4 gig iPod Shuffle – Listening Blindfolded
For all that they’re small and svelte and functional, the iPod Shuffle is, in my opinion, a really crap mp3 player in it’s 1 gb incarnation, let alone any 2 gb and 4gb versions that may come along this Autumn.
I can just about live with the idea of auto-filling your MP3 player with a random collection of tunes from your collection. Quite frankly, I’m amazed that Apple can take the approach of trimming out anything that costs money and could increase the unit build cost …and label it as a the greatest feature since sliced bread. But then, I’m pretty much convinced that Apple could sell a low powered processor box with minimal memory as a brand new concept computer.
I digress, so those Apple fans best look away as this is going to be pretty critical of the iPod Shuffle. the 512mb iPod Shuffle is actually a pretty nice beast, although navigating around is a complete pain. I’m sorry but shuffle as a concept is great, and works for some people, but the majority of people I bet are using the iPod shuffle in consecutive mode, going from track to track.
My biggest problem? You need to wait till you hear the next song when skipping forward or back a track before you can skip to the next one. One thing I find with my portable music (given that I don’t spend more than about £100 on a portable music device, hence no 60 gb monsters) is that I’ve a rough idea where songs are in my track order. I know it takes 21 skips to get all the way through Duran Duran’s Greatest if I want to get to Kirsty MacColl’s Tropical Brainstorm. Try doing this on an iPod Shuffle – it takes forever as you wait for each track to be loaded so you can skip it.
I can live without a screen (after all, my cassette walkmen never did) but what I really need is a ‘group skip’ function, or at the very least ‘jump forward 10 tracks.’ It could be done in firmware, a double tap on the forward or back buttons would do it (single tap is skip one and hold down is fast forward at the moment), but while there are Linux firmware hacks for regular iPods, there doesn’t seem to be anything for the Shuffle. The simple controls need a kick up the backside to get the Shuffle anywhere close to acceptable – but who am I to argue with 2 million of the little buggers sold since it launched?
Okay I’m not 100% dissing the Shuffle – the 512mb Shuffle is actually pretty good for when you’re at the Gym and bouncing around a lot, but the idea that 1 gb version is actually better in terms of usability is laughable – let alone the mess that navigating around the proposed 2 gb and 4gb models that are likely to happen (if for no other reason than Moore’s Law). With a potential 960 songs on the 4gb Shuffle (which is the same size as the iPod Mini) you’re going to have to rely completely on the random nature of playback and filling of the machine – and believe the marketing from Apple. I wish you all well, it’s not for me.
I gotta say that usually with my iPod I pretty much always play it in ‘shuffle” mode as I’m just to lazy to make a choice myself. I like being surprised by what is in there.
Excellent blog btw
I belong to the campus computer UG – a platform independent organization that tries to serve the needs of everyone on campus. A recent survey of mp3 users was – Whether you play MP3s on your computer or your mp3 player, how do you listen to your music most often: a) randomly, b) in order (whatever that order might be)
the overwhelming majority (in the high 80s) was randomly.
I agree with Fuzzy. I know several people who use a shuffle and all of them play in shuffle mode, not sequential. The 1 GB shuffle used to cost $149US and the 4 GB mini $199US. If you want to navigate, the mini is the obvious player at not that much extra. $199US is not that far from 100 pounds and would certainly tempt me if I had your criteria.
I’ll also bet most users agree with you that the 512MB shuffle is a better buy than the 1 GB shuffle. Hence Apple’s lowered price, to $129US.
Would have to disagree with you on your analysis. I have a 1GB playlist that I threw together the day I got mine (some 3 months ago now) and apart from a few minor tweaks to adjust the contents, I’ve enjoyed the same playlist ever since. I don’t auto-fill and always shuffle. It’s like having all my “greatest hits” at my fingertips. If I don’t particularly like the next song, I just bump ahead one and 99% of the time, it’s a perfectly acceptable choice. (Interestingly, I’ve started to party shuffle my entire iTunes library, some 8300 tracks, and even there I seldom find an objectionable choice, although the classical fragments can be rather jarringly cut off)
I do accept that the more anal among us who are playing in order (or letting iTunes auto-fill fragments of classical works, a particular reason I choose not to) might want to bump ahead by 10’s though.
My shuffle has replaced my 1st generation iPod as a constant travel companion. I love it.
Thanks for the commentary!
The word “crap” is far to strong. The sound is just fine compared to anything else I’ve listened to–maybe your MP3s suck.
Everyone, thanks for your comments. Some points….
David: On the campus survey was there a question about do you listen randomly on your “mobile” device as opposed to “on your computer?” Bemore interested in that.
B2BD: I love the comment fragment “…the more anal among us.” I’m still trying to work out if it’s a compliment or not.
Kenneth, I;’m using the word ‘crap’ for the whole Shuffle culture., not the sound quality. I’ve got frakked ears so teh Shuffle is as good as full blown CD’s in my head!
I think that you will find that any flash based iPod larger than 1 GB will have a screen and a better navigation process than a Shuffle. I don’t even think they will be called Shuffles.
I use my Shuffle in order but I only load podcasts on it.
Ewan,
You’ve really underestimated the number of people who totally love shuffle mode. Consider the fact that at some point Apple added “Shuffle Songs” to the main menu of the iPod, when previously this was something you had to go deeper into the menu system to set. This was a direct response from customer’s who loved shuffle but thought it was too difficult to set up.
