2G or not 2G; that is the question (Apple iPod shuffle (2G) 2 GB)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Apple iPod shuffle (2G) 2 GB
Date:	13/06/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice and compact

Disadvantages: price

You can now pick up these identical Ipod Shuffles in both 1gb and 2gb sizes. For £25, the 2GB should be your choice of the two.

When the Ipod took the world by storm a few years ago, it was its amazing ability to hold so much music that did it; my own Ipod holds 30gb of music, but you can now get a whopping 180gb Ipod (mind-blowing stuff). With that in mind, it's an interesting concept that comes behind the Ipod Shuffle 2gb, because it only holds 2gb of music, which makes it no better than dozens of other MP3 players out there.

With the Shuffle (moreso than the classic), the packaging is great - all plastic and minimalistic chic design, in a box that makes you realise there's a lot of clever thinking behind the packaging of a product.

The Shuffle itself is small - about the size of a 50p piece, give or take a bit. In silver, it looks smart, and has a simple selection of buttons on the front, known for their universally recognised functions of play, pause, skip back, skip forward, and volume control. To use, the Shuffle is fairly easy, although there is no LCD display, so you don't know what tracks you're listening to (yes I know that's the point).

Sound quality is, as always, excellent, and it is worth noting that the shuffle comes with Ipod ear-phones as standard, which is stunning as they usually cost £20 as it is - when mine broke on my 30gb Ipod it made a lot more sense to buy a shuffle than to replace the ear-phones. The earphones are good quality, although the bass frequency is bettered by any 'in-ear' earphone.

Putting music onto the Shuffle is easy, through Itunes, and you just drag and drop the tunes you want from your library onto the suffle list.

As I said earlier, this item is not unique, because it doesn't hold much more music than its rivals, and you can pick up a 2gb mp3 for a lot less (around £10 if you shop around), but those who like to be cool will enjoy this item. If you've got the money (and the space) then I recommend a bigger Ipod, as the 240 songs you can get on here will soon fill up.

Summary: do it

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