[Sledge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IpodSF Good information! Thanks! I'm sure a bunch of people would be willing to drop $199 for this if it became a reality. I know I would. Just think.... iPod Shuffle (2GB) - $199 iPod Mini (4GB) - $249 iPod (20GB) - $299 Perfect!

I'd buy that Shuffle Pro in a New York minute. Very nice.

 

[k.ODOMA]

Wouldn't the buttons on the iPod Shuffle Pro defeat the purpose of having a shuffle? But the screen would be very nice - I'd like to be able to see the song info of what is currently playing.

 

[RnB180]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dSquared FWIW I just got out of my nice warm bed to check, and I don't hear a sound FF/RW and between tracks, even amping the Shuffle and turning the volume way up. Of course, that's using Shuffle->Pimeta->Senn 580s. This made for such a "only on head-fi moment", I thought I'd share (see attachment). As for the 128kb AAC transcoding: I can't hear much of any difference...when the gym speakers are blaring in the background, anyway. Also, that Shuffle Pro would kill sales of the iPod mini...

Gotta love that pic, anyone with an audiophile set up want to take a pic of it using the shuffle as a source?

hahah

 

[Taphil]

I did a battery test, 80% 160kbps AAC, 10% LAME APS, 10% LAME APE, and got 15 hours and 20 minutes.

I got Shure E3c canal phones today, and I can hear the weeee bliiippp noise still, but not as loud as with the Senn earbuds. I can't hear them with the HD600, so it's probably impedence dependent, just like the 4G audio defect. Otherwise, the E3c and shuffle sound pretty decent together.

 

[kloan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by k.ODOMA Wouldn't the buttons on the iPod Shuffle Pro defeat the purpose of having a shuffle? But the screen would be very nice - I'd like to be able to see the song info of what is currently playing.

how so? the shuffle already has buttons.. the only new one there is the menu button since if it had a screen it would kinda need a menu button.. unless the screen just showed info and there werent any settings to tinker with... all this of course on a hypothetical product.. haha..

is it just me, or does it seem like almost everyone thinks the shuffle can only play randomly?? there is a button on the back that allows you to turn shuffle on or off.. you can make playlists and have the music play in order..

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

I just read this on Apple's website: "Autofill your iPod shuffle with a random sampling from your music library."

Wow, that is a really cool feature! When I go out, I rarely end up listening to more than a couple hours of music... with that I could just take a random sampling of tracks from my collection... almost makes me think I don't need my 40GB iPod.. almost..

 

[k.ODOMA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kloan is it just me, or does it seem like almost everyone thinks the shuffle can only play randomly?? there is a button on the back that allows you to turn shuffle on or off.. you can make playlists and have the music play in order..

It was my impression that you could only play in shuffle mode, hence the lack of need for buttons and menu. If they ever did come out with a version like the shuffle pro I'd be very interested in getting one.

 

[Yug]

Does anyone know how the nav works for album playback mode?

It wouldn't be a problem to load my m3u playlists into iTunes then send them over to the shuffle, but how do you navigate between albums?

Do you have to skip through every track or can you skip by playlist or something

 

[BigFil]

I agree with the previous poster who stated the shuffle is not quite as transparent (airy) as my 3G ipod. I also did the test with no transcoding using the same 320kbs AAC file. All around though this thing sounds like an iPod and the transparency is a very nuanced type thing to listen for especially in a kick around flash player.

As for the nicely rendered screen based shuffle it is neat but would never be put out by Apple. The orientation of the buttons on the shuffle are about as intuitive as you get, but just by orienting the buttons 90 degrees different, like on the screened shuffle, that intuitiveness get's thrown out the door. I picked up my shuffle sideways like the screen shuffle would have you do and it's becomes non practical and annoying as a one handed device. It can be done but the first tendancy was to grab the other end of it, effectively making it a two handed operation. Plus the orientation of the buttons on the real shuffle makes alot of sense when controlling it when hanging on the lanyard or in the pocket, which is where 98% of owners will be using one from. It's easy to understand many of Apple's design decisions when you think about trying to get the machine out of the way in as many ways of possible with regard to the user experience. If you like that design philosophy than you can appreciate Apple's designs, if not there are plenty of other choices out there for your money. Why is it that so many of the who seem to hate the iPod so much want one to fit their needs soooo bad?

 

[cmoney]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yug Does anyone know how the nav works for album playback mode? It wouldn't be a problem to load my m3u playlists into iTunes then send them over to the shuffle, but how do you navigate between albums? Do you have to skip through every track or can you skip by playlist or something

There's no playlist support for the shuffle. So you can load tracks from multiple albums and listen to them in that order but to skip to the next album you need to skip each track in the current album.

 

[akerman]

Hmm what's your motivation for buying a Shuffle? Compared to a cheaper player.. you can always mask out the display with some tape if you don't like it 8)

 

[harkamus]

Hmmm. I'm quite interested in the 1 gig Shuffle, however I have 2 questions.

1) Are there certain formats of mp3s that the Shuffle requires? Reason being, I'm not that kind of an audiophile. I do try to get my songs 256 or higher...I prefer wavs in fact. I don't use anything fancy to encode the songs.... No Lame or whatever it is you guys prefer. I listen to music. I don't analyze it. If it sounds good it sounds good.

2) How does the Shuffle sound amped? My home setup is a PPA paired to a DT 770 pro running off a modifed Audigy 2 ZS. I was thinking that I could built my own Pimeta and I dunno, get some new cans. However, if the Shuffle is so weak that an amp would not make a difference, I don't wanna waste time building one.


Thanks in advance.

 

[dSquared]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akerman Hmm what's your motivation for buying a Shuffle? Compared to a cheaper player.. you can always mask out the display with some tape if you don't like it 8)

the shuffle works with iTunes

 

[Taphil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akerman Hmm what's your motivation for buying a Shuffle? Compared to a cheaper player.. you can always mask out the display with some tape if you don't like it 8)

I saw the Creative Muvo N200 in the store yesterday. It was a lot smaller than I had thought based on the few pics I saw, and it looked pretty decent. However, it was $200 for 1GB, so not really cheaper. Also, I would never buy it if it continues to have that audio pop/glitch problem.

 

[Cyclone]

what about this sandisk one? cheaper, has a screen, radio, voice recorder, removable battery with a better life. its even just as small and sexy too (well close enough for me anyways).

http://davesipaq.com/articles/iPOD_S...isk_MP3/3.html

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclone what about this sandisk one? cheaper, has a screen, radio, voice recorder, removable battery with a better life. its even just as small and sexy too (well close enough for me anyways). http://davesipaq.com/articles/iPOD_S...isk_MP3/3.html

Hmm. The sandisk doesn't look all that bad. Though despite the ipod shuffle's screenless body, I would still feel more comfortable with the reliability of an apple product in my pocket. Plus, I have really grown to loving the simplicity of iTunes with my ipod and I would like to keep it that way if I get a flash player.

Regards,
Dan