Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB White (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Apple Computer
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB White (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: GUIDE TO IPOD SHUFFLE AS A SECOND IPOD
Summary: 5 Stars
Breaking news: The price on this recently dropped from $149 to $129. It is now very compelling to buy this 1GB model given the small delta to the 512MB.
This review is for current regular iPod owners that are attracted to buy an iPod shuffle as a second player. I own both a 40GB iPod Photo and one 1GB iPod Shuffle.
Initial reactions out of the box:
Out of the box it is as simple as any other iPod and its documentation is simple yet effective. Loading the songs (on a USB 2.0 PC) is slower than the regular iPod charge, which is blazingly fast. It takes several minutes to load the 240 songs on the 1GB model (mine took more than 10 mins on the initial load). The autofill menu is simple and lets you choose from your library or from one of your playlists, either in sequential order or at random. I'd personally would have liked more flexibility (e.g. to load several playlists into it).
When loading it is useful to select the option to reduce high-resolution MP3 into lower rates. The Shuffle only supports AAC and MP3 files up to 320 kbps, which is much more than what most people use (it also supports MP3 VBR files). However, if you do use higher resolutions, there is an option to load everything on 128Kbps AAC.
Sound quality:
Once I have loaded it fully, I have tried it with several types of speakers and earphones. I first tried it with the standard white iPod ear buds which are very convenient, but come across flat, similar to any iPod. I then tried it with a pair of BOSE Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones. The results with the BOSE headset are pretty good; you can not tell a difference from a regular iPod. The music comes across well defined and bass comes across rich and full. This is at the same level as regular iPod, but I somehow expected a less full sound. Finally, I tried it on a set JBL Portable OnTour speakers and again the iPod shuffle stand up really well related to its 40GB iPod Photo sister.
I used the shuffle for a while and I can tell you, the sound quality is pretty good. Apple has done a great job reproducing the same high quality sound as in any iPod, which is much better than many low cost MP3 players out there.
Synchronizing both players:
Then I focused on Synchronization with iTunes, synchronizing both my regular 40GB iPod and my shuffle intermittently. I didn't notice any interoperability issues. You can own both and synchronize both and run into any issues. Remember that iTunes does not allow you to synchronize two regular iPods into one iTunes library (I guess to provide some protection to the music), unless you buy one of the 3rd-party software programs out there. In this case (iPod and Shuffle both on one iTunes) both players can synch with the same library.
Usage models that best fit each player:
iPod Shuffle:
- Exercise at the gym. It's so light and convenient you won't go back to a regular iPod.
- Trekking and walking.
- Short flights. Even with just how easy is to operate a regular iPod you still have to go through a little procedure to get it out, select your music, put on your headphones, and look for where to put it (challenging if you are in coach). You can easily board a plane with your lanyard and turn it on as soon as you can.
- Reading books in the park, your house. Why bother carrying the big iPod if you are basically going to use if for background?
Regular iPod:
- Long trips (e.g. transcontinental) - you are likely to listen to different types of music within the trip.
- Parties (you do want the flexibility or changing your playlist if the mood of the party changes!).
- Listening to specific songs or albums not in a list. Don't even try on the shuffle - the lack of a screen will definitively frustrate you.
- Car trips.
Use Smart playlists to make shuffling a more pleasant experience.
Use Smart playlists. You can easily organize your library by genre, personal rating, time of publication and many other parameters (or several of them at once). If you have a large music library you can easily build smart playlists for "Top rated Rock", "My top rated Songs", "60's Latin" (Bossa Nova lovers) or "90's Soundtracks". Then when you autofill your iPod shuffle simple pick the music that suits your mood and you are on. Changed your mind in the middle of your flight? Simply use your laptop to reload from a different list.
Definitively a winner as a very convenient second player. If you like shuffling on a regular iPod, don't even think about it and get it as a second player for those times where being light is worth the loss of flexibility.
Customer Review: This player is awesome!!
Summary: 4 Stars
And not just as an "entry level MP3 player"
If your looking for a player that you don't have to worry about damaging in hostile environments and takes up nothing for space, this is the one. The controls on this player are actually very conducive to being used while working with gloves on, mountain biking, skateboarding, etc. The control wheel is so simple; you can operate it through your pant leg while it's in your pocket. The battery has lasted me well over a 10-hour day.
I see complaints of NO DISPLAY here, why?
Why do you need a display?
You don't know what songs you've loaded?
You can't hear the volume level?
It has a button and an LED light on the back that checks the battery level.
It has an LED light that alternates colors/patterns based on what the player is doing.
WHAT A STUPID COMPLAINT!!
A display would only further tax battery recourses. I suppose you want it backlit too??
