Apple iPod shuffle 512 MB White (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Apple Computer
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod shuffle 512 MB White (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: Good bang for your buck!
Summary: 4 Stars
I had been in the market for an MP3 Player for a while until my mind was made up for me when I got the iPod Shuffle for my birthday. I had read about it before but hadn't been considering it because, quite frankly, I wanted to be able to pick what songs I want to hear. (that and the fact that I didn't want to be "forced" to download iTunes to manage my music.) After getting the iPod Shuffle I was pleasantly surprised on all fronts...
iTunes...
I downloaded the program and it was much better than I thought. The biggest factor was that it didn't force me to change the format and location of my music collection. My music still resides in a folder on my desktop in MP3 format. Basically, you can load the music into iTunes and it just references them from their original location. (you can just change the preferences to make Winamp or whatever your default player for MP3s.)
Installing and loading the iPod...
Installing the iPod software on my Dell Laptop was easy enough and loading my MP3s onto the iPod from iTunes was also fast and easy. (The iPod just shows up on the left and you drag your songs into it.)
On the road...
Listening to my music on the iPod Shuffle has been a pleasure so far! The sound quality is very good considering you can't control anything (bass, treble, etc) except the volume. Navigating through songs is a snap since all you can do is skip forwards or backwards through them. Basically, you CAN control what order the songs play in; you load them onto the device in whatever order you want in iTunes and set the iPod to the "play in order" mode. Or, you can set it to play the songs in a random order, or "shuffle" mode. So I just set it playing and sit back and enjoy the music! (Unless I hit a song I really don't want to hear, in which case I hit the skip button.) And perhaps the best feature - it doesn't skip, which is invaluable when your exercising, or running to catch that train!
Battery life...
All I can say is that I've been listening for two days now (and I commute for 3 hours a day!) and the battery still has a green light. (that means the battery still has a good charge.) And I didn't even charge it fully when I got it out of the box.
Appearance...
This is the only downer for me - I hate white! I wear a black coat, a black hat, black gloves and a black scarf, and here I am wearing a white iPod, with its white lanyard and white headphones. (They could have used me in their commercial!) As Mick Jagger once eloquently put it, "PAINT IT BLACK!" A few color choices would be a definite plus.
Size and weight...
What can I say; I've seen Cockroaches bigger than this thing! It also weighs NOTHING. These things could almost be seen as a problem because it is probably really easy to lose! Luckily, they include the white neck lanyard, which I always use.
Storage space...
I got the 512 meg version and I fit 86 songs onto it in MP3 format. (You can fit more with the AAC format.) When I get tired of these songs, I'll just hook it up to iTunes and replace them with more! To me, that is a lot of music. I don't really understand these people who feel the need for 20 or 30 gigabytes of space on a music player! Are they planning on going to a desert island for a while???
Conclusion...
The bottom line is that for $100, how can you go wrong with an MP3 Player the size of a pack of gum, which can hang from your neck and hold almost 100 songs??? You can't! True, you don't have much control over what you hear and how you hear it, but once again, what do you want for $100? The only thing I can suggest to those Apple people is - give us more colors!
UPDATE (after 2 months of use)
Problems! When I load my songs onto the iPod from iTunes, according to the playlist they're on there, but when I play the iPod some of them are not on there! A friend who has the iPod mini also has this problem. He has to drag some of the songs on there 2 or 3 times before they actually play! I know it's not the files either because the second time I tried, different songs didn't show up. It must be a problem with the way iTunes communicates with the iPod. This is why I don't like being forced to use proprietory software. BOTTOM LINE - Next time I'll buy the Zen Micro...
Customer Review: Just got mine. This is what I think of the 'Shuffle'
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, the name iPod "Shuffle" is misleading. You can choose whether or not to have the songs shuffle or play in the listed order you've chosen. You can do this from the playlist in iTunes or on the iPod Shuffle itself by clicking on icon that has two arrows going in a circle.
Finally got my iPod Shuffle after one week and a day delay in delivery but so far I'm very happy with it. Here's a breakdown of pros and cons.
