[LeeG]

My biggest complaint is the absence of soundcheck - I have gotten spoiled by my G2 iPod which always had soundcheck on - now, even my iTMS songs (versus my ripped CD songs), have different volumes...

L

[Ron Goodman]

I'd like to see a shorter cord for the ear buds. Other than that, it's perfect.

[Forbodium]

My reason for a screen is to navigate around the 200+ songs, NOT to read the name of the currently-playing song.

Originally posted by lavar78:
It's a lot better. That being said, I still don't think it would be a good idea for Apple to do something like this. It's too close to the mini.

But it would be flash-based, so totally different from the Mini. The Mini and full iPods are really cool. However I personally have no use for a HD-based player, and therefor would never buy one.

[cpac]

Originally posted by Forbodium:
My reason for a screen is to navigate around the 200+ songs, NOT to read the name of the currently-playing song.
This would be flash-based, so totally different from the Mini. The Mini and full iPods are really cool. However I personally have no use for a HD-based player, and therefor would never buy one.

Guess what. Ain't gonna happen.

The shuffle's just too damn small to have a useful screen on it. I don't think I could hold your mock-up and have my thump on the controls, much less be able to look at the screen.

The bottom line is Apple's got the market pretty well covered (if not saturated) model-wise as things currently stand. Adding a screen to what was supposed to be a cheap, low-end player will drive up the price while still not offering the intuitive interface of a mini or full-size ipod.

I don't understand your aversion to hard disk players either - but I'd be willing to bet that whatever it is that justifies needing this suped-up shuffle in your head is also something that makes you pretty close to unique (and therefore, not all that profitable to design for).

---------------

I haven't gotten a shuffle yet, but when I do, I think the only feature I'll really miss is the sound-check.

Anybody know any automated ways to have the volume of your library adjusted (via each songs info) automagically?

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by Ron Goodman:
I'd like to see a shorter cord for the ear buds. Other than that, it's perfect.

Bingo.

[jroller]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gomariners:
[B]The one sort of annoying thing about not having a screen is, if, like me, you have a bunch of songs on your computer you've only heard once and won't recognize, and then such a song comes out the shuffle and you say "Hey, that was really good, I wonder what it was?" you can't find out.

Here is the solution:

Why not add a button to the Shuffle...

Press it and it speaks the name of the song, artist and cd; or something along those lines, concept could be expanded/altered as necessary to deliver the desired info. Better than a small screen anyway. This is not info that needs to be read, just provided in some form, right?

No screen necessary but info is available about the track for those who want it.

[EELinneman]

I bought a shuffle about two weeks ago at CompUSA and recently got one for my youngest son. Overall I'm very happy with the shuffle but sometimes wonder who I am listening to. I would like Apple to add bluetooth to the next shuffle for broadcasting the song info for display on a palm, pocketPC or phone and perhaps the audio to bluetooth headset.

Just my 2 cents....

Eric

[thbull]

Here is a solution to not having a screen:

Check this out:http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/s...p=cksputspeech

create a DJ intro of your songs for the iPod

[Andy8]

Shorter cord for the earbuds, everything else is just fine thanks

[OtisWild]

Hi,
I have a 667 combodrive TiPB. How much does the shuffle suck when uploading files using USB 1.1?

I had a Creative Nomad back in 2001 with 64MB flash, and it SU-U-U-U-U-U-U-CKED when it came to syncing with Soundjam (then iTunes) on my Cube.

My 1st gen 10G iPod still blows my mind, but I wouldn't mind having something smaller and more portable (possibly to disassemble and embed, possibly in a motorcycle helmet).

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by thbull:
Here is a solution to not having a screen:

Check this out:http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/s...p=cksputspeech

create a DJ intro of your songs for the iPod

ANd if your iPod is set to "Shuffle" just like the name of the device suggests one should do?

[gomariners]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
ANd if your iPod is set to "Shuffle" just like the name of the device suggests one should do?

