[DigDub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krishna I would like to pose a question to all of those Apple fans that are slobering over this product: Would you be so enthusiastic if this was not made by Apple? Would you really be praising it, or would you bash it like most of the web is doing if it was made by company such as Creative or Iriver? Fact of the matter is that if this wasn't an Apple product it wouldn't be getting the attention that it is getting. It really doesn't deserve the praise or the beating that has been going on since its release. It is a just another product, like the Ipod is just another product. People take it to extremes and make all Apple products to be the second coming, but in the end they are basically just pieces of white plastic, silicon, and metal.

even if it was made by creative or iriver or any other brands, it would get my same criticisms. i think you've hit the nail on its head. if it was made by some unknown company, with everything being equal (including itunes) most 'supporters' reaction would most likely be 'what?! no screen?! its not for me'. for some reason, most people are more forgiving towards apple when they push out a mediocre product. maybe its because apple did it right with the ipod early on, so the brand name is there. but, that was what happended with sony too, right?

 

[doomlordis]

I like the design, thats it , i cant believe apple is using the lack of an LCD as a selling point, oh what a surprise another song to skip through - I have 40gigs of tunes - 240 songs on this and i reckon i would be lucky to get 5 of my favourite tracks.
Also how does Itunes pick the tracks ? is it random or based on rating?
I also see that you have to set the amount of memory for data in itunes first - major pain if you are planning on using as a drive and you cant delete tracks on the player itself.
I can understand existing itunes/ipod users buying this for commuting etc as it will be painless to setup but I PITY THE FOOL who buys this as their only player!

 

[PodMan]

This picture has what you described. there is an option in itunes that converts higher bitrate songs to 128kbps AAC.

I have to say this looks pretty good to me. I am going to test it out in person first though. Although I don't use itunes as my music player (prefer foobar for that), I do use it to rip songs and manage my ipod with it. Most of my songs are in 224kbps AAC format. Unless other manufacturers start supporting AAC, I don't really feel like reconverting my entire library so I can load songs on their players.

oh and one of the primary reasons that draws me to the iPod/iTunes is its capability to display songs in multiple languages with ease. I have tried various creative players and sony minidisc recorders that just can't seem to get this function right (one side was lacking, either the transfer software can't display or the player can't display correctly). This is how most of my song library ended up in AAC format.


Quote:

Originally Posted by BigFil Something else that is interesting about iTunes 4.7.1 that I have not seen mentioned anywhere even on Apple's site. I've seen people in the past asking for an option like this in iTunes. This is quoted from Playlist magazine. "this is a necessary and much appreciated feature. With a device that holds only 512MB or 1GB of songs, every megabyte counts. To protect you from filling your iPod shuffle with songs that weigh in at tens of megabytes, the iPod shuffle won’t accept songs encoded as AIFF or Apple Lossless files. But this option ensures that you’re not precluded from using the songs encoded with these formats. Once you enable the option, iTunes will convert the fat files to 128 kbps AAC as it syncs with the device (while maintaining the original file in the iTunes library). This conversion process slows down the sync a bit. For example, it took about a minute for iTunes to convert a 7 minute AIFF and move it to my iPod shuffle on a 1.25 GHz PowerBook G4."

 

[Jeff E]

Imagine that there was a satellite radio station that only played music you specified, no talking just music, whose SQ was as good as mp3, who sold long term (life of player, at least a year) subscriptions for a flat $100, and who threw in a tiny, one channel receiver for free that even worked in tunnels, and had a TIVO-like capability to FF. Does that help put this in perspective?

I use my 2G ipod in two ways:
1) In the office with an external amp & headphones: In this situation I use the display frequently to note the song/artist. Sometimes I select an album or genre in this setting.
2)During exercise with canal phones/ear buds: I never use the display (no glasses, inconvenient). The ipod is invariably on random. When I don't want to hear a particular tune I skip it.

It seems to me that the Shuffle is ideal for this second use. It is smaller, cheaper and more durable (in principle) than a HD player. I believe it will allow me to compartmentalize my itunes collection into an office and an exercise set. If the SQ is reasonable I will plan to buy one.

Even if you wanted a new kind of hammer, why would you denigrate a new Black & Decker wrench that addressed others' requirements?

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PodMan This picture has what you described. there is an option in itunes that converts higher bitrate songs to 128kbps AAC.

I really wish that feature was for use with the standard iPod (which it may be) and adjustable (which it may not). Right now have ALAC and 256 AAC copies of most of my albums. Would be nice to get rid of the latter and just create them on the fly when loading the iPod. As mentioned people have been requesting this feature on various progs/players for awhile now.

 

[DLeeWebb]

Just bought one...$139.00 for 1GB. I have seen flash drives with 1GB capacity going for twice that price recently. Just to carry non-music files it's worth it!

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLeeWebb Just bought one...$139.00 for 1GB. I have seen flash drives with 1GB capacity going for twice that price recently. Just to carry non-music files it's worth it!

$139 or $149? Just curious as I bought 2 yesterday online for $149.