Cons
-It cannot hold tens and thousands of music like its sister counterparts iPod mini and iPod.
-No external charger. You have to leave Shuffle plugged into your computer or laptop to charge. But actually, this is a blessing in disguise. I usually leave my computer on for hours and this is a convenient way to charge your shuffle and even better when you are traveling and you can charge with your laptop on the go. My iPod Shuffle is charging this moment while I am editing my playlist. ;)
Charge out of the box for me took about 3 hours or less to fully charge.
-No screen but I really didn't care since I knew the list of the songs and the order because I put it together. In addition, I KNEW this didn't have a screen when I bought it.
Pros
+Lightweight, lanyard is excellent for traveling and you won't believe how small it is until you see and feel it.
+Absolutely no skipping from the Shuffle. You don't heard those grinding noises you hear from hard drives on the shuffle between song changes.
+Looks very durable compared to iPod mini which can be very fragile.
+Sound quality is very good from the Shuffle. I like the earpiece. The sound does not vibrate outside of the earpiece whic h is good.
+Charge time was rather fast especially on a USB 2.0 port.
+iTunes software is awesome. It was so simple to use. The quick start in the manual is not long and to the point and can be all be read in 10 minutes or less. Easy to understand and you'll have songs transferred quickly and using your Shuffle in no time.
+USB 2.0 transfer speed wasn't too bad. Not as fast as firewire but its no slouch in transfer speed. There is only 512MB of space in my Shuffle so USB is fine (transferred and filled up the entire 512MB of space very quickly) since I won't be transferring 20GB or 40GB of songs which would be better suited for firewire.
One more thing. I don't know why people complain about the slide button on the Shuffle. It is not slippery (unless you are eating potato chips or grease food while using the Shuffle) and I had no problem switching it off/shuffle/continuous play. I actually like carrying this thing around in my pocket since it's so small and you can put it away easily without worrying about being too fragile. The cap is solid and won't fall out easily like those Sandisk flash drives.
I really regret not getting the 1GB. I love this thing.
Here's a brief overview of the quick setup step.
1. The first thing you do is install the software that comes with the iPod shuffle which installs the iPod software and iTunes.
2. After installing the software, plug in the iPod shuffle into your USB port and let it charge for 3-4 hours. The yellow light indicates charging and green light indicates full charge.
3. Make a playlist by pressing the "+" button on the iTunes and drag or add your songs to the playlist.
4. Choose your playlist from the drag/drop down list and then click "Autofill" to transfer the songs into your shuffle (plugged to the USB port).
5.iTunes will let you know once the transfer is complete, unplug and play your music.
If you really need a screen to look at the song that is playing or hate skipping through songs to find the one you want to listen to, get the iPod mini. If you need something that is much smaller but extremely portable, easy to use, great battery life, durable, excellent sound quality (without skipping), and in budget, get the Shuffle.
Customer Review: Apple has the MP3 player market sewn up, top to bottom
Summary: 4 Stars
My first impression was not about how small the iPod shuffle is (plenty of MP3 players are small), but how light. When it's in a pocket or bag or around your neck, you just don't notice it's there (which will, I'm sure, lead to many people losing their iPod shuffles, or having them stolen, and not finding out till much later). It is, I expect, the lightest way to carry around 120-150 songs that has ever existed.
Like online columnist James Lileks, I've found the iPod shuffle experience educational. He wrote that, "when you have 10,000 songs you are always compelled to see what's next, whether it's better than this. When you have 100 songs, and A) have no idea what comes next and B) haven't heard 60 of them in a long long time, if ever, you tend to listen."
The lack of a screen is fine in most circumstances, if you're just listening as you would to the radio or a CD changer. But it can be a pain if you're trying to find a specific track, or move on to the next album in a set, or simply figure out what that song you never knew you had is called when you're away from the computer. Still, it prods you to enjoy the music rather than analyze it.
What's most striking, after you've used it a bit, is the iPod shuffle's minimalism. Apple obviously spent considerable time and effort figuring out what to take away, rather than what to add, and how to make the remaining stripped-down essentials as easy and basic as possible. Here is everything you can do with it when it's not plugged into a computer:
* Turn it off.
* Switch it to regular play.
* Switch it to shuffle play.
* Check the battery status.
* Plug or unplug headphones (or another audio line for the 1/8" jack).
* Start music playing.
* Pause music playing.
* Lock the front-panel controls (so they don't press accidentally), or unlock them.
* Go back the beginning of the list of tracks.
* Skip to the next track.
* Start the track over, or skip to the previous one.
* Fast forward or rewind (in choppy increments).
* Raise or lower the volume.
* Remove the end cap, to pop on the lanyard cap, or to plug the iPod in.
I don't think I missed anything. And neither did Apple.
But that last task is the key. Besides the shuffle's appearance and good sound, its ability to plug in and synchronize with iTunes is what makes it an iPod. That's regardless of whether you buy songs from Apple's store, which I don't, or just use files ripped from your album collection, or those you make with GarageBand, or whatever. Much of the intelligence and power of the iPod brand--more than I realized, especially for this model--comes from that piece of software. Little touches make a huge difference, like the ability to transcode tracks to good-quality 128 kbps AAC files if they are stored at a higher, larger-file-size bitrate--or in an incompatible format--on your computer.
My previous MP3 player is nearly as small, and almost as light, and it has a screen (see photo). But it is profoundly inferior: it doesn't work seamlessly with iTunes, its interface and appearance are clunky, it has been a bit flaky since I first got it, and over time firmware upgrades have actually worsened its performance, even degrading the sound quality significantly. Plus it holds many fewer songs, and was more expensive. I speculated that Apple would own the entire MP3 player market after the shuffle was introduced. Now that I own one, I'm sure of it.
Here's a tip: If you use the Autofill feature of iTunes with an iPod shuffle, set it to pick from a Smart Playlist that excludes stuff you don't want to take along. My "Mostly Rock" list, for example, is set so that it contains only songs where the Genre does not include terms such as Christmas, Spoken Word, Children's, Holiday, and Sound Effects, among others.
Customer Review: Simple to use, but too... simple, for my tastes.
Summary: 2 Stars
Definately an "affordable" iPod (compared to the $200+ for screen-ed models) for anyone who will be happy with only 100-150 songs. Make sure you are running Windows XP (possibly with a few service packs downloaded) and try to be USB 2.0 compatible... before I had those two things, I did notice some hang ups and issues getting everything to work.
The Shuffle IS very simple and streamlined to use... something that is great about all the iPod items I have used.
But, the whole device is just TOO simplified to make me happy. I have come to view it as really a jump drive with headphones.
Even with the shuffle feature turned off, the lack of a screen to view track information irritated me far more than I originally expected. Finding a particular song is not worth the effort it takes, and I end up clicking from song to song and then waiting until the music starts before clicking again. Maybe a small complaint... but when there's really nice MP3 players out there, for $10-20 less, that do exactly what this item does, only WITH a screen... makes me wish we'd have picked up a Sony Psych.
The randomized track playing is okay, but not a selling feature. I still find myself skipping tracks, and really this 512 holds little enough songs that with prolonged use, you get pretty familiar with them all too quickly!
Also, the battery scares me. A lot of my friends with full size iPods and minis have had to have their batteries replaced in under a year... in some cases under six months.
In a such a small storage unit, I feel the use of AA batteries would have better suited my needs... I don't use this long enough at one time to need extensive battery life before charging. Not enough to warrant having to have a 'professional' replace my battery... I'm also one of those people who is always going to have forgotten to charge my battery when I need it! I like being able to stop by the gas station and pick up batteries when I've been absent minded again (and there's usually 50 AA batteries around my home at all times, for some reason)... an option I don't have.
If I want to charge this little guy away from my USB port on a computer, by the way, I have to shell out additional money for a device that will allow me to charge through regular wall power! I really feel this should have been included... I mean, while they can assume I have a computer if I am buying an iPod, I very often stay places where there ISN'T a computer handy (friends homes, hotels, camping, work...)
Also, it isn't exactly an MP3 player; the format used on iTunes isn't an MP3, but something I believe specific to the iPods? At any rate, I can't take my songs off of iTunes and put them onto another device easily. I seem to have to burn them to CD, pull the WAV file onto my computer, and then convert it into MP3 myself. A little something to make filesharing more difficult? Or to make iPods seem more convenient, seeing as how popular iTunes is as well?
Some new CDs with forms of copyright protection built in also seem to be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible, to get onto the iTunes (and thus the iPod) as well. I know this isn't Apple's fault... but I have found myself downloading songs from iTunes when I already own the CD to get them on my device...
All in all, for me, the Shuffle isn't really worth the money. I would rather save up for a Nano or a Video iPod, or get a Sony MP3 player (or other brand name) with a screen and AA battery compatability. A lot of people get sucked in by the iPod name and don't really think about other music devices... but I think if you're looking at a Shuffle, you should also get familiar with your other options. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on quality.
Customer Review: Great product, what else can be expected from Apple?
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently purchased the Shuffle based on a couple of factors. First, I have heard that the Mini and the regular IPOD are fairly fragile, and since I am rough on things personally, and I would mostly take the Ipod to the gym, hiking, biking, running, or on trips or other "high risk" adventures, I thought there was too much potential for me to break the darn thing. Second, the cost of the more expensive Ipods gave me pause. Third, the Ipod is not forever, as battery life is likely to die after a while. I didn't want to risk the battery life on a $300 product. $100 to me seems to be near 'throw-away value' personally. Second, the Shuffle uses flash memory, which is longer lasting, then the mini hard drive in the regular Ipod. Again, I thought this was a safer choice for me.
All these considerations led me to believe the Shuffle was the best choice. I know 'merely' 120 songs doesn't sound like a lot, but I tried an experiment with the Itunes software (which I recommend using even if you don't have an Ipod because of its simplicity of use!) and I came to understand that 120 songs is quite a lot. Sure it would be nice to access more songs, but for my purposes 120 is enough I think. Plus, Apple has issued an update to reduce the bit quality of the songs in order to put more songs on the Ipod Shuffles!! I have heard of almost 200 songs on the smallest model.
As to the Shuffle itself, it is a glorified USB drive key. However, for $99 dollars, I get a virtually unbreakable piece of equipment that I can transport anywhere. It is incredibly light. So light you can't believe it, I still can't get over it. It's like a virtual "DJ es machina." My only quibble is the switch for 'off' to play is a bit cheap in tactile feeling. This doesn't feel to soild. No, you won't feel like it will come off, rather it just feels like its insecure. However, this is the only moving part besides the volume and play control button in the front. That control is intuitive and very similar to the regular Ipod. No problems there.
As to the complaint of a lack of a display, it is somewhat unfortunate. However, with the limited songs I can put on the thing, it doesn't really matter because I know each of the songs on the playlist (it's GOLD Jerry!) and they are all my favorites. I am not losing anything by not being able to see the songs. Also, for my purposes the lack of a display is a good thing because it would add a battery loss and also a gain in weight and fragility to the thing, who needs that? I don't.
As is typical, I plugged in the software (PC user here) and away I went. I already had Itunes, and the software updated Itunes for the Ipod seamlessly, and I mean seamlessly! Within minutes I was placing songs onto my Ipod. After a four hour initial charge, I was using the Shuffle. The sound is great, it is light and the shuffle feature works like a great eclectic radio station delivering the kind of music I like to hear. Wow.
I have always loved Apple products, and supported Jobs over Gates, now I know why. Believe me, if your purposes are similar to mine, you can't go wrong with this thing.
By the way, if you are a traveler like me, you may like the fact that the Shuffle charges by being placed in a USB port. Now, I know the regular Ipod can be charged with the additional international adapter from Apple to eliminate this problem, but I like the fact that I can take the Shuffle to any computer with a USB port, stick it in, and begin to charge it. This is convenience!
In short, I heartily recommend this product. Apple had done it again.
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