I'm not sure if the play list mimics the order shown in Itunes, but mine, when in non shuffle mode, plays in order based on artist, I know what I loaded in the player so I know how many times to push the FWD button to get to the song I want, HOW SIMPLE IS THAT?? There is NO need for a POWER DRAINING DISPLAY!! I use this player during all manner of work including construction (with only one ear bud in for safety) and only a few times has moving and leaning against framing or a ladder caused the buttons to be pushed unintentionally. The player is so light it can hang from the headphones and not come unplugged, it' so small and thin you don't even notice it in your pocket when your climbing a ladder or crawling through things. I bought a RCA Kazoo when they first came out and it only held 64MB WITH an expansion card, to get any decent number of songs on it you had to compress the songs into oblivion with MP3PRO and they sounded like poo. It HAD a DISPLAY and ran on 2 AAA batteries and they didn't even last a WHOLE DAY. The controls were such that you had to pull it out of your pocket and look at it to navigate. This Ipod Shuffle ROCKS!! You can wear it on an amusement park ride and the buttons are so easy to use, you can hit play right before or sometimes even while seated on the ride to start the music.
I rip all my CD's at 192kb and I use this Ipod for my car stereo now, it works great. In my truck I have a system with a crossover, 2 amps, 2 sets of mids and tweets and 2 10" subs, I took the AM/FM/CD deck out completely, and bought 2 cords from radio shack with RCA's on one end and a mini jack on the other, one for the car and one for my home stereo, the Shuffle plays perfectly in both environments.
Itunes on the other hand is not all that. I've been using Windows Media Player to manage my digital music files and Version 9 or 10 both flat smoke Itunes. Updating songs in Itunes is hit or miss, sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't, the spreadsheet style of sorting being the only option blows. The folder/tree style of Media Player is light years better and better emulate a computer's file handling style. I got no warning deleting a song from my library in Itunes, that it would also delete it from the physical disk. Media Player asks when you delete a file, "From the library only, or from the physical disk also"
The most annoying thing I found with my Shuffle experience is, during the installation of the Ipod software I noticed the Ipod becomes available as a "removable disk", so I thought COOL!! I can just tag the songs I want and drag them to the removable drive, what could be simpler than that?!?! Nope. Once Itunes loads it removes the "removable disk" icon from "My Computer", that's weak. I even tried to go around it and install the drivers and not Itunes, I can load the songs on the Ipod but they wont play, and I had to reformat the Ipod to remove them.
All in all, this is a great player if you're looking for a true pocket sized device that holds a lot of music, you have to think to yourself, self, remember when I owned a CD case and CD Walkman? Well, with this player, I can carry about 15 CDs and the Walkman in my pocket, and still work, or run or whatever. Once you get play lists worked out that you can load to suit your needs it's even better.
I would give the player 5 stars and the Itunes 1 star if that was an option.
I am running windows XP with all the current patches and transferring songs in Itunes works without issue. I had to get a USB 2.0 Card because my notebook only has USB 1.0, the Ipod works great on the USB 1.0 port, it's just slower.
Customer Review: What the shuffle is, what it isn't
Summary: 5 Stars
My shuffles got delivered last weekend. I ordered a 1GB for myself, and a 512MB for my wife. Since the 512MB version is for my wife's B-Day, I had to keep them hidden through the weekend. I set up both, and I will discuss the 1GB since it's the one I've spent time with.
Packaging: True to form, this is another example of excellent Apple packaging. The green box is distinctive, and obviously will be the color of choice for all shuffle related packaging. One interesting note is the package has a "loop" plastic closure tab, so these things are meant to be hanging on a display rack. I imagine we will eventually see these things for sale everywhere. Opening the box revealed a simple set-up... laynard, earbuds, and the shuffle. Beneath the contents was a small CD folder containg iTunes and instructions. I actually haven't read the instructions yet, but intend to once I don't have to keep the thing hidden from my wife.
Shuffle: Man, this thing is light. Almost disturbing at first, it just doesn't feel like anything. However, I got past this once it was in my pocket. It's great because you don't know it's there... ie there when you want it, not in the way when you aren't using it. The slider switch for Off, Playlist, Shuffle was stiff at first, but after moving it a few times it became easier. (Of note, this was hard to operate when my hands were cold, so be aware of this). The navigation ring is very simple and obvious. Play/Pause, Forward, Back, Vol Up, Vol Down. That's it. The battery button is cool, I would like to see some times for how much juice is left when it is amber, but otherwise cool idea.
Setup: Taking the cap off of the USB connector, you see either 1GB or 512MB printed on the connector. I have an older mac, so I only have USB 1.1. This wasn't a big deal. The mac recognized the player, asked me to name and register it, and we were ready to go. iTunes has a new window for the Shuffle, giving choices on Auto-Fill or Manual, Source for autofill, and a few other settings. Hitting the iPod button gives more advanced settings such as auto-conversion to 128kbs AAC from other formats, and setting aside memory allocation to use as a data storage device.
