iPod may be a bit too minimalist
The first thing you notice about the new iPod Shuffle -- as with all other Apple products -- is the snazzy look and feel. The second thing you notice is what's missing.
With its white on white minimalist design, it's about the size of a pack of chewing gum. Featherweight light at less than an ounce, the Shuffle is certainly a looker. But you may find yourself yearning for a display that lets you see which song is playing. Or even for a more substantial on/off switch.
Apple bills the Shuffle as an exciting antidote to business as usual. Who needs an LCD to show which track is playing? The Shuffle plays songs randomly. The pitch: Lose control! See where it takes you! Order is overrated!
But Apple's littlest iPod is going up against a number of reasonably priced flash-based digital music players that offer great sound and all kinds of features the Shuffle lacks.
Flash players store music on a chip and have no moving parts, so they're very small and popular with active types.
Stan Ng, director of marketing for iPod, says Apple decided to skip bells and whistles available on other flash players after determining that features such as displays were too tiny to be useful, and multiple buttons too hard to use. So how does this streamlined iPod stack up? It doesn't really. The Shuffle's in a class by itself. It lacks many of the extras that similarly priced models have, but boasts larger storage capacity at a lower price, plus Apple's legendary ease of use.
The iPod Shuffle offers a lot of storage for the money. Other 1GB players can set you back $200 or more. However, these units come with features such as LCDs with on-screen menus and special sound effects settings, an FM tuner, voice recorder, and the ability to record directly from tapes and CDs.
When I popped a 1GB Shuffle out of its box it was so light that it felt a bit, well, cheesy. On the front there's a wheel that controls volume, play/pause, forward, and back. On the flip side, there's a sliding on/off switch that can be set to play tracks in the order they were downloaded or to randomly shuffle songs. I found that I had to awkwardly grip the sides of the unit to use this switch.
A battery indicator button lets you know when the built-in rechargeable battery needs to be plugged in. A full charge takes about four hours.
The Shuffle plugs into your computer's USB port to charge and to transfer files. And of course it works seamlessly with Apple's iTunes software (bundled on the included CD).
In the nice-touch department, iTunes offers an Autofill feature that automatically fills your Shuffle with tracks from your music library if you want that "unpredictable" experience. It will also store audiobooks and data files. (Windows users will need to configure this first in iTunes.)
So, what's not to like about the Shuffle? Well, the battery and "on" indicators don't stay lit. While I might like to be surprised by which track is about to play, I don't want to be surprised that my battery is about to die.
I have to admit I experienced an "is that all there is" moment, because JetAudio's iAudio U2 player had landed in my mailbox a few days earlier. By comparison, the Shuffle seemed bare-bones.
The 512MB iAudio U2 that I tested costs $179. Yes, it has less storage than the $99 Shuffle, but the extra money gets you quite a bit. The U2 sports a four-line LCD that displays track information and lyrics.
I beg to differ with Apple's marketing guy about the usefulness of small LCDs, since I found the on-screen menus easy to navigate.
The fun starts when you turn on the unit and an animated logo appears. (You can download more at jetaudio.com.)
Software on the setup CD includes JetShell, an easy-to-use application for transferring files from your computer to the U2. There's no software included for buying music from online music stores, but the U2 is compatible with multiple services such as MusicMatch, MSN, and Real.
As for sound quality, I'm no audiophile, but after listening to four flash players I haven't noticed enough of a difference to say that one sounds significantly better.
Michelle Johnson is a freelance writer. She can be reached at mijohn@mail-me.com.
