No Shuffling Here: This Is My Favorite iPod of All Time

UPDATE 9/8/05: Apple just released their new iPod nano player which is as Apple CEO Steve Jobs says, "impossibly small." It's literally the height of four credit cards thick, and no wider than a business card. Yes, it's functionally smaller than the shuffle and it has a stunning color screen. I'll post a complete review once Epinions lists it. But in the mean time you might want to consider the nano instead of the shuffle. I think the shuffle is great, but the nano is just plain WOW!
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Like many I’d mocked the shuffle when it was introduced. As the owner of many iPods I just didn’t see the usefulness of one with no screen. It seemed almost illogical. How would you know what was playing? When it was OK to disconnect from the computer? In short I just didn’t get why someone would buy one.

Obviously I was missing something because the shuffles started to sell out minutes after they were on store shelves. Even Apple was backordered for a few weeks. I just didn’t get it.

I was at the store in early February and a slew of shuffles must have come in. They were moving off the shelf like 90% off Christmas candy. I don’t know if it was my inner geek calling, or my urge to have the hot item of the week, but I picked one up…just to look of course. Logic ultimately persuaded me I didn’t need it (I have three other iPods).

That held for about a month. I was at the store again and they had two left. Logic couldn’t hold me back this time. I wasn’t shuffling out the door until I had a shuffle.

And now. Well, now I’m just mad at myself. Mad because I didn’t get one sooner, and fuming that I got the smaller 512MB version. I love this thing. It’s my favorite iPod of them all. Who knew I could learn to love the screenless life.

If you are in the market for a shuffle you probably understand what it is in its simplest form: a USB Flash Drive that plays music. But it’s really more than that. It’s an insanely great music player. It’s not just that it sounds great; even when playing music encoded at 128mbps. Even when playing music encoded at 128mbps from a higher bit encoded MP3! Certainly, there are others on the market that can do this too. But what makes the shuffle stand out is really its simplicity and elegance.

A Brief Tour of the shuffle and iTunes


As I said, I was aghast when Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, told the world the shuffle had no screen. A music player had to has to have a screen just like a car has a windshield, right? And, the whole “shuffle,” bit. Only Apple's slick marketing could make a 20 year old shuffle technology seem new and fresh. That is what I thought then at least. But now, after using the shuffle, I admit to the world how wrong I was.

Usually opening up Apple products is half the fun. The shuffle packaging is rather utilitarian though, just like the player itself. No frills. At least it’s not blister packed. Inside the box is a plastic tray with the shuffle in the center, headphones on one side, and a lanyard with cap on the other. Below the cap is the iTunes software and instructions. Very boring, I know.

Navigating the shuffle is easier than using a point and shoot camera. The front has a control similar to the “click wheel” on the hard drive based iPods. The center button is play, pause. It also doubles as the “hold” button. Just press for three seconds to toggle this feature on and off. A clever LED system will confirm your action, so you are not in the dark wondering at all. Three orange blinks means “hold” is on. Three green blinks means it’s off. Similarly, when you press a button and the orange button blinks, you know you “hold” is on. This might seem complicated, but it’s really not. Once you start to use the shuffle you catch on to “shufflese” quickly. And in the interim Apple packs in a cheat sheet you can stick in your wallet. I’m guessing people won’t really need this after giving it the once over. The other outer ring on the front controls volume but pressing up and down, and song skip by pressing left and right.

The back of the shuffle has a thumb switch (which could use a grip) to let you go from shuffle mode to play list mode. Shuffle mode is self-explanatory. Play list mode lets you set up specific song lists in iTunes that the shuffle will then play in the order you arranged them. If you like to know what song is next this is the mode to use. Below the thumb switch is a battery status button. Various colors indicated the level of battery life left. It’s very intuitive. Green means good, Red means very low, and no light means, well, the battery is dead. Pretty simple, and no annoying blinking battery laughing at you! See, you really don’t need a screen. Battery life is excellent. Apple says it should last 12 hours, but I’ve been getting 16 hours easily.

At the bottom of the shuffle is a cap, which when removed reveals a standard USB connector. Just plug this into your computer’s USB port (Preferably USB 2.0, but 1.1 will work too, just slower). The shuffle will open up iTunes and start to charge. (If you don’t want to use a computer to charge your shuffle an optional dock and travel charger is available.) I don’t hate much about the shuffle, but one thing I’m very leery about is the cap that hides the USB port. It’s just begging to get lost. I can see Apple selling a ׁ Pak” of replacement caps very soon. I really which Apple used some sort of removable flip cap.