 

[chadbang]

Damn I just did a search for "ipod shuffle" and i was surprised by the amount of articles on the pleasure of "shuffle" play on the iPod. I mean, it's no major leap in concept to shuffle songs, but I guess the AMOUNT of songs makes it's cool. No wonder Apple thought they could get away with the Shuffle iPod. I guess it makes sense. Even a New York Times music critic was tickled by the random transitions it generates that can be so brilliant. Yesterday I got the biggest kick out of my own shuffle play. My ipod transitioned from the Eddy Vedder/Nasrat Fateh Ali Khan duet on the "Dead Man Walking" soundtrack to Talvin Singh. I was like: "Huh! My ipod's gone Indian"! It was a very suprising and cool moment.

BTW: can someone point me to a good online primer about using iTunes features? (on a mac). I love itunes, but I'm a real cretian about it's possibilities. I do everything manually (don't want to eat up harddrive space by keeping my mp3s on my mac - they're backed up on a second harddrive) and I guess I'm missing out on things like auto-updates and smartlists. Just wondering where I can get a quick overview out of what I'm missing.

 

[JHouser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krishna Would you be so enthusiastic if this was not made by Apple? Would you really be praising it, or would you bash it like most of the web is doing if it was made by company such as Creative or Iriver?

1. It's very rare that I BASH things before I even try them. It seems like some of you all (not talking to you Krishna) are missing the point and even missing how this thing works.
1. You build an exclusive playlist (or many playlists) With ONLY the songs in which you would be interested in hearing in the next 12 hours. Then you hit play. It's as simple as that. I think some people are hoping this would be an ipod mini mini. All the features, itunes integration, and only cost $99. If this is your only ipod, it may not be the right choice for you. But, If this thing keeps my wife, or whomever from borrowing my 20gig. Than I LOVE it

One more thing. I never ever look at my ipod when running or snowboarding. I just make a playlist of songs that will get me going hit shuffle and play. Like I said earlier, is this brilliant? No, it's been done before. Would I praise it if it weren't Apple? No, because there are so many crappy little 512mb players out there. Am I praising it now? Not really. I just want one. And so will a large amount of other "fan boys" who are looking for a small player. My personal opinion, I think that the 1gig is a bit big for this type of player. I think $149 is just a bit spendy and the whole point for me is that if I drop it or get it wet or whatever, it was only $99.

 

[haycheng]

If my memory is correct, ipod shuffle seem to be cheaper compare to relative size flash memory player. That could be a decisive factor if you do not need the extra function anyway. I am still using a D-2000. I generately just put a CD in and let it play loop from first song to the end. I may change the CD once every two to three day. The ipod shuffle actually provide enough function if i actually want a mp3 player. (well, shuffle have no lineout...)

 

[dSquared]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion $139 or $149? Just curious as I bought 2 yesterday online for $149.

$139 is the student discount price for the 1GB. (The 512 is still $99 for students).

Personally, I'm a little skeptical about the iPod shuffle...but mine's being overnighted anyway.

The key point for me is that it can be used as a 1GB flash drive, because I keep filling up my boring, non-music playing, non-iTunes integrated USB 2.0 flash drive. But then, I'm an unabashed geek with highly specialized needs and am in no way representative of the general population's buying preferences or habits. I am alpha-consumer, hear me roar!

Honestly, I think this is going to be another home run for Apple, for a number of reasons.

Think about it, this puts the Shuffle into doting relative gift giving categories (Gameboy SP for the sub-12 year old, and a iPod for the tween/teen). Not only will it generate foot traffic into the Apple stores where I'm sure a number of upsells to the iPod mini will occur. The iPod Shuffle is at impulse buy price levels for adults, and the 512 MB version is priced just low enough for teens (and tweens with large allowances) to buy.

As for the target audience, again it's not for head-fiers! Geeks will recognize that it is a flash drive even when the rechargable battery goes kaput, current iPod people will get one for the gym, and normal people will get something that's only $99 AND an iPod.

What surprises me is that it only comes in white, but that's probably a move to keep the Shuffle from cannibalizing the sales of the Mini...

 

[daveman_84]

While I think it is an OK product at first glance the "shuffle" play thing is a big ridiculous. I mean, come on, in the ads they act like they invented shuffle play. Oh my God, shuffle play!! Why didn't *I* think of that? Apple is BRILLIANT!!!

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chadbang BTW: can someone point me to a good online primer about using iTunes features? (on a mac). I love itunes, but I'm a real cretian about it's possibilities. I do everything manually (don't want to eat up harddrive space by keeping my mp3s on my mac - they're backed up on a second harddrive) and I guess I'm missing out on things like auto-updates and smartlists. Just wondering where I can get a quick overview out of what I'm missing.

Check
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/index.html
&
http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles.php (-> iPod 101)

 

[doomlordis]

JUST SO YOU KNOW if you want to use the shuffle as a flash drive you have to set a partition IN ADVANCE on itunes - this to me is a big mistake , if i have a shuffle and need to add say a 300mb filei better have had set that up before i left for work. This alone puts me off.

 

[meithkiller]

I think this will be another winner for Apple. I'd consider buying one, but I just bought a tiny little Samsung yepp YP-T5 last year and it does exactly what I need, and don't see the need to replace it. My yepp has an LCD display, but I seldom use it. I usually just hit play and let it go. For something like this small and simple and durable is definitely better. If they would have added an LCD display the cost and size would have gone up, and if it used an AAA battery the size would have grown. If you want a display and AAA battery use, there are plenty of options available, get one of them.

-Keith