Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB White (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Apple Computer
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List Price: Our Price: $24.50 You Save: $75.49 (75%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB White (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: Great for What It Is
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, this is not tradition ipod. It does not have a screen, scroll wheel, or 20G hardrive. If you want that, go buy a different ipod.
The shuffle is very small and simple to operate. It has a switch on the back to turn it on and to switch between shuffle and playing the songs in order. On the front are five but-tons arranged in a circle allowing you to play, pause, fast-forward, rewind, and adjust the volume. The shuffle comes with two caps that can be easily and securely fitted onto the USB jack on the bottom. One that is just plain and one with a lanyard attached. You also receive the famous headphones along with all the software you need and instructions on how to use the shuffle.
Using the shuffle for the first time is fairly easy, but you will want to make that you will be able to plug your shuffle directly into the USB port on your computer. Otherwise you may be in for a bit of a wait before you can use your shuffle. The ports on your computer cannot be sunken in, because you will not be able to plug you shuffle in directly. If your ports are sunken you can use the USB port on the keyboard (this leads to very slow data transferring) or you can order a short length of USB cable. Apple also has some solu-tions, but just ordering a cable is far cheaper. Other than that using the shuffle for the first time is fairly straightforward.
I bought this ipod to replace my CD player and it does the job perfectly! It holds enough songs that you can listen to it all day before you start hearing songs again. The shuffle is so small that you can fit it just about anywhere. Making it easy to use while doing other things. You can quickly change the songs on it and its batteries last far longer than twelve hours. The worst complaint I have is the initial difficultly I had in operating the switch on the back. I found it a bit stiff and hard to put in the right spot. Other than that I have been fully amazed by this product and would recommend it to anyone with an ailing CD player.
Customer Review: Good iPod Experience
Summary: 5 Stars
The iPod Shuffle was announced and made available, in January 2005.
I received my iPod Shuffle, about five weeks, afters its introduction, so I have been using it, for over seven months. I should point out that I already had a full size iPod, but I wanted the shuffle, for its small size and extreme portability.
The shuffle is incredibly impressive, when you first receive it. Its tiny size and light weight really strikes you as unbelievable.
The shuffle charges and syncs to your iTunes library by USB 2.0. Charging takes about three hours, if you want a full charge, and the syncing of songs is pretty fast. You can have the shuffle select the songs randomly from your iTunes library, or choose your own custom mix.
I find the lack of display on the shuffle to not be an issue. The reason being is that this shuffle holds about 240 songs, so there really isn't a need, for a display. After all, who wants to be looking at a tiny display? I just want to listen to my music. You can have the shuffle play your songs in the order you setup in iTunes, or have it mix things up, with a random shuffle.
The shuffle has been reliable over the past six months. It still works great, looks great, and the battery still lasts close to the specification 12 hours.
Overall, I still use my full size iPod, for the majority of the time. However, when I want extreme portability and something that is not weighing down my pocket, I use the shuffle. It is also nice to use, if you're going to be an environment where you're concerned about damage or theft to your iPod, since the shuffle is less expensive. The iPod Shuffle makes a great second iPod, for iPod fans. However, it makes a great first and only iPod, for many people too. The iPod Shuffle brings the convenience of having any song (up to approximately 240 on this model), from your iTunes music library with you, wherever you go. Music makes life a lot of fun, and this shuffle helps bring the music to you.
Customer Review: Apple Fanatics Only Need Apply
Summary: 1 Stars
This is one of the worst mp3 players I've ever heard! I currently have three other mp3 players not including this one.
First off, there is no built in equalizer. The music is the most important thing and it is flat and uninspiring. Even songs that have loud thumps when played on my computer are flat in this thing. You need to adjust each song individually within iTunes before loading them into the shuffle. With hundreds of songs, I spent a few hours adjusting the volume and equalization of about 50 songs. Now those songs sound like garbage played through my computer on iTunes but sound good in the shuffle. Why can't they sound good in both???
There is a pop/click in between songs. It is very slight, but audible when listening to it in anything other than a subway station.
No display is aggravating. This thing holds a couple of hundred songs and I sometimes have no idea what's playing.
