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iPod Shuffle: third gen, designed for tiny’s sake

By Omar Gallaga | Monday, April 6, 2009, 04:08 PM

The first thing I thought when I opened up the small jewelery box-sized package of the new iPod Shuffle and gazed at the charcoal-colored slab of metal was, “I am going to lose that thing.”

I lose USB flash drives all the time (in truth, they always turn up, but still; if they aren’t in my work bag, I tend to lose track of them), and lately I’ve even been losing my iPhone, misplacing it on the bed or letting is slide under the car seat as I listen to podcasts on the road.

What chance does a music player about the size of a small stick of gum have in my hands?

None. None at all. But then, I don’t think I’m the audience for the third-generation iPod Shuffle, which costs $79. I have an iPhone and a 30 GB iPod. There’s probably not room in my heart for a third music player.

On the other hand, for someone who doesn’t need to carry around photos or videos and just wants a gym player that feels practically indestructible, the Shuffle is remarkably built.

Available in silver and slate, it packs a punch in its itty bitty package. It holds 4 Gigabytes worth of music and introduces VoiceOver, a feature that will read out to you over the earbuds what song and artist is playing and allows you to change playlists, something that can be tricks with a music player that has no screen.

Up top, the Shuffle has only a switch and a headphone jack. The switch turns the player off, plays songs in order or in shuffle mode. The headphone jack doubles as the place to plug in an included USB adapter to sync the Shuffle to iTunes.

The most controversial feature of the Shuffle is moving the controls to the included earbuds. Using a tiny controller near the right earbud, you can skip songs, hold down the center button to hear the VoiceOver information, adjust volume, alternate playlists and pause.

The downside? iPod earbuds are generally not knows for sounding great and switching to a better pair of headphones warrants a loss of control that only the most easygoing listener will likely tolerate.

I spoke to Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Vice President of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing about the radical changes in the Shuffle, which until now had all the buttons on the device and came in multiple colors.

First we talked about the size. “You see the pictures and you don’t get the full appreciation until you hold it in your hand and say, ‘Wow,’ ” he said.

Or, like I said, “I’m gonna lose this.”

Yogurt and pencil provided for scale

I am rather fond of the shiny metal clip on the device though. It has just the right amount of pressure and looks very nice.

As to the control change, Joswiak said the big breakthrough for the new Shuffle came from the iPhone, which also has buttons on its included earbuds to answer the phone or play and pause tracks.

“We built on that concept by adding volume control,” he said, “Developing that headset, it was really that controller that provided the breakthrough for us.”

That move, he said, allowed Apple to make the Shuffle half its previous size while also adding the capacity for about 1,000 songs.

The VoiceOver feature can speak in 14 different language (it auto-detects music based in other languages and speaks it in that voice).

What about the headphone issue? Joswiak said Apple sells its own in-ear version of the earbuds that provide higher-quality sound and the company is licensing its controller technology to allow other companies to make compatible headphones for the Shuffle. Of course, that means the $79 Shuffle costs a bit more than that if you want better sound and ultimate control.

Other changes? The sync cable has a much smaller cable, making it more ideal for travel. The Shuffle has 10 hours of battery life (shorter than the previous 12) and of course, loses the colorful appear of the previous generation.

“We try to make them in the colors that look best,” Joswiak said. Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t taste the rainbow with future versions of the third-gen Shuffle.

So, after all that, what’s the final verdict? You could certainly clip the Shuffle to a secure place or take it to the gym and have a good listening experience (provided you’re fine with the included earbuds or are willing to spend more for an upgrade).

I found VoiceOver a great addition, one I hope finds its way to other iPods and iPhones. The voices I heard worked well without sounding overly robotic. And the way you access it, by simply holding down the center button on the headset, was simple and intuitive.

Less intuitive is the weird placement of the controls, near the right earbud, which means you’ll be reaching near your face every time you want to change songs or volume.

I also found the controls for changing playlists awkward. You hold down the center button, wait for the playlists to be read out loud and then click when you hear the one you like. I had podcasts mixed in and got confused by the repeat of long titles and ended up diving for the tiny paper manual to figure out what I was doing wrong.

Other than those minor issues, I think the Shuffle is nicely built and a decent buy at $79. There are some tradeoffs that will keep some shoppers away, but then, that’s why there’s the iPod Touch, Nano and other music players that aren’t even in the Apple universe.

As for me? You might want to take this one off my hands before I misplace it.