Shuffle 4th generation, shuffle the 3rd Gen. iPod Shuffle away into the history bin of failed innovations.

If you're (Apple) still clinging onto the "big thing" 3rd Gen. iPod Shuffle, re-read David Carnoy's review three more time. Thank you very much.

[AlainV]

Well, don't buy it if you don't like it: most of what you wrote is a matter of personal taste.

That said, Apple should provide a remote control attachment for the cord, which would be useful for other iPods as well.

[M_Ross]

This isn't a discussion about personal likes and dislikes.. It's a market impact analysis.. Apple screwed up on this one with the controls being in the headphones.. It's a small ***** in the armor of the iPod empire.. Not that this minor flub will have a major impact on Apple's hold on the MP3 market, but it creates an opportunity for a competitive small factor MP3 player to get market share..

[rapier1]

Did they really edit out the word *****?

[rapier1]

looks like they did. The word in question being c h i n k.

[Dalkorian]

Yeah Rapier, apparently that can be interpreted as offensive slang toward Asian folks. Silly, isn't it? I've run into that one before as well in the same context (I think it was on another site though).

I guess "dent" works as a substitution, but I agree with that eye roll you just had.

[myles taylor]

Disaster is overstating it. I don't think this is a huge innovation but I'm sure it will appeal to some people. You haven't even got your hands on one yet and you're already calling it a disaster? That's going way too far.

[Seaspray0]

You mean like what applerocks does with windows 7?

[Dalkorian]

Nice going Seaspray, way to advertise for a troll. Fame comes in many forms, I guess.

[joe12south]

Definitely need a SMALL adapter so that I don't have to use their crap headphones, but other than that, I like the ideas behind the new version.

The 2nd Gen version is just about perfect for athletes, though, so I don't feel any compelling reason to upgrade and usually I want one of everything as soon as it comes out.

[JCSandvik]

I don't believe these headphones are new. I seem to remember that the Iphone can use something like these. I think it is just a way for them to get rid of the overstock they have.

I remember using this stop/skip feature on a sony walkman TAPE player (from Japan) in 1989. I had one on a CD player. it' a great idea, but to make this the only way to control it is crazy.

[skimole]

There is no way I would buy this shuffle. I own a 2nd Gen 1 GB ipod shuffle and love it. The controls are on the ipod and I can easily change songs. I don't want to have to hold down a stupid clicker on my headphones to change songs. It is really a stupid idea.

[planblove]

The shuffle has never been one of my favorite ipods and this is no different. At this price I'll go get a sansa or creative zen, have a screen, video function, fm tuner, more memory and forget all about the shuffle. Now I love my 5th gen Ipod, it has been abused, left hooked up to my car stereo in freezing temps for days through 2 years of ownership and is still going strong. But I could never recommend the shuffle, especially this one.

[gefitz]

Exactly, planblove...The only reason someone would buy a Shuffle would be that they don't know or don't care that they could get more for 2/3 of the cost. The ipods are great, but these Shuffles...could never understand what would cause anyone to jump up and down and yell hooray.

Except for that cool apple logo, I guess.

[tomsoundman]

Great article because I agree both about the headphones and size...

[spprgeek]

I love the 2nd gen shuffle. As a runner it is perfect. I use the Arriva 'wireless' headphones to avoid messy wires (you look mildly silly pressing the back of your head). The 3rd Gen doesn't really improve anything for me.

I do listen to a lots of audio books and podcasts. Not sure if the voice feature will help much. My biggest issue with any shuffle is accidentally hitting a button and advancing through a long podcast or book.... loosing my place. Maybe the 3rd gen has a better bookmarking feature that helps with this problem? That might make me consider it I guess.

[electronista]

I'm not as perturbed as some people are. The higher-end iPod in-ears are good, so you can get good sound out of the shuffle even with first-party gear; I also expect third-party hardware to come along in time.

The multiple-click thing is less of a problem given that it's often easier to reach for your earbud cord than the iPod shuffle clipped to your pocket or bag. We'll see, though: I've ordered one!

[somekindafruit]

Hey, the comments in the article are going to be moot. Personally I have a gen 2 shuffle and It's great, especially in the car. it fit's in the smallest spaces and takes about 2 seconds to be hidden. You guys all seem to be ******** about the headphones. This is the products first day, how about we give it a week and see how many companies (griffin?) make adapters to plug in alternate headphones or an adapter fro the car. I personally think the "voiceover" is a great feature, you only use it if you want to and if you are driving or jogging you don't have to look and focus on a screen to hear the song name or change playlist. I know when I'm running it takes me a moment to focus on my current music players screen and completely ruins my stride, now.... problem solved. Apple's better inear headphones will also work with this thing so as I said, there are alternatives and the points in the article are ******** for the sake of ********. We could use more forward thinking design like this.

[somekindafruit]

Really ******** (bit-chin) need censorship... my word.

[bdaniel]

I DON'T WANT TO USE AN ADAPTER SO I CAN PLUG IN MY FAVORITE HEADPHONES!!!!!!!

[davies2005--2008]

well if they do you will end up with wires all over the place to accommodate the stupid tiny controls that you will fumble about form and have a crash. My 2nd gen Shuffle clips to my air vent has a short wire to my ipod socket on my car radio. i press play to go can fast forward and skip to the next track without taking my eyes off the road. Forget it with this.At the moment you cant even connect it :(

[Seaspray0]

@davies2005-2008. On the money! I have a transmitter which plugs into the earphone jack of my mp3 player so I can play it on the car radio. I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Paodi]

I have a Gen 2 Shuffle (Orange) and I love it. It is a great back up my iPod Touch when I am working outdoors and have gloves on. (Can't use the Touch with gloves). The controls are perfect for using just by feel. I like the style of the new Shuffle, but am disappointed by Apple's choice on the controls. I would buy one if the controls were on the unit itself.
I would be willing to bet we will see a pair of in-ear phones with in line controls for the shuffle come out very quickly, either by Apple or some after market company.

[StuXU]

I think the innovations are good to those that workout with it. It seems the controls maybe be easier to get too. The addition of playlists is nice. The voiceover doesn't come up for every song like you suggest, only if you request it on the controls. I am sure other accessory makers will make other headphones that will work with it as well for those that don't like the apple headphones. iPods are never short on accessories for everything.

[bleech]

When was ever the shuffle an option?

[Kev_Orng]

I have a Shuffle and a Touch, and the Shuffle is an excellent option for certain applications.
I use it at the gym. I have also used it for working outside. For me, the 2nd gen shuffle is the ultimate ipod for the gym, there is no alternative. I used the Touch at the gym a couple times and I won't do it again.


Luckily, my 2nd gen shuffle seems to be indestructible, so I won't have to replace it anytime soon.

[clamenza]

Fanboys and gals will keep buying because it's Apple. Maybe Apple stock deserves the rise.

[sriggins]

Disaster? What a overstatement. Some won't like it, but you need to choose better headlines or we'll stop reading your work. Don't be sensational; Just report.

[ubikk23]

hhaha. He got you to click on it didn't he? That's his job. In reality. reporters are paid for how many readers they pull in. Not how good their work is.

[oharag1111]

The author should have titled this article:

"The New iPod Shuffle is a Zune!"

BWhAhAHHAHAHHH!