Comments on: Apple debuts new, low-priced iPod

Mac maker introduces new version of its popular music player dubbed the Shuffle, priced at just $99 or $149.
Photos: iPod Shuffle

[201293546946733175101343322673]

Talk about innovation...

No Screen? Apple is kidding right? Give me a break.

No Screen ?

I have been waiting for the Flash IPod for so long to see this?

No Screen... No Buy, period!

Seems like I have to buy the regular IPod.

[Greg Sparkman]

You Guys Don't Get It

I can only assume that those of you complaining about he lack
of a screen have used neither an iPod or iTunes. The random
shuffle of self-selected playlist is transcendent. Most people I
know listening to their library of music love the unpredictable
presentation of their music. Why do I need a screen to tell what I
am listening to? I already know. I picked the songs in the first
place. The controls are so intuitive, I don't need a screen to
confirm my actions. Beyond the screen (or lack of one) you are
ignoring the integration with iTunes. The new Autofill function
of iTunes automatically selects groups of songs gauged to fit
exactly on the Shuffle. Addtionally, through the Preference menu
you can allocate how much memory is partitioned for iTunes use
and how much is reserved for data. Yes, you can use the Shuffle
as data memory stick as well (how many of those have screens).
A hallmark of Apple products for decades has been simplicity.
And simplicity is not simple or easy to accomplish. Apple doesn't
always succeed, but they achieve simplicity better and more
often than just about any other company on the planet. Albert
Einstein said that all things should be made as simple as
possible, but not simpler. The iPod Shuffle hits the mark. I
recommend kneejerk detractors take a good close look at the
details of this product before writing it off. It looks simple, yet is
very sophisticated in its capabilities.

Very Cool at Right Price

I disagree with the previous posts. This is a cool product at the right price. Why do I need a screen? And I won't spend $499 for an iPod. The shuffle is portable, cheap, and looks nice.

American Report
http://americanreport.blogspot.com

http://americanreport.blogspot.com/2005/01/apple-debuts-new-low-priced-ipod-cnet.html

[wazzledoozle]

Wrong

No screen, and no only basic controls make tis the worst value on the market. For 179.99 at my loacl frys Electronics I cna get a 30 Gigabyte Nomad, which has all the featurers of a full blown ipod plus more audio codecs and a microphone, and USB 2.0

The apple brand will fizzle out eventually.

[david_a_c]

No choice but random play ?

For me I do not find the display / controls on my creative flash player at all complicated. Plus I want to choose the music I want to listen to at a particular time. Not some random playlist that was a feature introduced 20 years ago for CD players that never really caught on.

[dejo]

There's another choice

Please see my response concerning this at: http://
news.com.com/5208-7354-0.html?
forumID=1&threadID=4129&messageID=24001&start=-187

[Llib Setag]

www.apple.com/ipod

Go to the source & READ about the iPOD Shuffle...

[mattmchugh.com]

New iPod implant

New iPod implant

Addressing a standing-room only crowd at MacCon,
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the newest member
of the iPod family: the iPod implant. Smaller than a stick
of gum and made of a gleaming, sterile, and
biochemically inert polymer, the iPod implant is
inserted directly into the brain between the parietal and
occipital lobes. Intended to expand Apple's already-
dominant position in the MP3 music player market, the
iPod implant is clearly aimed at Apple loyalists who
eagerly snap up any of the company's experiments.
The fact that the player lacks a display screen, has no
expandable memory, and requires major surgery does
not seem to deter the Apple faithful, many of whom
were seen lining up at neurological clinics shortly after
Jobs presented the new iPod as his famous "one more
thing" keynote closer.


"I want to be the first to get one," said one fan shortly
before the anesthesia took effect. "It's the closest you
can get to actually being in Steve's reality distortion
field." The iPod implant works similarly to other
products in the iPod family, playing MP3 and AAC-
encoded files and featuring the iPod's trademark
navigation wheel--which is designed to protrude from a
hole cut in the skull along the inferior border of the
squamosal suture. It syncs with iTunes playlists
wirelessly, using either Bluetooth or Airport Extreme
technology, and allows customers to purchase 99-cents
songs from Apple's iTunes service just by thinking
about it. Also, the iPod implant forgoes the need for
those omnipresent white earbuds as it transfers sound
directly to the middle ear via bone induction. "It's perfect
for joggers or commuters or anyone who just tends to
'zone out' at any time for no apparent reason," said an
Apple product specialist, who claims he's had two
implanted (the minimum allowable for Apple
employees). He further noted that, in addition to iTunes
music, the new iPod implant could also receive product
announcements directly from Apple to "take the
guesswork out of your purchasing decisions."

While the iPod implant is certainly stylish and offers
excellent sound quality, it is unclear how well it will fare
among the numerous low-cost consumer options
available for piercings and ornamental bodily
mutilation. Toward the end of the afternoon throughout
the exhibit hall, one could spot dozens of happy new
implant owners by their tell-tale head-bobbing and foot-
shuffling, which Jobs assured the crowd was only a
temporary post-surgical effect. Time and again, Apple
has proven that it knows what its customers want even
better than they do, uniting form, function, and premium
pricing into technolust fashion statements. Judging by
the initial surge of enthusiasm for the new iPod implant,
it's not out of the question that horseshoe-shaped
cranial scars may be all the rage this year.




-- mattmchugh.com
http://mattmchugh.com/blog/2005-01/index.html#2005-
01-12