Apple iPod Shuffle 2G

Reviews: Multimedia

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Mark Korff
Kurtis
N/A
May. 6, 2007

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Introduction

In the crowded world of portable media players there's no bigger name than Apple who simply dominates the market with their various iPod offerings. Since we've already reviewed the iPod nano 2G and the iPod Video 5G, the iPod we'll be taking a look at today is the second generation iPod shuffle which sets a couple iPod records by being the smallest iPod ever, as well as the cheapest ever at $79.

Of course, to set those records the shuffle had to cut the fat somewhere, and the obvious omission is that it lacks any real display, with only a small tri-color led to indicate basic functionality to the user. The shuffle is available in five different colors, but only one storage size of 1GB.

With all of the competing portable media devices available to consumers now, does the cheapest, smallest, and simplest iPod to date have what it takes to win the battle for your ears when everyone else is packing more features into similarly miniscule packages? Let's take a closer look to find out!

First Impressions

At first glance, there's no denying that the new iPod shuffle is one small media player. When compared to other iPods for example, the entire device is only slightly larger than the nano's screen. The control scheme is similar to other iPods with the familiar looking multifunction "scroll wheel" which lacks scrolling functionality. Pressing down on the top and bottom of the wheel adjusts the volume respectively, pressing on the right or left skips forward or backward, and pressing directly in the middle will toggle pause or play.

The only other controls on the shuffle are two toggle switches found on the bottom of the device. One is simply the on/off switch, and the other is the "shuffle switch," which will either randomly mix up the song order, or transition back to the order in which the tracks were synced from iTunes.

The shuffle comes with the latest version of Apple's earbuds, and while I didn't notice too much difference in sound quality, they seemed slightly more comfortable and felt more secure in my ears than previous versions.

Due to its extremely small size, the shuffle is not compatible with the same docking mechanism as other iPods and instead utilizes a unique USB dock that plugs into the headphone jack. Other than the shuffle itself, the earbuds, and the USB dock, the only other items included in the packaging are some documentation, and a little guide to the blinking LED color codes that are used to indicate things like battery life, if hold is on or off, and error codes.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Impressions
Page 2: Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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2 User Comments

1 - Posted by carolstewart on October 7, 2008 - 1:13 am

i bought a shuffle one year ago. i recently washed and dried it accidently in my ge washere and dryer. gues what it still works.

2 - Posted by Kurtis on October 7, 2008 - 2:07 pm

Thanks for the note, Carol. We don't get the chance to run those sorts of tests usually. :-D

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