Date: 2008-11-02 11:52:02 Created: null
Back when I was young, a music player was considered small if he or she weighed less than fifty kilograms.
Not so anymore.
Ever since I managed to lose my third generation iPod a few months ago I've been thinking about a replacement.
My first thought was, quite naturally, to get a full-sized, hard drive-sporting iPod. It would carry my whole music library, just like the old one, be a nice file transfer unit and so on. Just like old times, only with more space to expand.
The Nanos were considered too, but not as seriously. While really good looking and nice to use, I just felt they offered the wrong balance. Sure, they carry a lot of songs, and have the interface to easily choose among them, but the capacity isn't anywhere near enough to carry all my songs. So, I'd inevitably spend silly amounts of time choosing which songs to bring, and, just as inevitably, want to listen to a song I hadn't brought all the time.
Then, from somewhere far, far out on the left field, the Shuffle entered my mind. Let iTunes fill it up with random music every morning, hit play and go to work. Hit pause and play as required while working, then play again on the way home. Refill once back home. Repeat. No need to think about what songs to bring, virtually no way to even chose what song to listen to, virtually no space needed to bring it and still much of the feeling of being an iPod.
I figured it could work out really well, so I ordered one. If I can't live without a full-fledged iPod I can always get one later. And if I don't need the big brother, well, then I've just saved a nice amount of money (and pocket space).
The next generation of iPods will feature collectible instruction cards with the silhouettes of Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive embossed on the back.
Yes, it's still designed by Apple in California.
You don't get the classic "Enjoy" though. Enjoy? In a package this small? What do you think they are, magicians?
Sheesh.
The Shuffle docked, looking larger and more imposing than it will ever manage in real life.
And connected to my headphones.
But just wait. You think the Shuffle is small? I'll show you something really small.
That is the free laser engraving, right there. Let me magnify that for you.
The only way it could be smaller would be to remove it altogether. That would also let people put it precisely wherever they wanted on the iPod, and have any number of characters too.
So, laser engraving:
Totally worth it
but only at this price.
So it's small and light. How light? Well, quite light indeed, especially for the sturdy feel it has. I've had it hanging from my hair while writing this and preparing the photos. The clip looks like it could be a bit mean, but the spring's soft enough that it doesn't hurt to hang it from, say, your lip.
My nose was unfortunately a bit too wide to provide a good grip.
There isn't that much to say about the Shuffle really. It feels very nice and solid, all the buttons work and it does all the ... one ... things it does really well.
The headphone cable just started feeling like the most cumbersome part of my portable music experience.