Second, iTunes has to be one of the worst music management programs I've ever used. It is truly sad. Importing my mp3 library into iTunes was laborious and often failed. Most of my mp3's are on CD's because I simply don't have enough hard drive space to store them all. iTunes loaded mp3's from a CD, then promptly deleted those same songs the next time I plugged in my shuffle. Supposedly because the songs must be available when you sync your shuffle. Most of my mp3's are also ripped at 320k. So I tried to import them into the AAC format at the iTunes preferred AAC format so that I could fit more songs on the shuffle. Well now I have two of everything in my library. Whoever designed this program should jump out the nearest window and save us all a lot of trouble.
The design is simple yes, but not my style. White is not a color.
If you are not one of the Apple faithful, think seriously before you order this. There are several other players for around the same price. I got suckered into to all the hype and now I regret it.
Customer Review: ELEGANT AND FUNCTIONAL
Summary: 5 Stars
In true Apple tradition, the ipod shuffle is clean, simple, elegant and functional. The fact that this unit lacks a screen was absolutely not an issue with me, because I was looking for a light, durable unit to download some podcasts and music and away I go.
When I'm out and about doing stuff listening to the ipod, I don't want to take time to rummage through menus finding a song or album because everything I download to the shuffle I know I am going to enjoy.. go figure. So the fact that the shuffle has no screen is a great thing for me. Again, clean and simple.
The iTunes software makes management of the shuffle a pure joy, and further reduces the need to have a LCD screen. The sound quality is superb and powerful. The shuffle is easily controlled while not having to look at the unit (which is nice if you are working out, jogging, cutting the lawn, driving, etc.), as you would an ipod mini or color with all of the various menus and such.
The unit is durable and so lite that it almost floats around your neck! There is also a lot of useful accessories to toss in the Apple shopping bag for the shuffle. I would recommend a colorful protective case, the shuffle 'dock' and something to interface the shuffle with your car stereo.
I'm currently managing my ipod shuffle with an XP machine that works very well. I also have an iBook running OSX Tiger that I use to manage an Apple Airport Express w/ Air Tunes. The Airport Express is another astoundingly cool product from Apple that you should look into if you want to play iTunes music wirelessly through your home stereo. Truly revolutionary, but that's for another review..
If you need to haul around 20 to 60 gigabytes of music with you everywhere with pinpoint music selection accuracy, then yes you should look into one of the larger ipods as they are terrific products as well.
But for price, simplicity, and core functionality, you can't beat the ipod shuffle.
Cheers
Customer Review: It seems that some people don't grasp the concept.
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, those of you who do not own the shuffle should not be writing reviews on the product. I've come across many reviews stating assumptions on the Shuffle's abilities/features. Just to clarify, the Shuffle does not have to play in Shuffle mode only! The idea of the Shuffle is to provide a cheap, effective flash drive media player and in this Apple has succeeded. Because the objective was to make it cheaper than other flash drive models, features were cut. There is no LCD and there is no EQ but do we really need to know the name of the song we're listening to? Despite the fact that the Shuffle lacks an EQ, the sound quality is superb. The beauty of the Shuffle lies in its simplicity. One of my roommates has an MP3 player by another manufacturer for which he paid more than I did and got 1/4 the song capacity of my Shuffle. The only difference between my Shuffle and his MP3 player; he has an LCD with 256 MB whereas I do not have an LCD but I do have 1 GB song capacity and paid 49 dollars less for my Shuffle. Decide for yourself if the LCD means that much to you.
I've had my Shuffle for a little over two weeks and the only foreseeable problem thus far is the USB guard (a small piece of hard plastic covering the USB) may become lost as it is not actually attached to the Shuffle itself; my roommate has already lost his and as the Shuffle hasn't been out for very long, Apple has yet to monopolize on the sale of extra guards. As for the Shuffle not being able to play some MP3's, the solution is simple; in the iPod options window make sure that it converts all other format songs to 128kbps AAC and all songs will play. Perhaps one other problem with the Shuffle (and I'm sure Apple will fix this with the next generation) is the play selector (shuffle or continuous) because it is flush with the rest of the Shuffle is kind of difficult to select the play style if your hands are wet or cold. Other than that the Shuffle is a great product in my opinion, but decide for yourselves.