Apple iPod shuffle - 512MB [M9724B/A]

Having used iTunes as my default player for awhile, I can say that 99% of the time it's in shuffle mode, which made the shuffle a logical purchase for me. Added to that, the main selling points were its cost and its uberly small size. You really won't beleive how tiny this thing is when you first take it out of the package. And whilst I hate the 'iPod as a fashion statement' school of thought, it really does look like a nice piece of kit.

Having read lots of contentious arguments about the product before buying, It's pretty obvious that you either love or hate this thing. The main point of hatred for the shuffle is its lack of screen and therefore song selection ability, which seems to be missing the point of having a shuffle. As I don't tend to have music that I don't want to listen to on my computer, not having a screen doesn't bother me in the slightest, indeed it's the lack of screen that means the shuffle can be as tiny as it is. If you really can't bear not having a selection screen, don't buy this. However, it holds 120 songs, and remembers where you were when you turned it off, meaning you rarely have to suffer repetition. Mine is for day to day usage, meaning I just whack it in my PC every night and shuffle in another 120 songs for the next day. Roughly eight and a half hours of music is more than enough for a couple of days journeying to and from work, uni, and friends houses.

There are only a couple of slightly annoying things about this product. When you are charging it from your PC, it doesn't tell you when you've achieved a full charge, which makes it a matter of guesswork more than anything else. Also the algorithim that dictates the shuffle seems to play the songs in a pre-set random order, much like the one on iTunes, which defeats the random concept a little. However, I have never found this to be a problem. The iPod does scratch pretty easily, and you will also get pretty pissed off pretty quickly with how twisted the headphones get.

Many people will tell you that there are better mp3 players out there, and denigrate the shuffle for it's lack of features and the fact that it is simply a release so that apple, who monopolise the high and mid range mp3 player markets to monopolise the lower, cheaper end too. Well, it probably is, but I don't really see why that's a problem. Whilst I can accept that many people only buy an iPod "Because it's cool", the main reason that apple has made a killing on the iPod is because it's simple to use and comes with easily usable and manageable software. Before you buy anything like this, given the amount of choice on offer, you should really do your homework and get the product that best suits you. For me, the shuffle does exactly what it says on the tin, is unobtrusive, and is a fraction of the cost of other players. I hope you found this review useful.

- It is more robust. The nano feels like a sensitive gizmo, ready to break at anytime. It's screen scratches preety easily, and the chromed rear of the device gets smudged staright away by fingerprints. The shuffle has a slightly less elegant design, while being extremely robust: there are no visible "sensitive" parts !

- It comes with a neckstrap, so you can put it on while on the go. I found this to be a great feature, provided the price. Sure you can do the same to a nano, but you have to buy the neckstrap as an accessory.

- It has the usb plug built-in, so you dont have to use a cable, as in the nano case. In many cases, I have also conveniently used it as a flash drive.

I dont really care on carying a lot of songs with me, and I like the random play feature. I usually update the shuffle's music from a library of my favourite songs, so I dont mind which song comes first or second (perhaps cycling through playlists could be a nice feature, when I occasionaly want to change the music style being played).
As a result, the nano stays at home, playing the role of a high-tech gizmo, and the shuffle gets to do all the work, carried around all day.

It doesn't deliver anything that the 40GB can't do but it has the advantage of size/weight. In fact, the 40GB, as you might expect, does everything the shuffle can do and a whole lot more, so if like me, you already have an ipod hard-disk based machine, I wouldn't particularly recommend this, unless like me, you want something ultra-portable for exercise or the like or maybe just want something a little more covert.

If you haven't got an ipod already then it's a completely different ball game - the shuffle represents a very affordable way into the MP3 market and is an excellent all-round option provided you don't mind not having a screen on it.

Sound quality seems as good as my bigger ipod and it's pretty easy to load it from itunes which comes with it. I do generally get about 120 songs on it which is about 8-9 hours continuous playing time (conveniently within the 12 hour charge capacity). Charging it is as simple as plugging it into a spare USB port while your computer is running.

Generally I would say it's an excellent little device but I do have a few minor gripes about it :

The flat slide-switch on the back is a bit fiddly, especially if you want to set it to the middle non-random mode - just plays songs in order they were loaded.

There's only a vague indication of what charge is left in the ipod (a tiny green light) and unless you remember how long you've used it since your last full charge then believe me you will get caught out a few times. Likewise for charging, it doesn't tell you when it's fully charged - you have to guess at something between 2 and 4 hours and that'll be even more guesswork if it's already partially charged.

The neck strap that comes with it is ok for normal use but no good for vigorous exercise - you really need to invest in an arm band (£19 - yes really !) and also an all-weather cover (another £19 !) to keep weather and sweat out of it - it doesn't like any kind of moisture and starts behaving badly if it gets exposed. If you use the neck band you have to take off the USB protector cap so be careful you don't lose it while it's off.

The headphones that come with it are the standard white ipod ear pieces and while this is not a citicism of the shuffle itself, if you really want the most out of it in terms of sound quality, you need to invest in a much better set (I use Shure EC2's)

If I hadn't particularly bought this for exercise usage and if I didn't already own a bigger ipod, I'd probably give it 5 stars. It dropped a star because it's partly been designed with a view to all-round practicality but falls a little short in the exercise domain unless you spend another £38 on accessories which I feel it should have come with.