[bLue_oNioN]

Hi,

I've been following the recent deluge of iPod Shuffle posts and there seems to be quite a bit of discussion on the lack of an LCD screen and such, but not much on the issue that truly concerns me first and foremost: Sound Quality.

So to those that have actually been able to audition a set, what are your thoughts? Ignoring for the moment the lack of a screen and whatnot, how do you feel the iPod Shuffle stacks up against the quality put forth by competing players (e.g. iRiver, Creative, etc.)?

Thank you for your time and thoughts =)

 

[kugino]

i listened to it for about a minute at macworld using my ety er4p. i was not impressed then, but it was unfamiliar music. my impression was that it strained as the volume was turned up high...

 

[Evoz]

For what it is, i personally think it sounds excellent. For moving around and being active, it sounds just fine. I dont find it to be lacking much. Of course it doesnt sound anything like a home rig where you can just sit back and relax and "feel" the music.

 

[dskywalker]

I was in the apple store today, listened to it with in-stock ear buds, can't really tell

 

[Taphil]

Over at ipodlounge, someone who owns one said they heard small but still noticable static blips and pops here and there, such as when a new song starts. I haven't heard anyone else make such observations. I'm waiting to ipodlounge to finally post a review.

 

[lord of volume]

i heard it on friday at macworld, and it sounded pretty decent to me. It didn't strain volume wise. Infact it was pretty damm loud in there and yet with the terrible stock buds it still sounded damm good.

 

[aeriyn]

The guy who owns the apple retailer close to me bought one for his daughter and I got to have a listen with my E3cs.

Bottom line? Not impressed; I'll stick with my Mini, kthnx. >.>;

 

[RacerX]

I got a one gigger on order - sheesh, everyone's buying up these things so every retailer has a wait.

I'll post my impressions as soon I get it.

 

[mas]

i'm wondering here about the "randomness" of the shuffle inside the player; is it really random or does it mix the files up once and play it in that order? eg if song A was after song Q the first time, will A follow the next time you hear Q?

also, can you toggle between shuffle and continuous? say i had it in continuous and had files sorted by artist alphabetically. i'm at artist R, and want something by artist D. could i hit shuffle, press next til i (randomly) got close to D, return to continuous and hit back/next a few times to get to D?

 

[lord of volume]

Hey aeriyn do you use the mini to workout or run with? has it ever skipped on you?

 

[yyoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mas i'm wondering here about the "randomness" of the shuffle inside the player; is it really random or does it mix the files up once and play it in that order? eg if song A was after song Q the first time, will A follow the next time you hear Q?

If it's like shuffle on all other iPods, it will be a different random order each cycle.

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mas also, can you toggle between shuffle and continuous? say i had it in continuous and had files sorted by artist alphabetically. i'm at artist R, and want something by artist D. could i hit shuffle, press next til i (randomly) got close to D, return to continuous and hit back/next a few times to get to D?

good question...without playing with one to know for sure, my initial reaction is to say, "yes". there's a toggle switch on the back that allows you to switch from continuous to shuffle. if you were in shuffle and came to E, you could probably switch it to continuous and then click back to D. that's the way i understand continuous to work - it will retain whatever playlist structure you had in itunes.

 

[Taphil]

Actually, I read from someone that if you're in shuffle mode and switch to continuous, it restarts from the first song in your playlist. We'll find out for sure soon though.

 

[bLue_oNioN]

kugino - Hopefully that will be the case, it is what I would prefer.

aeriyn - What exactly didn't you like about the way the Shuffle sounded?

 

[Cyclone]

sorry guys but i only believe objective reviews. im not going to believe anything from people who were at mac world cause they love macs too much to be objective and certainly not from ipod lounge, cause... well do i need to explain?

(edit, i misspoke and i take back my alternative reviewer. it was late and i was tired, oops.) so i just need an objective reviewer. or if i get my hands on one i can decide for myself.