Just switch to ordinary (sequential) play mode, hear the name, flip back to shuffle and on you go!

[Toyin]

First of all I really like my iPod Shuffle. I also have a 60gb iPod Photo. I'm disappointed that when a track is played isn't synchronized with iTunes. I use the shuffle for the gym. My Gym Mix on the 'photopod' was a 100 song smartplaylist that wouldn't play anything played in the last week. This was great because I didn't get too tired of these songs. This doesn't work with the Shuffle because there's no record of when a song was last played. So my only advice would be to add an internal clock and calendar that kept track of when a song was played.

[Vsx1]

I'm sure some Applescript can help you make a "heard on the shuffle" song list.

Originally posted by gomariners:
The one sort of annoying thing about not having a screen is, if, like me, you have a bunch of songs on your computer you've only heard once and won't recognize, and then such a song comes out the shuffle and you say "Hey, that was really good, I wonder what it was?" you can't find out.

I'd like iTunes to create a playlist like "heard on the shuffle" so whenever you plugged your shuffle in, it would list what you listened to since the last time you plugged it in. Right now, it updates the playcount of songs (so it knows I'm listening), but not the last played date (so I can't do this myself). That would be great, because already the shuffle has showed me I have some great songs I didn't know about - and I still don't!

[yukonmac]

Originally posted by Simon:
Have you considered that your business card is printed with about 600 dpi while the iPod mini's screen has only 106 dpi? I doubt your 9 point screen fonts are as readable as your 9 point printed fonts...

Actually - you're misunderstanding print resolution with screen resolution. Computer monitors display text at 72ppi(pixels per inch) for Macs and 96ppi for Windows - the iPod shuffle screen would be closer to 96ppi - Just look at a cell phone display as an example. Most offset printers print at 150lpi (lines per inch) and at that setting you should submit your digital images in your layout at 300 dpi. The better analogy is that to accurately reproduce a photograph of an image of an iPod shuffle display with 96ppi at its actual scale you would need to make sure the image file was submitted to the printer at 300dpi if they were printing on a press that prints 150lpi - but to make it even more accurate you would make the file 600dpi and print it at 300lpi.

My point is if you can read this post you are looking at about 10 point font on a 72dpi display from probably about 24" away.

[Simon]

Originally posted by yukonmac:
Actually - you're misunderstanding print resolution with screen resolution. Computer monitors display text at 72ppi(pixels per inch) for Macs and 96ppi for Windows - the iPod shuffle screen would be closer to 96ppi

Not to be stubborn about it, but I don't think I'm misunderstanding resolutions as you suggest. The reason I compared print with display resolutions is because you tried to argue that you could read your business card's 9 point fonts, etc.

The 106dpi I got for the iPod mini was by simple calculation:

sqrt(138^2+110^2)/1.67" = 106 dpi

Now, the issue at hand is that you want a shuffle with a display, but you only have maybe 3/4 of an inch of width to use. So, in order for the display to make sense it should display about the same information (at least in width) as the iPod mini, meaning you would need to put a screen in the shuffle with about a resolution of roughly 138/(3/4)" = 184 dpi. I don't know about cell phones, but I guess 184 dpi is rather high and I don't know how legible a 3/4" 184dpi display is - especially not while I'm jogging. Anyway, 184 dpi is especially high, when you consider that the shuffle has to be inexpensive and adding a hi-res display (even if it's tiny and b/w) is certainly not going to make it cheaper.

Of course you could use something like the mini's 106dpi screen like you suggested, but that would give you 106dpi * 3/4" = 80 pixels of display width. With such a tiny pixel width I guess you couldn't even display the entire title of many songs, not to speak of the title of any classical piece of music.

So, from this I gather that Apple had two options:
� make the shuffle more expensive in order to give it a small, but high-res display
� give the shuffle a cheaper screen offering only a tiny bit of information

In view of these choices, I think Apple made the absolutely correct (albeit perhaps unexpected) choice of dropping the display altogether. IMHO if somebody really needs/wants a display, the mini is the way to go.

