Comments on: Not a good sign?

By: Teegan

Teegan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:07:06 +0000

The part that confuses me is how does Apple chose to do colors??? They went from 5 colors down to black and white for the Shuffle, while they went from ~5 color to 9 with the Nano.

Personally I really liked the size and shape of the original shuffle – it fit really nicely into your hand.

I think apple should release a shuffle that has the same physical dimensions as the 1st gen but with more space! or maybe wifi syncing! FM Radio receiver AND Transmitter. Think about if your iPod had a built in FM transmitter – no more buying accessories for you iPod or forgetting them at home or in a different car.

I would buy that….

By: Frances

Frances — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:51:45 +0000

@darrell : Your comment about the floppy goes spot on!

I remember the first imac that came without a floppy drive and the internets started to predict its doom. LOL look at the imac now.

@Charles: Totally agre and also remember the first reviews of the 1g shuffle, people sying that it wall ill conceived and a joke because of the lack of an screen. And it has sold quite well enough to be in its third generation today.

By: Charles

Charles — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:42:05 +0000

This is just Apple getting rid of old inventory. Happens many times.

I am tired or people saying the new shuffle is going to fail. While we Apple geeks discuss and complain on the net, in the real world this little thing is selling like hotcakes, just go to an apple store and see for yourself guys.

Also here is a rant, take it with humor.

[/Rant]

1. I have read various reviews on Amazon calling people buying this player morons because they have to use voiceover to know the name of the song.
Voiceover add something completely new to the shuffle and it is playlists, they where not available on the previous generations. I doubt people memorize the names of all their playlists.

2. Others complain that they wont be able to use custom headphones with this ipod. I have NEVER EVER seen anyone using a 1g or 2g shuffle with anything other than stock earphones. Lets be realistic this is a cheap player aimed at the average consumer who does not buy accessories.

4. Tired of hearing that the controls are har to use. That’s not true.

The previous shuffles had 5 buttons:

play/pause
Vol+
Vol-
FF
RV

This one is just as simple with 3 buttons:

play/pause
Vol+
Vol-

the only difference is:
FF=double click
RV=triple click

5. Finally I remember hearing the same doom comments when the first shuffle came out and people laughed about an ipod without an screen saying it would not sell.

The masses don’t care about the internet complaints, most don’t even read reviews, and they are voting with their wallets, just see how well this player is selling.

[/EndRant]

By: darrell

darrell — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:29:13 +0000

i agree with chumba – critics are harsh on the shuffle while it’s designed specifically to be hidden in your pocket. one might think that the lack of buttons hurts the product but how many mp3 players are that small and have voice prompt navigation?

sometimes you have to get rid of the floppy drive to stir up progress.

By: chumba

chumba — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:16:25 +0000

Am I the only one who thinks that the new shuffle is a great player for blind and sight impaired users? Okay, the 2nd gen shuffle had easy controls, but it was also very limited.

At least with VoiceOver, users who had difficulty reading a screen can now make use of selecting different playlists, surely something us screen readers take for granted

To be honest, I wish I had those controls for my iPhone, saves me yanking it out in the rain and selecting new lists when I can use the button. Not just the basic “play/pause |<>|’ stuff.

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:18:32 +0000

Didn’t they explicitly say that they were keeping the 2nd gen shuffle as a lower priced, smaller capacity entry point? Seems like a sensible move to me.

By: imajoebob

imajoebob — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:15:59 +0000

Not to be persnickety, and absolutely no offense to Kyle, but look at comment #4 from a week ago at http://macenstein.com/default/archives/3206#comments

By: Duck

Duck — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:06:38 +0000

I can’t say I blame them. The new shuffle was kinda ill advised.

By: currentinterest

currentinterest — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:02:02 +0000

Many people I know are buying the new Shuffle because of the new earbud controls. About half had Gen 2 Shuffles, the rest never owned one before. This device is going to be a big hit. Not a single one of those people use anything other than Apple earbud headphones.

By: Uber Eter-Pay

Uber Eter-Pay — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:22:02 +0000

I doubt they’re going to dump the white on any time soon. Go to a college campus, and you’ll be inundated with white plastic MacBooks.

Besides, they upped the specs on the white one. Same graphics card, etc.. NO MORE COMBO!!! WOO!!

But I really don’t see the new Shuffle taking off. Perhaps if Apple put some normal controls on it, making it a 3.5gen, then it might actually become a great player. 4gb on an iPod for $80? That’s not a bad deal.