Visually, I think the design is great, but I’m just not that into the fact that users are now locked into using the provided Shuffle earbuds to operate the on-cord controls.
Everything is well constructed… the form, the controls, the shiny clip… but that new headphone exclusivity just doesn’t sit right with me. Also, I’m totally over-thinking this.
Joe, I agree with your assessment of the earbud controls, although at U.S.$80 my guess is the target audience would happily accept such a package deal.
The possibility of Apple releasing an adaptor cord for those who want to use their own headphones seems unlikely; at least until all of the iPod family contain such control capabilities.
i’ve had the previous two incarnations of the shuffle, not a fan of this one. although i’m glad they addressed the fact that users would like to somehow know which song is playing.
Meh, the design isn’t really iconic and pretty mundane… and forcing people to use $30 Apple earphones is not helpful when things of this sort are prone to breaking, smashing and losing.
In terms of making things smaller and having a larger capacity, this is great (but not amazing) but in terms of design and functionality… a step back if not a step to the side…
I’m sure people are going to be looking for Gen 2 shuffles despite the doubling in capacity of this one.
Although i like the more radical design of the new shuffle i still prefer the 2nd Generation iPod Shuffle. I truly love the combination of the clear design, the focus on the basic controls for a mp3-audio-device and the functional clip on the back.
Swissmiss is an online garden Tina Roth Eisenberg started in 2005 and has lovingly tended to ever since.
Besides swissmiss, Tina founded and runs TeuxDeux, CreativeMornings and her Brooklyn based co-working community Friends Work Here. (She also started Tattly which was recently adopted by BIC)
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Visually, I think the design is great, but I’m just not that into the fact that users are now locked into using the provided Shuffle earbuds to operate the on-cord controls.
Everything is well constructed… the form, the controls, the shiny clip… but that new headphone exclusivity just doesn’t sit right with me. Also, I’m totally over-thinking this.
Mar 11th, 2009 / 12:11 pm
Joe, I agree with your assessment of the earbud controls, although at U.S.$80 my guess is the target audience would happily accept such a package deal.
The possibility of Apple releasing an adaptor cord for those who want to use their own headphones seems unlikely; at least until all of the iPod family contain such control capabilities.
Mar 11th, 2009 / 1:13 pm
i’ve had the previous two incarnations of the shuffle, not a fan of this one. although i’m glad they addressed the fact that users would like to somehow know which song is playing.
Mar 11th, 2009 / 1:48 pm
Meh, the design isn’t really iconic and pretty mundane… and forcing people to use $30 Apple earphones is not helpful when things of this sort are prone to breaking, smashing and losing.
In terms of making things smaller and having a larger capacity, this is great (but not amazing) but in terms of design and functionality… a step back if not a step to the side…
I’m sure people are going to be looking for Gen 2 shuffles despite the doubling in capacity of this one.
Mar 11th, 2009 / 3:08 pm
Although i like the more radical design of the new shuffle i still prefer the 2nd Generation iPod Shuffle. I truly love the combination of the clear design, the focus on the basic controls for a mp3-audio-device and the functional clip on the back.
Mar 12th, 2009 / 6:51 am
why can’t you link to the video? http://movies.apple.com/media/us/ipoditunes/shuffle/2009/tours/apple-ipodshuffle-guidedtour-us-20090311_r640-9cie.mov
Mar 12th, 2009 / 4:22 pm
Thank you Garth. I updated the link. But still, I would like to embedd the video.
Mar 12th, 2009 / 4:28 pm
so why doesn’t it have a screen again? I’ll stick to the almost equally tiny Mobiblu cube http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/imgcache/4814.png
Mar 15th, 2009 / 9:11 pm