With the shuffle comes a special edition of iTunes that enables some special “shuffle only” features. The most recognized is “autofill.” This is a nifty feature that randomly fills up your iPod with songs. You can set autofill to pick songs from your entire library or a specific play list. So if you want to use the shuffle for your morning jog, and don’ want to run into a Yo-Yo cello solo at mile 5, not to worry. Just make an exercise play list with all your favorite music that keeps you going, and that is what autofill will use. You can also drag and drop songs too. It’s your choice.

Since the shuffle storage space is relatively small compared to the hard drive iPods, you probably don’t want to load in a bunch of big music files. To that end, the shuffle software can automatically re-encode your files at 128mpbs AAC so you can pack in as many songs as possible. The genius of this feature is that the software doesn’t touch the original file. But the downside is that this process is S…L…O…W. It took me about 10 minutes to load up my shuffle using this process. Without the re-encoding my shuffle filled up in less than two minutes.

Most of my songs are encoded at 256 or higher. At this bit rate I was able to get 86 songs on my player. Using the re-encoding feature I got 130. Surprisingly, the re-encoded songs sounded pretty good. That makes for a big quandary. Do you load fast, but with fewer songs, or do you wait for the re-encoding to get more songs. I haven’t figured that riddle out yet. Of course, if I bought the 1GB model instead maybe it wouldn’t be such an issue.

Real Life Use

The shuffle is not impressive looking. It’s a white slab of plastic, the size of a pack of gum, and weighs even less. This minimalism of course is what most of it’s detractors focus on. But, as I’ve come to realize, it’s what makes the shuffle so unbelievably fantastic.

They typical flash MP3 player is about the size of a stack of quarters. Some are smaller. Some are the size of a quarter. In other words, they either stick out in your pocket, or get lost in it. These players also have screens. These screens allow for maybe 10 alphanumeric characters. So if you really want to know what is playing you have to wait for the entire song title to scroll across the screen. That is really annoying. And for all that trouble, the screen adds weight to the player. But let’s face it. When you are working out how many times do you look at the screen? I’ll bet never. Me neither. The larger iPods that hold 200 CD music collections, yes, a screen is vital. But a 120 or 240 SONG player, a screen is really superfluous.

I understand how the shuffle critics feel. I do. I was one of them. The shuffle’s beauty is truly on the inside. The inside of your pocket that is. I love my regular and mini iPods, but the truth is, they are not “transparent.” That is, when I carry them around or exercise with them, I know they are there. Even my mini. They can’t slip into my jeans pocket like a shuffle. And it’s really kind of awkward binding even a mini to my arm.

The shuffle on the other hand slips into my pocket and fades out of my consciousness with its slim shape and near zero weight. If it weren’t for my headphones I’d forget I had it with me. (I have to be careful not to wash it!). And still it’s able to harness the power of the iTunes music software and the iTunes Music Store. That is the true beauty of the shuffle. No geeky gimmicks, just the most unadulterated pure digital music player you can buy today.

There are those who live for publicly displaying their gadgets on belt clips. The shuffle is not for them, and they heartily admit it. While the shuffle is a flash player, it’s not flashy. It’s an understated player that does great work and who’s goal is to not bother you. It doesn’t seek to weight your arm down, or bounce on your hips. It’s perfectly happy to just sit in your pocket and leave you be. While some might want to walk around looking at a tiny scrolling screen, the owner of shuffle player has more exciting things to watch and do.
And it’s for this reason that the shuffle has become my favorite iPod of all times.

So the question you might have is “which iPod is right for me.” With Apple’s line up now ranging from $99 to $449, with just $50 increments along the way it’s not an easy choice. But on a value basis, you can dismiss the 20GB iPod and the 6GB mini. And unless you have a very large CD collection, or need a big portable storage device, you can forget about the 60GB iPod photo too. So that makes the choices a bit easier.

If exercising or even walking around isn’t your thing, then the shuffle isn’t for you. The key feature you are paying for with the shuffle is its size. But on a per/MB basis the shuffles are expensive if you don’t need a near zero weight player. The only exception is kids. If you are getting an iPod for a child the 512MB shuffle is perfect. They can drop it all day, even sit on it, and probably nothing bad will happen.

If you are going to put your iPod in your backpack or travel then the 4GB mini or the 30GB photo are the players to look at. While the 1GB shuffle is $149, for just $50 more you can get 3 more GB plus a screen in a package that is still easy to take with you, even if it’s not totally transparent.

Similarly, if you have a large CD collection you want to take around town with you in the car, or out of town, the 30GB iPod photo is a perfect fit. It’s $150 more than the 4GB mini, but you get 7.5x more storage space and a color screen. A color screen is a joy to look at when you are searching through 200 CDs. Plus it displays album art. The 30GB player is ideal because it has a slim form factor, as opposed to the larger 60GB model which is nearly 3/4 of an inch thick.