Can someone please explain the iPod shuffle to me?

[fuzzybabybunny]

How are you supposed to work this thing? They can be up to a gig, hold 200+ songs, but how are you supposed to go through these songs without a screen? Is the sole purpose of the player to play on 'shuffle'?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yep, pretty much. I think you can set it up so that everytime you plug it in iTunes randomly selects new songs as well (as in removes whats on and fills it up with other songs).

 

[jfall]

yes, that is why it's called the shuffle. You can take it off random mode and cycle through the songs one by one by hitting next and back

 

[purbeast0]

i have the first shuffle and use it about 4 times a week at the gym.

it has a big circle button with a "ring" type button around it. The big circle one is for playing/pausing. The top/bottom of the ring button turns the volume up/down. The left/right moves to the next/previous track. If you hold down the big circle button it will put it in hold mode. And it has a 3 stage on/off switch - off, on, on shuffled.

there i hope that explains it.

 

[imported_Ned Flanders]

yeah - they suck

 

[Zolty]

200 songs is "lots", that is news to me.


They were nice before the nanos came out. The flash memory made them really shock resilient, as opposed to your standard ipod which still has a miniature hard drive inside of it.

 

[Danman]

Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
yeah - they suck

Different strokes for different folks buddy. :roll:

I personally love my shuffle. I had a regular iPod also, but when I'm listening to music it is usually on the run or when I'm traveling. What I need is long battery life, and I love the random setting. I had my regular iPod on random anyway, so this is something I wanted from the start.

 

[leftyman]

ithink it makes iphonecalls too

 

[vi edit]

It's perfect for running(flash based) and other forms of exercise where you don't really care what song is playing, just that *something* is. Plus when you are exercising you typically have a certain select number of songs that you like to hear, just not in any particular order. When you are working out you don't like bumbling around a menu looking for a particular song.

Having no screen makes one less thing to break if it falls off you and it makes it cheaper too.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

as vi_edit said, it's ideal to use while at the gym, and that's about the only place I use mine.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

I don't need a screen, just a long list of banging songs for the gym. I never bother with shuffle cos I know where all the tracks are and what I want to listen to.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

as vi_edit said, it's ideal to use while at the gym, and that's about the only place I use mine.

Why couldn't, say, a Sandisk Sansa e2xx series do the same job? It can be just a bit more expensive than the Shuffle, but has loads more features, including the shuffle function. The screen turns off while playing, it's flash based so it's pretty hardy, the battery life is 20 hours, and it's still quite small.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

as vi_edit said, it's ideal to use while at the gym, and that's about the only place I use mine.

Why couldn't, say, a Sandisk Sansa e2xx series do the same job? It can be just a bit more expensive than the Shuffle, but has loads more features, including the shuffle function. The screen turns off while playing, it's flash based so it's pretty hardy, the battery life is 20 hours, and it's still quite small.

I'm sure it could. But "loads more features" can bloat something and make it more complicated than it has to be. The shuffle is so damn simple and tiny, which is the major reason I got it. If the one you are talking about has a screen on it, i'm sure it's a decent size larger than the iPod shuffle (i've never seen the sandisk one so I dont know what it looks like so maybe i'm wrong.)

also, more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated.

 

[leftyman]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

as vi_edit said, it's ideal to use while at the gym, and that's about the only place I use mine.

Why couldn't, say, a Sandisk Sansa e2xx series do the same job? It can be just a bit more expensive than the Shuffle, but has loads more features, including the shuffle function. The screen turns off while playing, it's flash based so it's pretty hardy, the battery life is 20 hours, and it's still quite small.

I'm sure it could. But "loads more features" can bloat something and make it more complicated than it has to be. The shuffle is so damn simple and tiny, which is the major reason I got it. If the one you are talking about has a screen on it, i'm sure it's a decent size larger than the iPod shuffle (i've never seen the sandisk one so I dont know what it looks like so maybe i'm wrong.)

also, more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated.

I paid $69 for my zen nano plus

the thing is tiny, fm radio holds a gb of music, which is more then enough for running or going to the gym.

sounds great isnt "bloated" and your "more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated." is bull.

 

[thirdeye]

It's an Apple product. If any other manufacturer made a device like this, they'd be blasted into the stone age with insults. That's about all the explanation it needs really.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: leftyman

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

as vi_edit said, it's ideal to use while at the gym, and that's about the only place I use mine.

Why couldn't, say, a Sandisk Sansa e2xx series do the same job? It can be just a bit more expensive than the Shuffle, but has loads more features, including the shuffle function. The screen turns off while playing, it's flash based so it's pretty hardy, the battery life is 20 hours, and it's still quite small.

