My old 10GB scroll wheel iPod died over the holiday season and I needed something to replace it. I was borrowing one for a while, but I wanted to get something of my own. So I bought an iPod Shuffle. I dropped $99 on the 512MB model, the price was just right.
Well, I am mostly taking back what I said about the iPod shuffle. Here’s what the iPod shuffle does. For $99 you get a handy 512MB USB 2.0 pocket drive that happens to play MP3s, MP4s (including protected ITMS MP4s), WAVs and Audible files. It also comes with a set of headphones and a lanyard. It’s also tiny, ideal for physical activity.
Do I miss the screen and the scroll wheel? Yes. Do I miss having almost anything I could want to listen to available at a moments notice? Yes. But, it does a nice job a playing MP3 files in a small profile which is kinda what I was looking for. It’s great for not taking up a lot of room when you go out, just a small space in your pocket. It’s great on the slopes (keeping the volume down so I can hear other boarders of course).
My biggest gripe with the shuffle is even if you keep it in manual (non-Autofill) mode, it still ties itself to one machine. I’d like to be able to drag tunes off my home machine before I go to work the fill it with different tunes from my work machine when I leave at the end of the day.
Ideally I’d get a 30GB iPod Photo or an iPod mini (6GB) when funds are a little more flowing. I do like the size of the mini and they have the best feeling click wheel.
There’s a nice iPod Shuffle article at MacDevCenter. It pretty much covers all of the details of the unit.