Apple iPod shuffle 2 GB Silver (4th Generation) NEWEST MODEL

I actually purchased this iPod after reading all of the negative comments, mostly out of desperation. Previous to owning the new shuffle, I had a 5th generation 80 GB iPod that served me well for three years until the headphone jack broke. I'm not in a position right now to pay for a new one because I have other financial priorities, yet I need my music for the long Chicago train commute.

I understand the complaints regarding the headphones; the controls being attached to them is definitely a poor design move. Yet, looking beyond this obvious flaw, the iPod itself is a pretty amazing thing. The sound quality is superb and the size is smaller than that of a USB flash drive. I think its easy to forget that were reviewing a sixty dollar portable music player. For the price point, this is some impressive technology.

The shuffle, to me, is more of a placeholder until I decide to splurge on a new 160 GB iPod Classic, seeing as it only holds a small percentage of my music. But for the time being, it seems to be serving its purpose.

The controls of shuttle version are placed on the earbud cord which makes it difficult to upgrade. As you can imagine the stock earbuds quality is average. Additionally the usability of the one button control operates one too many functions, stalls and is difficult operate while running. I prefer the previous version.

I got this item for running. Do not. When you sweat, just a little... When it is cold, just a little . . . It does not work. The controls on the headphone lock up. The voice over gets stuck, the volume control does not work, it does not forward songs. Apple advertised the product for runners and for working out, and they lied. I am trying a cover I got here from Amazon, and hopefully, things will improve.

When purchasing a product that you interact with, I think it's important to experience it before you buy it. Just like buying a car, you test drive it before you buy it. This is usually harder for electronics because most stores like walmart, won't let you open it in the store, but heading to an Apple store is the best idea, or buy it from somewhere that has a good return policy. Also, because this is an Apple product, their products tend to have their own quirks, and this is no exception. I think knowing this will help unsatisfied customers shop better in the future.

-The headphones. Yes the headphones have poor sound quality. This is the lowest product in the iPod line. Do $20 Sony portable CD players have $150 Shure headphones included? No. Do $300 laptops come with 8" subwoofers and 4 way speakers? No. The average American consumer should know better. That being said, this is one of the few devices on the market that REQUIRE a special type of headphones to simply play, skip, or adjust the volume. This is where you love/hate Apple for doing things like this. Sony mini disc players in the 90's had this, those devices even came with inline LCD screens for showing the operation being performed, like volume up/down. Anyway, knowing before you buy is where this comes in, because it's not like Apple keeps this information a secret. The buttons are inline so you don't have to take the device out of your pocket to change the song, it's a convenience thing. You want to use your own high quality, audiophile $200 Grado cans? Why buy the Apple's cheapest mp3 player? Just sayin'. I find the quality to be somewhat poor, but I also don't expect them to be great, either. On the other hand, if you use them biking or running in traffic, it's nice they don't completely seal you from your environment because I prefer to hear a car or bike coming up behind me as a safety issue.
-The Controls. It takes getting used to, but they are not that much of a problem. You don't have to look at the device, or need to remove it from your pocket/backpack/purse, which means you can walk, jog, or do whatever without stopping. My old mp3 player required you to remove it from your pocket to change anything. I don't mind the controls
-iTunes. I remember when winamp was 2.53MB and could play pretty much all codecs at the time. *sigh* iTunes was a 76MB download for the latest version. I believe most of this bloat is from the "new user" videos and help. I do not appreciate that it takes up almost 20MB of RAM between the 3 services it loads when your PC turns on. I have turned them all off so as not to slow my PC down. I guess if having an "open source" mp3 player is critical to you, then, as above, you should have known this before acquiring this product and not get Apple products in the future. So, I find that loading mp3s is actually a little easier than my current rhapsody setup. The transfers are fast, and you have good control over your music and play lists. Now, my experience could be because Rhapsody seems to be a little buggy. I have had it installed on various computers, with clean XP installations, not from OEM pre-loads, and once in a while I can't sync this song or that, or a download error occurs, or something goes wrong general. It seems that it likes to produce error messages of no consequence. The iTunes has yet to produce an error message, so I will be glad when I no longer use RhapsodyToGo. I am at odds if I like iTunes to make a duplicate copy of every song on my hard drive, just so it can control it's own library. If you have a lot of mp3s, you will quickly get the "low on disk space" message as I did. I just copied the music to a secondary backup media knowing I have a master stored away and itunes running off a copy. Fine. At least I know where the original mp3 files are since organization is not a strong suite for me.
-As an amazon site surfer, I have found that 3rd party shuffle to regular headphone adapters seem to get really low scores. This disappoints me, because the Shuffle is capable of decent playback quality when used with a good source file, and like agreed upon above, the included 'phones are not exciting. I have found, that if I set the volume how I want it, then unplug the stock 'phones, turn it off, plug my 'phones in, turn it back on, that the music will start to play, without any control options, but play none-the-less. Problem not solved, but merely side-stepped.

Many who purchase the shuffle could be better served with a Sansa Clip+ instead. I won this product as a prize, so I'm getting used to how I can make it work for me. It's not a bad product, but you have to know what you are getting yourself into. I am also puzzled by those who purchase large SUVs or pickup trucks, then complain about the 15mpg vs 30mpg on their previous compact sedan. I feel this product should be reviewed by it's own merit, not based on what you were expecting, looking for, or just because you didn't know and now you are surprised. I am very far from being an Apple fan, and there are far more capable products out there, but the Shuffle does a good job at the limited amount of things that it does (except the low end headphones, so minus one star. I left the other stars up there because the player itself actually produces good quality sound).

Wow. This is the most useless waste of an iPod. You can't use headphones because the CONTROLS are on their headphones. Right by the ear..?!!?! You can't really do much of ANYTHING, use it in the car or as you sleep (no timer) so pretty much I just wasted my credit card reward points for nothing!!!! Wish I bought it.. I'd just return it