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Apple iPod Shuffle (512MB) Review

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  1. Joe T. •  March 16, 2005
    Rating: 4/5

    I purchased the shuffle to use when I am working out. The light weight and ease of use make it ideal for this application. You can select the songs and adjust the volume easily while jogging . It slips in your pocket and the cord is long enough to stay out of the way. I found the laniard a little too nerdy for my taste and the slider on the back should be grooved for easier use. The random play is not much of a problem, you simply skip to the next tune if your not in the mood for a song or you can build a playlist in itunes if you prefer a particular order in your life. I generally know the songs and artists in my collection so not having an lcd readout is ok – unless they want to add a lap timer.

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  2. Ted •  March 16, 2005
    Rating: 3.5/5

    I like, but don’t love, my shuffle. It’s a very simple device, I like the ease with which you can run it from a pocket instead of looking like you want to Be the iPod Ad with that silly lanyard. I like the data storage function and that you need no additional cablesIt’s great if you don’t care what song plays next. If you ever want to find a specific song, there’s no easy way to do it. You can keep clicking the Next button, but that gets tiresome since it can hold a couple hundred songs.

    On the subject of signal power, it has no trouble driving my full-size “can” headphones, and also no trouble plugging it into a line-in with the usual adapter cable. I love the fact you can plug this tiny little thing into any equipment and get complete total sound.

    But the UI can be annoying. Nothing but cryptic lights on this unit. Not even Apple’s own included cheat sheet wallet card contains all of the functions that you can access by clicking various buttons certain numbers of times. Who can remember all that? It’s like a DOS interface to a music player. That’s why I don’t totally love the shuffle.

    Rating: 7 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  3. Simon •  March 22, 2005
    Rating: 4/5

    I own a 4G 20 gig iPod as well as the 512Mb version, and this iPod Shuffle will come in very handy when I mountain bike downhill (extreme vibrations that made my iPod crash the HDD a few times, and I don’t have time to look at a stupid display when I work out or go fast), plus I’ve got so much stuff in AAC format this is the only player that can help me.  A perfect match!  Plus it’s v. cheap for the ram size.  I hated the idea of not having an LCD display, but seriously I barely look at it when I’m mobile with an iPod – it’s only when my iPod is sitting on a desk that I look at its screen!  So no LCD = no big deal for me.  I’m sure there are others like me. Sound quality is fantastic. Apple designed this player knowing full well other players had screens and FM tuners, and decided for simplicity. I’m happy with it, using it every day!

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  4. Lee •  March 23, 2005
    Rating: 0.5/5

    Why would anyone buy this? You have to use it with I tunes, which I suppose is okay if you like paying over the odds for low quality recordings of chart music.

    Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  5. hjlee •  March 28, 2005
    Rating: 4/5

    i mainly use i-pod shuffle when i go to work or at class and it is different from the normal i-pod where you need to wist it on your belt but i pod shuffle slimnese and small size allow you put it almost everywhere.

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  6. Zain K •  April 5, 2005
    Rating: 4.5/5

    I own a Shuffle it has been like 3months. I love it. It is small, compact and nice. It is easy to carry when i workout, on my bike, and just roaming in school. sometime i feel the need for screen, but like 90% of time i don’t even take my shuffle out of my pocket. It is cheap, and affrodable. If u r looking for a cheap, small and stylish ipod…. Buy the Ipod Shuffle.

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  7. neraj •  April 6, 2005
    Rating: 4.5/5

    it is good and stylish. it doesn’t matter if you have a screen cos u know the songs u put on it and you can play in alphabetical order. what dissapointed me was the fact that it did not come with a charger giving me more hassle. the functions are good but i got the shuffle so i could travel easily because it’s not worth as much as my u2 one and because there is no charger i cant travel without hassle.

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  8. marianne •  April 10, 2005
    Rating: 4/5

    i have used the shuffle ONLY for audiobooks (audible.com) and i simply love it. it’s light, portable and i don’t use the random function, of course. the only thing i don’t like is the slider at the back- very user-unfriendly.

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  9. Danielle •  April 10, 2005
    Rating: 4.5/5

    I love my shuffle. I think it is very user friendly. You can’t beat the size and the sound quality is wonderful. My only complaint, is that I had to take out a magnifying glass to read the darn serial number on the thing.

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  10. bob •  April 20, 2005
    Rating: 0.5/5

    broke on first day

    Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  11. j •  April 24, 2005
    Rating: 4/5

    love it tiny and simple and cheap could use some sort of screen even if its on the headphone cord (to preserve it good looks) Although it really is not nessisary.

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  12. ann •  April 25, 2005
    Rating: 4.5/5

    its small,its white, its light, and holds more music that i need to listen to in a day. miss the little screen, but never would look at it when walking around. but the switch needs some sort of grip. otherwise, awesome!

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  13. Dave •  April 25, 2005
    Rating: 0.5/5

    Crashed and burned within one month. Apple replaced it. New one died in less than 5 days. SAVE YOUR MONEY. This thing is junk.

    Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  14. Ian •  April 30, 2005
    Rating: 1/5

    Can someone please remind me why the ipod shuffle is so great? I mean, you have almost no way of organizing music on it and there is no screen so you can’t find the song you might want (I don’t think you want to be listening to heavy metal when relaxing). Sure, it has great sound and is amazingly simple, but simpleness is its downfall. It has no features at all other than its sole purpose, random play. This player is a nice size, but for less money you can get a smaller sandisk 512MB player with way more features, flash memory, and a nice backlit screen (voice recording,fm radio,fast transfers,equalizer,etc.) and it has random play. Im not advertising here, but i had a shuffle and a sandisk 512MB and i have to say the shuffle sucked compared to the other. DON”T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON A SHUFFLE!

    Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  15. fay •  September 3, 2005
    Rating: 4.5/5

    people ae moaning that you can’t see what sojng you are lisening to but if you put all the songs on there then you should know them all and like them all. as soon as a song comes on you should know what it is so why do you need to read it o a screen?if you dont like the white colour then quit complaining and buy a £5 cover for it in any colour! dont be so fussy! the shuffle is fantastic! i bought mine 7 months ago and it is still runnig perfectly!

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  16. bond •  September 26, 2005
    Rating: 5/5

    its great! its small, lite and looks great. its better than those other flash players coz its got that nifty usb battery so u just plug it into the compie and charge it up. i got the 512 so u fit like 90 or so song on dere. no point in having more than that coz u’ll never get thru all the song neway. like in 12 hours which is the supposed battery life of the ipods u’ll listen to like 200 songs in that time neway so wats the point of being able to have 5000 songs or wateva in ur pocket. the shuffle is small and fits in ne pocket. i just chuck it in my top pocket when i go to skool. even wen u drop it, the shuffle is fine because it’s so lite. if ne1 is after a mp3 player, your should really consider the shuffle. i’ve had it since jan 05 and its still alive and kicking :D

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  17. Jordan B •  November 20, 2005
    Rating: 5/5

    I brought my iPod shuffle about 2 months ago. I was a bit doubtful at first because of the idea of not having a screen. But after purchasing I found that you never look at the screen anyway. Its only when its on your desk that you look at it.

    I purchased mine to listen to at school, in class when I have finished my work etc. It has served the purpose to the max. I conciter my shuffle a friend now.

    Size isnt an issue either, you are never going to listen to all the songs on the player more than twice before the battery runs out, and with auto fill with iTunes it makes it easy and keeps all your music fresh and new. And with random playback every next song is a surprise…

    And for people who say that the headphones are rubbish.

    Finaly someone has invented headphones that you can go to sleep with and you wont wake up with sore ears.

    GOOD WORK APPPLE!!!

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  18. Sara •  December 25, 2005
    Rating: 5/5

    I love my IPod shuffle. It works great for what I need. I like to work out and use it at school. I no longer have to carry around a bulky CD player or CDs. This is awesome.

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  19. Duality •  February 27, 2006
    Rating: 4.5/5

    We all have diffent ideas for a great mp3 player. Me, something with great sound, compact size, good power, and simplicity of use. Sometimes an LCD screen will help but is not necessary, as it is usually in my pocket.

    Shuffle looks and feels like the remote control that comes with newer Apple computers. It’s easy to use, and it’s mostly awesome. The amplifier that drives the sound in Shuffle is actually better than all other iPod products–it’s distortion-free for most part, sound reproduction is great, and is the only mp3 player to drive my massive Sennheiser headphones with ease. Now that’s telling you something.

    I sometimes miss the LCD screen–sometimes when I randomly load music to my player I don’t know the name of the song and I will end up not knowing, but no biggie.

    Sure, you could cheap out and go for SanDisk or whatever with more features, but ask yourselves: what matters more, excessive features that you’ll never use, or the best sound-reproduction mechanism in the market? Think about it for a while.

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  20. Chris •  May 25, 2006
    Rating: 5/5

    Hey. Myself, I think the Shuffle is amazing. I ordered one yesterday, and I simply can’t wait for it! Oh, btw, on the full review on this site, there IS a ‘Hold’ option. You just press the Play/Pause button 3 times in a second. Then to take it off, just repeat. Hope this was helpfull to read.

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  21. razvan •  September 16, 2007
    Rating: 1.5/5

    For me, it simply didn`t work, i had it working perfectly for like 2 months and then it collapsed. Piece of crap, junk, call it whatever you want. I thought i’d take a look at some tutorials on the web to set it up but it`s dead. I wouldn`t recommend it for someone to pay money for this.

    Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  22. Me •  January 1, 2008
    Rating: 4.5/5

    As for my shuffle, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to take it out of the box, so yeah. I have had extremely bad experience with ipods in the past, but this one has held up fairly well for the last 6 months. We will see what happens in the next 6 (my ipods usually crapped out RIGHT after my 1-year warranty ran out).

    Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  23. Chip •  June 13, 2008
    Rating: 4/5

    I got the Shuffle for Fathers Day a few years ago and it is still going strong. When my car radio died I got an adapter to play it through the speakers and that kept me happy. Now I use it when I’m mowing the grass – along with a pair of lightweight noise-reducing headphones because I HATE EARBUDS!!!

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

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