I set mine up for 256MB data storate, 744 MB of music. I chose a specially designed playlist as my source, and hit Auto Fill. iTunes picked approx 190 songs from this list randomly, and started to transfer. USB 1.1 transfer time was approx 15 minutes (glacially slow compared to firewire), but really, this was OK since I'm going to use USB to charge the thing anyway, which takes 4 hours.
Use: I got to use it for the first time yesterday on my walk to work. I use my 40GB iPod in shuffle mode while walking anyway, so this was no different. Sound quality is excellent. It fits in any pocket, and while I haven't used the lanyard yet, it does look like a great solution for occasions where you don't have pockets. I'm sure it will look a little dorky at first, but I have a sneaky feeling that everyone will be wearing these things like jewelry very soon.
As a flash-memory key, it is formated in FAT-32 (windows) format, which is handy. You can use it effortlessly between mac and windows, transfering files, pictures, etc. Very useful, and it is plug and play ready for this purpose.
Two thing that I really appreciate: 1. Weight. It's so light, as discussed earlier. Just perfect for walking / biking / working out. 2. Navigation ring. Far superior to scroll wheel for use while in my pocket. Very easy to get to by feel through my coat, pants or shirt. Easy to change volume, fast forward, pause, etc. Just brilliant, simple engineering.
iPod -vs- Shuffle: The shuffle isn't for everyone. The lack of a screen makes it a tough primary player unless your only use is for working out / walking around. Not usefull at all as a source of listening for a home stereo, maybe usefull in the future in the car. However, I doubt I'll every use my 4th gen, 40GB iPod as a portable device again. I think it's found its permanent place in my home stereo, as a complete substitution for CDs. The shuffle is perfect for my mobile needs... I'm not just saying this as an Apple fan... it is PERFECT as a mobile MP3 player. Just music, long battery life, low cost, and seemless integration with iTunes. Even USB 1.1 transfer times are tolerable since you have to charge the thing anyway.
I was hesitant when the shuffle was announced, but now I see the light. I can't wait to give my wife hers, I'm sure she will absolutely love it. It looks like her mini is going to find a permanent home in the car.
Customer Review: An Excellent Player.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent product that I would recommend to anyone wanting a hassle-free way to take music on the go. I'm not going to write a full account of how the thing works. You will find all you need to know in the product blurb above.
But there are a few issues that need to be addressed.
The first issue I would like to address is the lack of a screen. Many people have criticised the iPod Shuffle for lacking a screen. In my experience this is not such a big deal. The displays on players of this size tend to be as useful as those on portable CD players: that is to say not very useful at all. Apple has decided to make the Shuffle as simple as possible: load it up with music and go - that's it. No fiddling about with playlists and selections, just go. While you can play songs in a predetermined order, in practice the Shuffle feature is actually a lot more fun. It is essentially like a radio station tuned to your own taste and without the annoying DJs or advertising. The controls are the simplest and most efficient of any player of similar capacity.
Other companies decided to make a digital version of the Walkman/Discman with similar interface conventions and expectations. Apple did not. In my view Apple understands that the rules have changed for digital music and that this means a whole new kind of portable player, not some smaller version of a discman. Apple has realized that, for a player that will transport only a fraction of your music library with you, the management aspects are best offloaded to the software you use to transfer the music to the player. That is where you really need the organizing features, not in the player itself. As I'll point out in a minute, in this aspect of use Apple is currently unbeaten.
The sound quality is surprisingly good for a portable device - in fact that's faint praise - it's great. Note that it is worth encoding from your CDs in the iTunes (default) AAC format rather than mp3 as AAC files just sound a whole lot better. If you don't know what this means, don't worry. iTunes is already set to do this when you first install it. However, you can change it any time you like.
The supplied earbuds are very very good, but like most portables you can obviously get better sound quality if you upgrade to a more expensive set of headphones.
The build quality is robust, although you might wish to buy one of the sport cases or skins to protect it from scratches. The thing looks pretty cool too. I have had people stop me in the street to ask what it is.
The price is excellent for what you get, which is both surprising and pleasing given that it is sold by Apple.
But now for the most important feature: it's the software, stupid.
A digital music player is next to useless unless the software that organizes and transfers the music to your player is simple to use and actually works. Other companies have produced fine players, but their worth is marred by the fact that the software they supply for music management is outrageously bad, and in many cases simply too difficult for ordinary users to operate and troubleshoot. I know many people who have bought or been given digital music players who have simply put them in a draw because they could not get the software to work (Sony is the worst offender in this regard).