My point is if you can read this post you are looking at about 10 point font on a 72dpi display from probably about 24" away.

Yeah, but I have 1680 pixels of width. At that res your shuffle screen would have something like 54 pixels of width. Just barely enough to display an Apple icon.

[stwain2003]

Originally posted by andretan:
How do I put my shuffle to manual sync mode?

I was almost ready to buy an iPod shuffle, when i found out you CANT PUT IT IN MANUAL MODE!!!! Thats pretty stupid Apple

[Dalhectar]

-Track play count and time played of song and sync info with iTunes
-Optional Keychain cap (let you put the shuffle on a keychain)

[cpac]

Originally posted by stwain2003:
I was almost ready to buy an iPod shuffle, when i found out you CANT PUT IT IN MANUAL MODE!!!! Thats pretty stupid Apple

Um:

From the Apple website:
Transfer Your Music Automatically
Once you connect iPod shuffle to your Mac or PC, iTunes automatically updates its contents. iTunes becomes aware that you�ve connected iPod shuffle and displays it in the Source column. You can see your music and playlists at a glance. For the ultimate exercise in uncertainty, let iTunes randomly Autofill your iPod shuffle. iTunes creates a playlist that fits your style � and your iPod shuffle�s capacity. For finer control over your portable music collection, set Autofill to add specific playlists or add higher-rated songs first. Or turn Autofill off and manually select the songs you want to tote on your iPod shuffle.

Seems to say you can sync it manually...

[stwain2003]

Originally posted by cpac:
Um:



Seems to say you can sync it manually...

In regular iPod's manual mode, you can use it with more than one computer. Shuffle doesn't have that.

[Gee4orce]

Originally posted by Simon:
Believe me, it does.

Especially when each time somebody hears your colorblind, they start asking you stupid questions like 'what's the color of my shirt' and even though it's red like a friggin fire engine they want to hear you say, 'well, its, uuh, maybe green, or maybe pink, or maybe...' which is of course a complete load of ...

I'm genuinely curious here - what colour {b]do{/b] you see red and green ? Do they both look red ? or both look green ? grey ? reddish-green ? greenish-red ?

An alternative system - that my camera battery charger uses - is to use flashes to indicate charge. A solid light means full charge. A flash means low charge, a double flash means lower charge and so on. No flash means - um - no charge !

[Simon]

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
I'm genuinely curious here - what colour do you see red and green ? Do they both look red ? or both look green ? grey ? reddish-green ? greenish-red ?

Sometimes both look red, sometimes both look green and sometimes both look grey. The best part is, if I look at them for long enough I can change my opinion too: Let's say at first they seem to both look red, well after a while, they might start to both look green. I'm just not sure. In the end I mostly settle on something like oh, what the heck, it's just colored.

An alternative system - that my camera battery charger uses - is to use flashes to indicate charge. A solid light means full charge. A flash means low charge, a double flash means lower charge and so on. No flash means - um - no charge !

That's a much better idea for color blind people. I also have seen devices that just blink at different rates to indicate status. That works very well because you immediately see the difference between always on, 2 Hz blinking and 5 Hz blinking. You can see that at a glance and of course it works with any color of LED.

I still can't understand how a company like Apple can use chargers that indicate status with a LED that switches from orange to green. That means, right out of the box, 1 in 15 males won't be able to use the functionality. Normally Apple cares about these things. Of course it's not a tragedy, but since it's so trivial to change to a better system, you still wonder...

[PreciousBbird]

Originally posted by gomariners:
Now that you have yours - what do you think Apple should have done differently? What minor adjustments should they make as they update it?

As others have already stated, it would be nice to have a shorter wire for the earbuds, but I just put it in my pocket at the gym and it is so wonderful I can forgive that.

