26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quality, 16 Jun 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Apple iPod shuffle - 1GB [M9725B/A] (Electronics)
I was looking for and mp3 player and after looking at probably all that there is to offer i finally decided to get the i pod shuffle. I was a bit worried becuase of battery life and people i know who have got i pods theres has gone wrong just after a couple of months. But none of them had the shuffle and i have had mine for a couple of months now and it is still working fine. Also the battery life is still very good about 11 hours and it comes fully charged so you don't have to wait around for ages for it to charge before you can use it. The music qulity is superb and the headphones have had some criticism but i think they are excellent. The software is very simple to use it only took me about 5 mins to work it out and it takes no time at all to fill your i pod with music. I would definatly suggest getting this as it is excellent!!!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
119 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 stars for the remote - where is the iPod?, 3 April 2005
This review is from: Apple iPod shuffle - 1GB [M9725B/A] (Electronics)
It's quite a shock when you receive your iPod through the post. Nothing prepares you for the size (or lack of) of the package and the iPod is so small it could pass as a remote control.
There are three disadvantages to buying a shuffle:
1. The unit is sealed so replacing the battery is not an option - although it can be recharged 500 - 1000 times this is a potential problem.
2. There is no space for connectors other than a headphone socket - you can't connect it into your car stereo.
3. There is no display. So you can't choose the type of music at play time.
The advantages are:
1. Its incredibly small size
2. Long battery life
3. Ease of use
Replacing the battery may sound like a limitation however the speed of technology changing means that when the time it may be preferable to upgrade rather than repair.
Connection to other equipment - if you want this then a regular iPod is probably the answer.
Lack of display. Whilst this may not be for everyone, the choice of music is readily chosen at download time.
For someone who must put every possible CD onto their iPod and then select only a subset for listening this isn't an option. For everyone else it's not a problem.
By not having a display, the battery life is very long. Whilst use may vary it doesn't run down over two weeks - obviously your mileage will vary. This also points to the battery replacement not being relevant.
The shuffle facility presents tracks in a semi-random order. This is actually very handy. By moving forwards and backwards through the tracks two or three presses of a button is sufficient. At this point you can switch to sequential or leave it on shuffle. The backwards button allows the previous shuffled track to be replayed but this feature can also be used to switch to playing a different set of sequential tracks.
In some ways if you havn't considered the plus/minuses of 'display - no display' then its not time to make a purchase.
Which one? The 1GB may seem the better buy - but the battery life will only allow (at most) one play through the music (less than 25 CDs on a 1GB iPod) or (12 CDs on a 512MB iPod).
If you have a car CD stacker (6 CD unit) then 12 CD may seem a modest (limited) improvement and 25 CD more appealing especially as the difference in cost is about three regular CD purchases. Since the unit can't be upgraded I bought the 1GB unit.
Because the unit can also be used as a USB memory stick this points to the 1GB being a better buy - you move a slider in the software setup to allocate space for USB memory - which limits the download of software. There seems little point also carrying a memory stick around.
If you already have a regular iPod - I can't see the point in also having a shuffle aside from the size and long battery life.
For anyone else the shuffle is absolutely brilliant and you won't regret buying one.
PS Like all rechargeable items it pays dividends to let the unit run down completely once in a while to get the best possible battery life.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great but..., 6 Dec 2005
This review is from: Apple iPod shuffle - 1GB [M9725B/A] (Electronics)
I like my shuffle and would probably recommend it, but it would definitely be with a couple of warnings.
Firstly: it doesn't come with a charger which is a pain in the neck because everytime you want to charge it you have to have your computer on (or you could fork out more money and buy a charger).
Secondly: I carry it around in a pocket of my bag (so in a relatively safe and secure place) and the connection for the earphones has started to become dodgy-I have to twist the earphone bit round in it's socket til I get a decent sound.
Thirdly: on some computers it doesn't fit into the USB port properly which means it doesn't charge and you have to play around until it does. Also means everytime you want to change your playlist you have a bit of a battle (so I just shove loads of songs on and trawl my way through to get to what I want to listen to). This may just be a clash between apple shuffles and IBM computers but it's still really irritating. You can buy a connector thing but it's another added expense...
Overall I am pleased but would probably have thought twice had I known all this in advance. Handy for the gym or if you don't have lot of space. But maybe better to consider the nano or mini instead.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No