Apple's iTunes is still the best music management app available for the regular user. As its fans are so fond of pointing out, it just works. Filling the IPod Shuffle from iTunes works exactly as advertised, and iTunes is simple and easy to learn in a few minutes. The best strategy for the Shuffle is to use the "Smart Playlists" feature to automatically select music in various groups that you might like (e.g. dance for "Workout"; mellow for "Walk in the park"; and Pink Floyd for "Quiet Desperation on the Subway"). You can make five or six smart playlists like this in a couple of minutes. Then plug the Shuffle in, select the particular list you want and press "Autofill". In a few minutes it is done and you can leave.
If you are thinking about trying the iPod Shuffle, you can download iTunes for free from Apple to see if you like it. Technophiles sometimes complain that iTunes lacks some features that they (and only they) want, but is irrelevant to the ordinary user: iTunes is simple, anyone can use it, and it works. End of story.
If you want a simple solution to carry a reasonable subset of your music with you during any activity, it is hard to beat the iPod Shuffle. I'm really enjoying mine.
Customer Review: It's very coooool, it's very cute, BUT...
Summary: 2 Stars
I was looking for an MP3 player for myself this past Christmas. I looked at the iPod Shuffle because it was very cool looking, very light, very elegant, very small, about the thickness of 2 sticks of chewing gum. I rate this 2 stars just because of the coolness and cuteness factor.
Then I dug deeper, looked at the Apple iPod site and started to think.
- What if I don't want to hang it around my neck? I probably will need some kind of case to protect it. They seem to sell cases only in 3 packs, costing $25 - $30. And the cases seem to come only in cutesy colors like bubblegum pink, lime green, grape purple. Or I could spend that same $25 - $30 on an armband / beltclip type of case.
- What if I'm on the road and cannot get to my computer to charge up? No problemo, I could fork over another $25 - $30 for a standalone charger. Or I could buy a twin AAA battery pack for another $25 - $30. But with that twin AAA battery pack, the iPod shuffle would be just like any other MP3 player, except it doesn't have a screen. But adding a battery 2-pack kinda defeats the main selling points. It would no longer be ultra-small, ultra-thin, ultra-light and ultra-cool.
- What if I want to listen to a certain tune? Without a screen, would I have to blindly fast forward through all my 240 tunes to find the one I want to listen to?
- The biggest problem was that internal battery. Eventually, you will no longer be able to charge it. And you will need to replace your iPod Shuffle. For me, that was the deal-breaker.
The owners have these comments in general.
- Some people don't get the 12 hours of battery life that is promised in the ad. And everytime the battery runs down, they'll be without their Shuffle because it's recharging. And recharging takes 4 hours. And they'll be tying up one of their USB ports.
- Some people are not too happy about being forced to buy a new Shuffle when (NOT IF) the battery can no longer be charged. The battery replacement fee is about the same as the cost of a new iPod Shuffle.
- Some people write that a screen is not necessary, that if you didn't like the tune, you shouldn't have loaded it and that they aren't looking at the screen anyway. I agree with everything. However, some of us have a life. When I work out, I want to listen to my high adrenaline tunes. At the end of a workday, I want to unwind with my mellow tunes. When I'm concentrating, I like to listen to classical music at a very low volume. And my MP3 player has all my favourite high adrenaline, mellow and classical stuff in separate folder (playlists). But I still need a screen to fast forward to the type of tunes I want to hear depending on what I'm doing.
- Some people have a hard time setting up, getting iTunes to work properly with their iPod Shuffle.
- Some people think the cost of those extra iAccessories is outrageous.
Random may be the New Order, but hey, LIFE IS ABOUT CHOICE!!! To quote Shania Twain, "That Don't Impress Me Much".
So, if you're an iCult member, and you need a cool, cute, light, small, trendy, elegant MP3 player which will hold about 240 tunes and you don't mind the "I'm-stuck-with-iTunes-my-iAccessories-are-expensive-I-need-to-replace-this-in-3-years" concept, this is the perfect device for you.
I bought the SanDisk 1G Silver MP3 player. It's not as "in", not as small, not as elegant, not as hip, not as cute, not as fashionable, not as thin, not as cool, not as light, not as trendy as the iPod Shuffle. On the bright side, I won't have to replace it every 3 years. It takes good ol' standard 1.5V AAA batteries so I'll never have to wait for it to recharge, never worry about being out of power. I always carry a spare battery or 2, I just pop in a rechargeable battery (which takes about 3 seconds). I can be running my MP3 player non stop. And no matter where in the world I go, I can always find some AAA batteries. It has a screen so I can easily find the tune I really want to listen to at any time. It also has a radio which I can listen to for a change of pace and to get the news. And I can record with the built in voice recorder. Oh yeah, and the SanDisk 1G Silver MP3 player costs less too! :) And That Do Impress Me Much!!!