Boom boom boom,,,, Music iss Wicked! (Apple iPod shuffle (2G) 1 GB)

Member Name: nickbrown60

Product:	Apple iPod shuffle (2G) 1 GB
Date:	25/02/09 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really great sound, Really small, Easy to use, Great battery

Disadvantages: There are honestly NONE!

Hello everyone and welcome to this review!


I bought this lovely little iPod around 2 months ago when on holiday in America. I needed a new MP3 player after a cheap one I owned decided into longer wanted to live. Shame! But it was a good excuse to get a new one. I saw this in mall at Millenia in Orlando Florida in one of the very busy Apple shops, as the weather was too hot I did not want to be queuing for hours so picked one of these up, unknown to me Americans do everything better than us at home and even though the queue seemed long it moved in literally 3 seconds! I picked the 1GB Shuffle as up to 250 songs was more than enough for me! And, it was only $39.


Back to our villa I was desperate to get my new iPod running, it was very nicely packed in the usual plastic Apple fancy boxes with a white back and a see through front.


What is an iPod?
**************
An iPod for those of you who do not know is a device used to store music files and play them wherever and whenever you would like. You can listen to your music through the earphones provided or using a speaker dock that you can pick up rather cheaply on eBay.


This particular iPod shuffle is designed for people who do sports such as jogging, running or anything really. The unit has a clip on the back that allows it to be easily clipped onto a coat, T-shirt or shorts. The earphones have an extra long wire so that the iPod can be placed almost anywhere but your knees down! The unit is extremely small at just over an inch long and fits in the coin section of my wallet, that's how small it is!


Opening it up;
************
In the box was the iPod, earphones, USB lead and base. It was in need of a charge as it had come straight from the box. This is easily done though, just plug it into your computer or laptop and it will start charging.n No installation disks are needed but you do need iTunes installed on our computer to synchronise music with the iPod. This is easily downloaded by visiting the following link: http://www.apple.com/itunes/


Putting songs onto an iPod is very easy, just plug it into the USB and open iTunes. Buy your tunes for around 99p each and they transfer automatically. You can also load Cds onto your iPod with a few clicks of the mouse!

My iPod was ready to use and I was excited... It was easy to turn on, there is a small on and off switch on the bottom side of the unit, I flicked this and pressed play. The music happily started playing.

Sound quality;
************
The sound quality on this iPod is amazing. It has much better sound than my old cheap brand I had before this. The bass is fantastic and I now hear things in music that I never heard before. It's like listening to totally different songs, my old one must have been terrible. For anyone interested my old one was a Tesco brand called Technika.
The earphones supplied with the iPod are extremely good but they do not block outside noise. If you are really fussy you can always buy new earphones as the iPod has the standard jack. I have also used this with a cheap dock I found on eBay and the sound is fantastic once again. After comparing the sound on this little iPod with a friends top of the range iPod touch there was no difference in quality was noticed. Defiantly a great buy if you do not need all of those fancy features on the bigger models.

The buttons on this iPod are extremely easy to use. The buttons on the iPod are - Play, Stop, Left and Right and not forgetting the all important volume buttons on the front. On the sides are On/Off and shuffle.

Shuffle? What's shuffle?
*******************
Well shuffle is a very handy feature that I have only ever seen on an iPod. If you have a load of songs on your iPod and you are tired of listening to the same songs over and over you slide the shuffle switch. Then, when a song has finished playing the clever little iPod will choose the next one for you at random, not from a list but it randomly chooses one for you. You never know what you iPod will find lurking in its memory! It is a really great feature if you are bored and fancy something new. But please note that the song must be on our iPod for it to play.

The battery is great on this little beauty, I find that it easily lasts around 12 hours on low volume but on high it does around about 8 hours, still very good! I'm surprised that it can last so long due to its extremely small size. It only takes 4 hours to charge says Apple, but I find it is finished in around 2 hours! Great.


Is the iPod reliable?
*****************
I have had this for around 2 months now and have dropped it almost daily. It has taken some really hard bangs and is battered but it still lives on! I believe it will be lasting me a lot longer too. Apple gave a 1 year guarantee for use in the USA however it's no good here in the UK. So I recommend buying this from a UK dealer.


Overall this is a fabulous iPod for people who do sports or just want a small and not so technical iPod. It looks very nice and has absolutely fantastic sound and battery life. Pictures can also be stored on this like a memory stick, however you cannot view them on the device itself. Great for file storage though! Also very reliable! I highly recommend.


Highly recommended, hope this has helped your buying decision.
Nick

Summary: A really great value iPod

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Sound quality:
Download speed: