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: Nice size, slow transfer, bad bookmarks
Summary: 3 Stars
Three stars may be a smidge low for this player, but since it's touted as Audible-ready, and many (non-apple) sources claimed bookmark - or at least resume - features, I got one. I intended to use it primarily to listed to audiobooks in MP3 format, and as a replacement for my dying usb key drive.
Let's start with the bookmark/resume function. It works...sort of. Press pause, the power off. Power on, press play. It starts right where I left off. Unfortunately, if I plug it into a computer (to charge it), it starts back over at track 1. Not a problem, except that without a display, you can't check to see where you were in the book, which means listening to little snippets along the way until you find your place again. It's a bit frustrating - I imagine it might drive someone to dastardly acts if they accidentally did this in a very long track.
Next - transfer speed. Yes, it's technically USB2.0, but it may as well be USB1.1 for the speed of most transfers. Audio is painfully slow - less than 1.5MB/sec (USB1.1 speed) - with iTunes. Direct explorer transfers are little better, with several tests maxing out my transfer speed at just under 2.4MB/sec. So this is a USB2.0(480Mb/s) drive with a max speed of 19.2Mb/sec. Dissappointing in an era of 120Mb/s usb flash drives and 160Mb/s cardflash units.
Size and function. Nice. Very Nice. It could have been a tad shorter, and maybe a bit narower at the connector end (it doesn't quite seat flush on my Dell M70 laptop due to the case), but it certainly is portable and light. Navigation is super simple. I have big fingers, but haven't had a problem with the nav or slider switch. Though I agree with outher that a ridge or recess might have been nice on the slider, it doesn't feel like I need "too much" pressure to move the switch.
Finally, audio quality. Good. Not great, but good. There is a noticable background hiss which is directly proportional to the volume - nearly silent at zero, and audible in most soft passages in program material. I listen with Shure ec3's, though, so I hear hiss on almost every player I've tried. The variable aspect of it is a bit troubling, but not a killer.
This is a fun toy, and decently priced for the capacity. If you're going to drop in some tunes for a workout, or the commute, it's probably a great choice for under $100. Depending on your patience, I'd recommend looking at another option for audiobooks, though - when it works, it's smooth, but when it doesn't, the lack of display can be frustrating.
Customer Review: Good Introduction to 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 120 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 choose to listen to your music in the same order you setup your shuffle playlist, in iTunes. Or, you can have the shuffle take you on 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.
Use as an USB thumb drive - One feature about the shuffle I love is that, when you enable disk mode, you can set an amount of space that the shuffle dedicates to files. Then you can put documents, photographs, or other files onto the shuffle. Then by going to another computer and inserting the shuffle, you can access those files. The shuffle works as both a music player, and a USB thumb drive! For me, this makes it an even more amazing value.
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 120 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: 5 square inches of perfection
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're looking for a feature-heavy mp3 player on which you can store copious amounts of music with the ability to easily switch among artists, albums and genres as your mood strikes you...keep looking. The iPod shuffle is an extremely bare-bones unit with the most basic controls. But for what it is, it's sheer perfection.
As other reviewers have noted, this unit has no display and it doesn't separate tracks into subfolders based on artist, album or genre; instead, it stores all tracks in one directory, all in a linear fashion in the exact order in which you load them on your Shuffle. You can give the Shuffle a bit of predictability by reordering the player's songlist in iTunes, sorting alphabetically based on artist, album or some other field. This will allow you some control when the Shuffle's random mode is turned off, as you can hit fast forward until you find the track, artist or album you want...not terribly difficult if you have some idea of the order of the songs. Otherwise, put the player on shuffle and enjoy your own customized radio station, per se.
I've found the Shuffle most useful for keeping in my backpack so I can pull it out whenever I need some tunes to pass the time. Walking to school on a sunny day? Perfect. People in the library too loud? There ya go. Want to listen to a podcast but you're getting ready to run out the door? Just load it onto the Shuffle and it goes with you. And this player is so lightweight that it doesn't load you down, plus it's relatively inexpensive so you don't have to be so paranoid about carrying it around.
Speaking of podcasts, some people say this is a horrible device for listening to them. I disagree. When you turn the unit off and back on it picks up where you left off, or if by chance you lose your place you can hold down the forward button to search through the track until you find your place.
My only complaints about this unit are: 1) it takes a relatively long time to update, and 2) as far as I can tell you can't update it on multiple computers without completely erasing it every time. In other words, if I load the Shuffle at home then want to add a song or two at work, I can't do it; it erases all existing song files then makes you repopulate the Shuffle (but it does warn you before it does so). That just means it takes a bit of planning ahead, but with these minor quibbles aside, the Shuffle is, in the end, a very fun and handy toy.
Customer Review: A non-iPod-user's review
Summary: 4 Stars
As a compact, flash-based mp3 player, the shuffle fills a niche in the market.
Apple's greatest contribution to the mp3 player market was the aesthetics of their players: love it or hate it, you have to admit that the iPod looks unique, and most people (like me) will go as far as saying it looks pretty good. Before everyone and their neighbor's dog owned one, you could pull out an iPod and make the room stop.
The shuffle continues this tradition. Apple's sleek, simple design hides a fairly powerful little flash-based player. It's tiny (although not the smallest player on the market, despite what their ad people may say), feather-light and on the whole, very trendy looking. The 512 memory is just about the right size for what I suspect is the primary target market for these players: people looking for a small, durable alternative to their iPod for short trips, work-outs, etc.
Other pros:
-Simple, intuitive control interface
-Easy to interface with pretty much any machine
-iPod users can use all their .AAC format music
-No, seriously, this thing weighs next to nothing.
Cons:
-No external LCD. Apple had to sacrifice SOMEthing to make this product as small and lightweight as it is, and the LCD screen is the first of these things. While not a problem for those intimately familiar with their music collection or those not picky about what they listen to, many users will definitely not appreciate the inability to easily navigate the songs contained on the player.
-Terrible battery life. Much like the iPod compared to its competitors (e.g. the Zen Touch), the Shuffle has less than 2/3 the average battery life of comparable features (meaning with no LCD screens). Again, Apple had to sacrifice something in order to make the product as lightweight and small as it is, and this shouldn't be a problem for the majority of users, as the shuffle seems to be geared toward short trips.
-Like the iPod, you must interface the Shuffle with iTunes. Now before the pro-iPod army comes and kills me, let me explain: I have nothing against iTunes, it's a great program (as evidenced by Microsoft blatantly copying it with Media Player 10), but I personally despise being forced to use any one application with my hardware. If Apple had made the Shuffle drag'n'drop compatible, it would have been a much better purchase.
Customer Review: Even better with a little preparation
Summary: 5 Stars
As the owner of two previous "real" ipods, I purchased the 512MB shuffle more out of curiosity than actual need. I was interested in an inexpensive ipod that wouldn't cause me to be paranoid about breaking it or losing it at the gym and I was curious as to how I would respond to the lack of an LCD screen.
I saw one of the best descriptions of the shuffle on another review site. They called it "like having your own personal radio station playing only music you like". I think that's about right, because of course you aren't able to predict what will play next on the shuffle. It's hard to do that even if you have it on regular (non-shuffle) mode, unless you have an excellent memory. But you are guaranteed music you like, because you programmed it. And you can always "veto" a song by just clicking the fast-forward button and the shuffle will move onto the next song.
To my pleasant surprise, I've enjoyed the shuffle more than I thought I would. The (lack of) screen doesn't bother me for what I use the shuffle for -- namely, at the gym. And I was stunned at just how small and light it was (many of the pictures on the web make the shuffle look bigger than it is -- you really need to see one of these things in person). But I do think that for maximum enjoyment, the shuffle rewards a little preparation. While I waited (the four weeks!) for my shuffle to arrive, I took that time to set up a new playlist in iTunes that would have the songs I would want the shuffle to draw from. I knew that since I was mainly going to use this at the gym, I only wanted fast-paced/high-energy music, so those were the songs I selected from my library to go into the special "ipod shuffle bank" playlist I created. Then, when I finally got the shuffle, I set it up to only pull music from that playlist. Apple makes it very easy to do that with a special (and shuffle-exclusive) feature called Autofill. I think this works better than what happens by default, which would have the shuffle randomly fill from your entire library, because you are less likely to get music that isn't quite right for where you will use the shuffle.
Given that Amazon is now selling the iPod mini -- a much more powerful ipod than the shuffle -- for only $179, I'm not sure how much sense it makes to spend $150 for the 1GB shuffle, but the 512MB strikes me as good value.