My main frustration is that I have a Mac (home) and PC (work) and can't keep what I already have on the Shuffle when I update from the other machine. The Apple store folks said this was possible to do, but I still can't figure it out and it looks like it won't work that way. It's unfortunate, but since I can just load it solely from my PC, I am OK for now.

Maybe this is heretical, but I don't like that it is white. Black would be much more harmonious with my wardrobe.

[Dougmc]

I've had mine for just over one day now. The only issue I have would be with the power switch. As someone else mentioned, having something that grips my thumb a bit better when sliding it up or down would be helpful. With the controls positioned where they are on the other side, I've found myself pushing them as I attempt to turn the Shuffle on or off.

I would like to digress a little from the thread and add that I would love it if they come out with a FM transmitter to use this in my car. Even better, a cigarette lighter adapter that has that function built into it that you can simply slide your Shuffle into your dash. The controls might end up in a nice position to access, you'd have a powersource recharging/powering the unit, while you can listen through your car's stereo.

D

[Dougmc]

After I've had my iPod Shuffle for over a day now, one thing I'm concerned about is my ability to adequately charge it with my PowerBook.

To charge it 100%, you're suppose to leave it connected for four hours. However, I'm not clear on whether it is charging when either I close the PowerBook (putting it to sleep); or, when the PowerBook simply goes to sleep after the predetermined period of time I've set it for. In both cases, the light on the iPod no longer illuminates�which I would assume would mean that it's no longer charging.

So am I suppose to force my PowerBook to stay awake, leave it open for four hours to completely charge this thing? If so, that's not too convenient.

Interestingly, I have a USB light that I use on occasion and as long as it's plugged in, it lights up. Regardless of whether the PB is open, closed, awake, or asleep.

So...the feature that I would be interested in having is some type of battery meter. Possibly in iTunes where the rest of the info about the device is displayed.

I'm sure I'll figure out a routine to get this thing charged. But as it is now...I'm still learning.

[Xeo]

Put me on board for the shorter earbuds and a method of changing the rating.

I use my shuffle to listen to music I don't normally listen to. I shuffle through large groups of singles and it works out great. But every now and then I think "Oh, I really like this song" and if there was a way for me to rate it high on the spot, I'd be set.

Otherwise, it's been really great. I have a smart playlist picking 100 songs with a playcount of 0. I've found that over the last 3 days, i've listened to about 25 songs in my walking around campus. I can wear the thing around my neck all day and it doesn't bother me. With my 2G 20GB, I hated having that thing in my pocket.

I've also gotten a lot of comments from the fellow CS geeks.

I've been thinking about this to deal with the cord length. At $11.95 (pre-ordered) it seems like it might be worth it, but it's ugly.

[andretan]

Originally posted by stwain2003:
I was almost ready to buy an iPod shuffle, when i found out you CANT PUT IT IN MANUAL MODE!!!! Thats pretty stupid Apple

Originally posted by cpac:
Um:

Seems to say you can sync it manually...

Sorry guys, I meant to say that it can sync "manually", but...

If you just got your new iPod shuffle, once you plug it into your Mac, iTunes automatically dumps songs to autofill the shuffle. And that annoyed me because my iBook only has USB 1.1, and it's not that fast.

You don't have the option to deselect autofill without plugging your shuffle into your Mac first.

Just IMHO.

[Flumpus]

Actually, it does ask if you want to Autofill before it does it when you first plug it in. At least it did with mine just now (brand new 1gb).

[porieux]

Why is everyone asking for shorter earbuds? You can use any kind you want...the included ones always suck anyway.

[lookmark]

Does anyone miss a "jump" feature, that allows you to jump to an album -- or bunch of songs -- by the same artist?

This is how I use my iPod, using shuffle as a sort of "what *do* I feel like listening to?" exploratory mode. I'll then stumble upon something I like and jump there (manually). (Anyone else listen this way?)