Personally, I use a combination of shuffling with Smart Playlists. For example, I have one playlist for songs with five stars not played in the last six months. Anytime I listen to a song it gets removed from that playlist, so that’s always full of music I like that I haven’t heard recently. Since the playlist is dynamic the exact order of it doesn’t matter, so why not shuffle it?
My problem with the iPod shuffle is that there’s no internal clock. It increments the Play Count when a song is played, but not the timestamp, so the Smart Playlist I described above is pretty useless for the shuffle as it won’t update correctly. However, I just use other playlists to fill my suffle and use a larger iPod for more complex uses.
Anyway, Apple saw that many people loved the randomness of listening to their favorite music in shuffle mode. They decided to cut costs by not providing a screen, improve usability by not having a half-hearted attempt at a screen, and focused their marketing on the randomness and made a potential liability into a selling point. For those engaged in jogging or other exercise, they are likely to not use a screen even if it was there.
Another good thing about the larger 1 GB shuffle is using it with podcasts. One can subscribe to several podcasts and quickly fill up a shuffle, but the overall number of tracks is small enough that, if you want, you can keep track of where you are within a playlist. Hook this up to your car and listen to interesting shows on your commute — and keep your eyes on the road.
Is the iPod shuffle for everyone? Of course not. But the iPod mini provides the screen you are missing from the shuffle, and is still a very small device. I suspect those who are slightly interested in a shuffle but reject it for a lack of screen would be happy with a mini.
I own a Shuffle and love it, and after reading your article I wanted to cry!
Nahhh… seriously though, the Shuffle is a temporary solution for Apple to prevent “poorer” people from buying competing flash players. Apple didn’t wan’t to invest too much R&D in it and also was afraid to eat it’s own iPod mini sales if it had a screen.
I don’t have a very big music collection (actually it almost fits all into my 512 meg Shuffle!) so I don’t use the auto-fill function, I create my own playlist, ordering songs in a way that my favorites and most listened too songs are at the start and end of the playlist. I can go back to the start (and end) by tripple-clicking play, so I can get near those songs when I want to. The songs in the middle are my least favorite so when I want to get to those I put it in shuffle mode.
I have a mental map of my playlist so I can also navigate to the songs I like when I know they are near. By the way you are not -forced- to listen to each songs when you want to skip forward like 10 songs. Just click forward 10 times as quickly as you can and you don’t have to hear those songs in between…
When I bought my Shuffle last March, all competing MP3 players that had a screen at the same price were 128 or 256 megs only. I had to choose between not having enough space and not having a screen.
I don’t mind blindfold operation, actually I like never having to bother at looking at a screen, I just keep it in my hand, with my thumb on the control-wheel. (One of my songs in my playlist is actually called “Blindfold” by Morcheeba) I can see how a screen and scroll-wheel could be useful for anything more than a 1 Gig music collection.
Anyway it’s obvious that the Shuffle line is about to be updated, and I don’t see Apple releasing a screen-less 4 gig iPod Shuffle. Maybe the low end iPod mini’s price will go down to 149$?
The only problem I have with my Shuffle is that sometimes it won’t remember the last played position. It’s a well documented bug and it seems that Apple is having a hard time fixing it.
In any case I love my Shuffle and yes I admit I’m a little more tolerant to it’s faults because owning an iPod branded MP3 player for me is a politico-social statement.
mate, sounds like u need an iPod mini for the features u are seeking.
just think, this way at least u now have a screen ;)
Sorry. Couldn’t disagree more. I have a 1G shuffle and I autofill it from a list of all my favorites and ALWAYS play it random. Rarely here the same songs in a few days and great for just playing music…I don’t want to fiddle with a mp3 player, I just want to hear music. Obviously the mini is for people who want to choose music and the size/price if better, but the size and simplicity of the shuffle is unbeatable.
author is spot-on about having a “skip +10” or better – “skip to next playlist” function, for sure. i wonder if Apple will ever do this, or is using that omission to force upsells to the hd-based models. the Shuffle actually has the best sound quality of all the iPods due to its amplifier, which is why i bought it. i never use shuffle-mode; i like to listen to whole albums (and artists that make decent whole albums, which is rare these days i admit…)
the other idea i had which would be nice is to be able to insert “stop” markers or songs at the end of a playlist; i have a “sleep” playlist and a “hard breaks/dnb” list and a “pop” list – and i don’t want to continue into the next unless i specify it. not hard to do in the firmware, and it really would make the Shuffle competitive and a pleasure to use even without a display.
I would love my Ipod Shuffle if I knew how to set it up.
In my hunt for the best iPod sound, I end up with a 30GB iPod video, 4GB nano, 6GB mini, 512MB shuffle.
The best sound is by far the shuffle. The 30GB video is ridiculous, even if you use it with a good pair of hp like Sennheiser you can hear the hiss and you end up with a headache.
The philosophy behind the suffle is not so bad after all. Until the first mp3 came out, I use to listen music in my car radio from FM stations or from the CD, most of the time I had not idea of who was the singer neither the name of the song nor the album, I only wanted to listen some music. If I didn’t like the son, I simply skip the station to the next one.
While at the University if I only want some clasic music as background music, it is also great.
In my modest opinion every mp3 player have got its market.
Mp3 players, in general have a bad sound quality, and when I want to listen a particular song I listen to it at home in my Marantz CD with my 300B tube amp with Lowther speakers.
After I tried all the iPods, I found out they are very much like girls, every one of then is atractive in some way but none is perfect. ;)