I'm sure it could. But "loads more features" can bloat something and make it more complicated than it has to be. The shuffle is so damn simple and tiny, which is the major reason I got it. If the one you are talking about has a screen on it, i'm sure it's a decent size larger than the iPod shuffle (i've never seen the sandisk one so I dont know what it looks like so maybe i'm wrong.)

also, more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated.

I paid $69 for my zen nano plus

the thing is tiny, fm radio holds a gb of music, which is more then enough for running or going to the gym.

sounds great isnt "bloated" and your "more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated." is bull.

Well you just said 2 things that I don't need.

1. It has FM radio - most gyms can't even get the radio anyways.

2. It has more than enough room for songs to use while at the gym.

I don't want to have more than the space I have on my iPod. I have a 512mb one that I paid the same amount you paid for yours. I don't want more than that many songs on it. In fact, I have less than 512mb worth of songs on mine right now, cause I typically enjoy listening to the same songs everytime I go workout.

If I were to have 100 songs on there on random play, chances are I wouldn't hear the ones I like, whereas if I have about 20-30 songs on there, I will.

If iPod wasn't an Apple product, people wouldn't bash it.

 

[leftyman]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: leftyman

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
It just seems so feature limited. All MP3 players can play on shuffle, but iPod had to design a player that could only play on shuffle? I suppose it's really a niche market. To me it's like buying a digital camera with no LCD and no way to review shots after you take them...

as vi_edit said, it's ideal to use while at the gym, and that's about the only place I use mine.

Why couldn't, say, a Sandisk Sansa e2xx series do the same job? It can be just a bit more expensive than the Shuffle, but has loads more features, including the shuffle function. The screen turns off while playing, it's flash based so it's pretty hardy, the battery life is 20 hours, and it's still quite small.

I'm sure it could. But "loads more features" can bloat something and make it more complicated than it has to be. The shuffle is so damn simple and tiny, which is the major reason I got it. If the one you are talking about has a screen on it, i'm sure it's a decent size larger than the iPod shuffle (i've never seen the sandisk one so I dont know what it looks like so maybe i'm wrong.)

also, more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated.

I paid $69 for my zen nano plus

the thing is tiny, fm radio holds a gb of music, which is more then enough for running or going to the gym.

sounds great isnt "bloated" and your "more features = more things that can go wrong with it, as someone else stated." is bull.

Well you just said 2 things that I don't need.

1. It has FM radio - most gyms can't even get the radio anyways.

2. It has more than enough room for songs to use while at the gym.

I don't want to have more than the space I have on my iPod. I have a 512mb one that I paid the same amount you paid for yours. I don't want more than that many songs on it. In fact, I have less than 512mb worth of songs on mine right now, cause I typically enjoy listening to the same songs everytime I go workout.

If I were to have 100 songs on there on random play, chances are I wouldn't hear the ones I like, whereas if I have about 20-30 songs on there, I will.

If iPod wasn't an Apple product, people wouldn't bash it.

you do realize that just because it holds a gb of music doesnt mean that you need to put that amount on there?

I have listened to the radio plenty of times at my gym...and in the gym I go to all the tv's broadcast sound on fm..although I dont do that..but its available if I want it.

an awful lot of people buy ipods simply because they are Apple products and they buy into all the hype and promotion of the product without looking at the alternatives.

 

[nakedfrog]

I bought my daughter a 1GB Creative MuVo, and it has a screen, and cost $50.

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Why couldn't, say, a Sandisk Sansa e2xx series do the same job? It can be just a bit more expensive than the Shuffle, but has loads more features, including the shuffle function. The screen turns off while playing, it's flash based so it's pretty hardy, the battery life is 20 hours, and it's still quite small.

If you want/need the extra feature then by all means don't get the Shuffle.

I got one of the new Shuffles as a gift for work. I probably wouldn't have purchased it for myself, but I really like it. I have a couple of different playlists I can load on there depending on what I want to listen to, and it's perfect for in the gym. If you plan out your playlists on your computer, you don't even need the screen. Set it to play them in order and go.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

For some people, not having a screen is *good*. If you're giving a portable MP3 player to someone who doesn't know much, maybe your mom or someone, they can't really mess up with a shuffle, there's nothing to do - put the switch to on, press play, listen.

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: leftyman
ithink it makes iphonecalls too

Yea but you never know who you are calling, because it just shuffles your phone book and dials.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Zolty
200 songs is "lots", that is news to me.


They were nice before the nanos came out. The flash memory made them really shock resilient, as opposed to your standard ipod which still has a miniature hard drive inside of it.

thats roughly 10 hours of music. how often do you listen to 10 solid hours of music?

 

[ElFenix]

it's the size of a postage stamp.

and apple found that most users used their ipods in shuffle mode, rather than selecting songs or playlists. if you're doing that, the screen is pointless.

 

[chcarnage]

Well, the Shuffle plays songs at random but you can also listen to a playlist you made on your computer. Not everyone's cup of tea but why not?