For the casual user, that's fine, and will get you a good distance on an modern jetliner before you have to recharge. Unless you're on an Airbus A380, of course, in which you can just plug the player's USB cable into the back of the seat in front of you.
Speaking of USB cable, we'd have like to have seen Apple come up with a new one. As before, the latest Shuffles come with a dock. It's not like a regular iPod dock - with the Shuffle, the power's pumped in through an extended 3.5mm jack, and the dock allows the player to sit snuggly on this while it's being synced and charged.
Eminently wearable
That's the theory - in practice, we found iTunes will lose the connection if you nudge the Shuffle as the power and data electrical connection is momentarily broken.
The other problem with the dock is that while it's fine for deskbound Shuffle owners, as laptop users we'd prefer a simple cable with a USB connector at one end and the extra-long 3.5mm jack on the other. It'd be just as easy to connect and a darn sight easier to wrap up and stow with your laptop.
Stowing the Shuffle itself is a doddle, thanks to the clip on the back which was, and remains, a work of genius, no matter what you think about the rest of the player. It's ready to attach to almost any part of your clothing - lapel, pocket, sleeve rim, shirt opening, whatever - and with your body behind it, pushing the control ring is easy.
Only a lack of Bluetooth A2DP support and the resulting need for wired earphones stops this little lad becoming the music player equivalent of Star Trek: The Next Generation's comm-badges.
Unlike rip-offs there's no radio on board, as per other iPods.
COMMENTS
Re: Paul
> cheap enough to be practically disposable
£45 is practically disposable? How the other half live, eh?
I think the shuffle looks like a great piece of kit but couldn't possibly justify the cost. £45 for a 2GB player is appalling. I can buy a 16GB MicroSD card for (just) less than that and stick it in one of those USB-Key style MP3 shufflers that catalogues give away free when you place an order over £10!
Okay, it might look shit, not have the "tactility" of the Shuffle or whatever else but, hey, I'm carrying nearly all my music for less than a shuffle that can only carry a tiny fraction and it will take a AAA Battery.
I got one as a gift
Gave it away. Crap sound, average battery life, and limited play options. A player for people that hate music basically. I really don't see the point, you can't choose what to listen to, and when it plays something it sound crap.
Re 2G huh?
the G increment, refers to the fact that the 1st gen shuffle, some time back now, was a glorified USB mem stick, in nasty white plastic, which went grey very quickly. Pop the cap off, stick it in ur USB and it filled its (meagre) memory with a random choice from your library, available in 512mb and 1gb, if memory serves (which it sometimes doesnt)
So, these are still the same 2G models, but with some 'funky' new colours and a bit of a price drop. A review to tell us nothing has changed, a little unnecessary maybe, but there would be more complaints if we'd had nothing
RE: Mmmm.....
"My only issue is having to keep two seperate libraries, one for the classic and one for the shuffle. If they'd let me have two different ipods on a single library it'd be even better."
I don't quite understand your problem, I have my classic set to sync the entire iTunes library and then have the shuffle sync from a playlist I've created. Or you could get it to pick randomly from your entire library.
Great product,
Bought a day glo orange one some time back for the gym and jogging and just have in syncing what it can fit from my '5 star' rated songs. Battery life is good normally stick it on charge once a week (never seen the battery warning light). Sound quality is good enough considering the listening environment.
