Apple's best Shuffle yet! (Apple iPod shuffle (3G) 4 GB)

Member Name: Escorcio

Product:	Apple iPod shuffle (3G) 4 GB
Date:	05/11/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great build quality and cool VoiceOver feature

Disadvantages: To small for day to day use especially without a screen

The iPod Shuffle is Apple's smallest and simplest MP3 player. It may seem limited without a screen or physical buttons but the features that have been thrown in definitely make it great value for money.

The iPod shuffle's now come in 5 colours; silver, black, baby blue, lime green and pink. There's also a special polished stainless steel version but it's not worth the extra £16 in my opinion. I have the black version which isn't really black, it has more of a dark gun metal grey look which is cool.

The new iPod Shuffle's are extremely small, about the size of a thumb. It's a great size for exercising with but is so small that I often worry about losing it. The design is very simple, it's a small rectangular device with a clip on the back making it easy to take with you if you have no pockets. At the top of the device there is also the headphone jack and the switch so you can put the Shuffle on shuffle, loop or off.

Being made of anodised aluminium (like the new Nanos) the Shuffle is very sturdy and doesn't feel like it will break. Although it is prone to some minor scratches it is very strong and has survived a few drops.

To sync the shuffle you have to use the included Apple Cable which is USB to headphone jack, weird, but it works and makes syncing easy. That said syncing with the 30-pin dock connector on other iPods is faster but I guess there's no room for one on the Shuffle.

Although the buttons on the older shuffle were good for some control, I do prefer the ability to quickly changed it with the included earphones with remote. Unfortunately this means if you break them you'll have to buy a new pair if you ever want to change songs again.

To over come the problem of not having a screen Apple have now also included the VoiceOver feature similar to that on the iPhone 3GS. It's really easy to access this feature, simply press and hold the button on the earphones and the VoiceOver feature will read out the name and artist of the track, if you continue to hold the button it will also read the playlist titles to you.

My only issue about the Shuffle and probably the reason why most people avoid it is because although it has a large 4GB of space, it's just too small for everyday use. I only use it when running or going to the gym as I don't want a large MP3 in my pocket, but for day to day use where your mood changes and you may want to listen to particular songs, something with a screen and more advance controls would be better.

As well as this I would have loved if they did the Shuffle in Product(Red), it would probably look the best out of those weird, overly bright colours and obviously money would be going to charity.

All in all the iPod Shuffle is a great small MP3 player, suitable for everyone and great for use while exercising. VoiceOver is a really cool feature and at £59 for 4GB it's a steal! Highly recommended.

Summary: A great small MP3 player for use when exercising

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