Apple iPod Shuffle - A very gentle refresh [Review]

With radical upgrades to the Nano and Touch happening, it was only fair that the smallest member of the family receive its share of attention too. For many, the Shuffle represents the entry into Apples domain of portable multimedia players, although with the lack of a display, the Shuffle has always been a music player, unlike the Nano, Classic and Touch that handle photos and videos among other niceties. The Shuffle is also the most affordable Apple PMP, and while there are cheaper MP3 players out there, few have the style or compact dimensions of the Shuffle - in fact, this little fellow has spawned countless look alikes. Understandably, we had high hopes, and in most aspects, the Shuffle didn't disappoint. Remember - we said most!

Look and feel

Like it or not, the compactness of the device is undeniable. The Shuffle is super tiny, and owing to the aluminium chassis, it feels extremely rugged, and should easily survive a drop, should you be perverse enough to subject it to a one...or many. The front has a large circular, clickable control pad that surrounds a large center button. The control pad is made of plastic - the only non-metal component on the device. Basic media controls play/pause, track change, and volume controls are located on this pad. On the top are two steel-finished tiny controls, that despite being tiny, are pretty usable. To the left of these is the 3.5mm jack. The rear is dominated by a large clip, with a rather strong spring - the Shuffle will happily clip on to belts, collars, and pockets, heck the darn thing is so small, you can keep it just about anywhere. At 12.5 grams, the Shuffle is a feather-weight.

The main controls are well laid out and quite intuitive, as expected from fifth generation product that has seen numerous refinements and tweaks. The top controls, (the steel ones we mentioned earlier), consist of a 3-position slide-lock button that controls power, and the play order (shuffle or in-order). The button this slider is new, and what Apple calls a "voice over" control. It can work in three different ways, reading out current track and artist name at a single press, a long press gets you information about multiple playlists and two quick presses gives battery information. All this data is read out to you, obviously trying to make up for the lack of a display, which is a nice touch.

It is obvious to see the Shuffle has a basic feature set, and is definitely not for geeky folk. Rather its for people who just want music on the move without the frills of a fancy interface, or even a display. Lack of FM Radio is a huge minus in our opinion, since many people wanting a basic music player typically expect FM Radio support. We fault Apple's logic of offering FM Radio on a costlier model with a display, and omitting it on a music-only device.

We'd have loved a 4 GB version as well, but there's only 2 GB - more of Apple-trickery - you want more storage, buy a Nano.

Click next to read how it performed and our final take