IOW, this feature would work very much the way option-clicking the little gray arrows in iTunes do. The only problem for the Shuffle, I suppose, is that a temporary "only this artist" filter complicates the Shuffle's drop-dead simple "either shuffle or playlist". This may be more a feature for the iPod.

[SpaceMonkey]

Just bought a Shuffle (512 MB) last week from my University's campus store. It's been fantastic so far. My only complaint (and this might just be me, and how I use it), is that I would have preferred to have the "wheel" control on the opposite end of the Shuffle from the headphone jack, instead of on the same end. If I hang it from the lanyard the headphone cord has to come up from the bottom of the Shuffle, and if i hold it in my pocket so that the volume and track advance buttons point in the right directions, the headphone cord has to come out all the way from the inside of the pocket.

[alligator]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned the sharp edges on this thing? Man, you could get a paper cut by running your finger along an edge. My 3G iPod is nice and round, yet this thing has square edges. I wish they had rounded them - everything Apple makes is rounded (even this window in Safari...).

Am I the only one to notice this?

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally posted by alligator:
Why hasn't anyone mentioned the sharp edges on this thing? Man, you could get a paper cut by running your finger along an edge. My 3G iPod is nice and round, yet this thing has square edges. I wish they had rounded them - everything Apple makes is rounded (even this window in Safari...).

Am I the only one to notice this?

They don't seem sharp to me. At least, not in the sense that they're uncomfortable when holding the Shuffle. The corners are rounded, of course.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by alligator:
Why hasn't anyone mentioned the sharp edges on this thing? Man, you could get a paper cut by running your finger along an edge. My 3G iPod is nice and round, yet this thing has square edges. I wish they had rounded them - everything Apple makes is rounded (even this window in Safari...).

Am I the only one to notice this?

I like it this way. But I guess it wouldn't be terrible to have more rounded edges.

[Burke]

Originally posted by alligator:
Why hasn't anyone mentioned the sharp edges on this thing? Man, you could get a paper cut by running your finger along an edge. My 3G iPod is nice and round, yet this thing has square edges. I wish they had rounded them - everything Apple makes is rounded (even this window in Safari...).

Am I the only one to notice this?

Well, I guess you could upload a bunch of sad love songs to it AND commit suicide all in one sweep.

[Captain Obvious]

I bought a couple for my sibs who didn't have iPods yet because they were too young to have a toy that expensive and easy to break. I was surprised with the quality of the sound. It was pretty good for something so small.
My complaints just echo most of yours:
* The power button should be ridged so it is easier to use
* Sound check is needed. - I plugged one into my car and the sound was all over the place depending on the song.

My last point isn't one that targets the Shuffle as much as add on cases for them. The Shuffle is very light. Which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the person who uses it. I would like to see a heavier metal case or something that would add weight to the Shuffle so it has a more definitive feel when it sits in your pocket. Something that would make it feel more like the weight of a Zippo lighter would be ideal.
I just found it to be too light for it to be noticed when it is in your pocket. This lack of weight could lead to a person not knowing it is missing from their pocket or worse yet the shuffle going into a washing machine.

[ASIMO]

Originally posted by Captain Obvious:
...
My last point isn't one that targets the Shuffle as much as add on cases for them. The Shuffle is very light. Which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the person who uses it. I would like to see a heavier metal case or something that would add weight to the Shuffle so it has a more definitive feel when it sits in your pocket. Something that would make it feel more like the weight of a Zippo lighter would be ideal.
I just found it to be too light for it to be noticed when it is in your pocket. This lack of weight could lead to a person not knowing it is missing from their pocket or worse yet the shuffle going into a washing machine.

Your wish is his command, Skipper.

Does not look bad at all.

[Captain Obvious]

Saw it days ago.

The total weight (42 grams) is still only about 1 1/2 ounces (just under actually at 1.48 ounces)... almost nothing.

I believe a Zippo weighs about 2.5oz
At this level of weight that extra ounce makes a huge difference.