iPod Shuffle

I just received my iPod Shuffle Saturday (really Friday, but people from FedEx don't know how to leave shit on my doorstep no matter how many times I sign the release).  I've had some time to tinker with it and am posting my review.

What I Knew
I would recommend using Apple's student discount if you're a student.  I bought my iPod Shuffle in a 1gb capacity for $139, reflecting a $10 discount.  Apple doesn't have sales very often, but that student discount make me feel like every day is the day after Thanksgiving.

I knew it was going to be small, and it is.  No surprise there.  The iPod Shuffle comes with headphones, a lanyard, installation CD, some Apple stickers, a full-sized and a wallet-sized user's guide.  There's also an advertisement that you can get 13 free songs off of the iTunes music store.  Before you get all excted, it's a pre-picked bunch of songs.  I downloaded it because I love free stuff, but I already had some of them in mp3 format.

I bought the iPod Shuffle as a compliment to my 40gig iPod (thank's, AJ!).  There are certain reasons I wanted to go with the Shuffle:

1. USB is easier to find than FireWire on most machines--this is good for plugging in and out of various locations
2. Becuase it's a USB Flash drive, you can use the extra space on the Shuffle to save files and transfer them from one machine to the next--I use this for my homework assignments that I type up at work on my breaks
3. Sometimes you just don't need 40gigs--when I use my iPod (mostly in the office), I listen to old Leo Laporte on KFI broadcasts; I don't need more than that playlist or two at a time on my iPod

What I Didn't Know
I was surprised to see the changes in iTunes.   The iPod updater includes an AutoFill button and a drop down from where you want to pull your new music.  The default library was "Library"--my 18,000 track playlist.  I quickly stopped the transfer of the randomly selected 240-odd songs and threw together a short playlist to transfer.  It was better the second time around.  The USB 2.0 transfered fairly quickly, and there was no issue with plugging in and unplugging the Shuffle (I used my 12" PowerBook G4).

A new feature within iTunes is the "always on" playlist.  When installing the new iPod, iTunes will ask you if you want to see your Shuffle even when it's not plugged in.  You can select songs in the playlist and delete them or add to the Shuffle's playlist.  Sorting by Artist/Ablum/Genre is not a problem, and when I plugged it back in and then took it out and turned it on, it played my playlist in order (something that my 40gig doesn't like to do).

The shuffle setting on the Shuffle is particularly useful: when you pare down your library to a single playlist, it's nice to play things out of order.  Even though I use my iPod to listen to Leo, I've been listening to some new DJ Assess tracks and my recently recommended blog songs instead.  But I know that when I'm ready, I can just switch over to my Leo Laporte Smart Playlist and transfer all those songs to the Shuffle--and then play them in order.

I did a lot of testing with the shuffle feature and am happy to report that it is easy as pie to navigate forward and then backwards again through the playlist.  And, as I was sure to check, you can be in the middle of the shuffle setting and hit, let's say, a Matchbox Twenty song...  If you want to stay with MB20 for awhile, you can click your shuffle option to play in order again and it does what you tell it to do--Rob Thomas until you can't stand it anymore (or until you come to the next artist on your playlist if the playlist is originally sorted by artist).

One major setback (other than the no screen, but this really goes hand-in-hand) is the fact that there's no internal clock.  So if you are a "Recently Played" Smart Playlist kind of iPodder, you are SOL. The good news is that if you have a "Most Played" Smart Playlist, don't fear: the iPod Shuffle will still keep track of how many times you cycle through a song.

What I Think About Things
I was reluctant about ordering my iPod Shuffle.  I followed along at MacWorld with Engadget and ordered the iWork and iLife '05 suites as soon as the Apple Online Store opened back up, but the iPod Shuffle was a big question mark.  I ended up ordering it three or so days later, after I did some research, and after I saw it next to the now infamous pack of Trident on the Apple website.

If it must be admitted, then I will admit that hype was the first half of the reasons I decided to go ahead and purchase the Shuffle. After a week, I'm seeing myself using the Shuffle more and more and being more and more thankful that Apple invented it.

The last thing I forgot to mention is the complicated LED system on the front and back of the Shuffle.  On the back, you've got the battery indicator: green is full power, orange is fair power, red is close to no power.  On the front, a hidden LED lights up just above the control wheel when you first plug it in.  The long lights and the blinking lights signal different things, and you get to try to decipher between not only the blinking and solids, but the orange versus the green colors as well.  I was going to post a chart, but even I can't remember the difference between a blinking orange light and a long green light (although in my defense, the green light obviously means it's charged and ready to be unplugged).

You have my blessing to go out and accessorize with the new iPod Shuffle (my moms is already complaining about how I got her an iPod Mini and what she really wants is the Shuffle--sorry moms, these were just announced in January)... 

You'll love it, I promise.