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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / January 2005shuffle?
What's the word on this - anyone know how it compares to similar sized mp3 players? www.auchinloch.co.uk click on my iPod fund! > What's the word on this - anyone know how it compares to similar sized > mp3 players? In what respect?  SignatureChange account to gw when responding by mail. >>What's the word on this - anyone know how it compares to similar sized >>mp3 players? > > In what respect? One comparison I did was to a Rio with 512 MB memory and the Rio was $169. Of course the Rio has a screen but is also 3-4x the size. The ones under $100 I've seen have nowhere near the same memory. They do have an expansion port for flash memory, but then buying extra memory means it's not under $100 anymore. I think there's a lot of neat products on the market now in this category but the Shuffle definitely has some advantages. > What's the word on this - anyone know how it compares to similar sized > mp3 players? My 512 MB model, ordered the day they were announced, arrived this morning (although the tracking page had said it would arrive tomorrow--and today is a holiday in the US to boot!). Arrived more or less fully charged (charge status light is green). Immediately figured out how to use it (I don't have a regular iPod, so I'm not really familiar with how these things work in iTunes), made a custom playlist for it, set to Autofill, and loaded it. Sound is excellent, operation smooth. I've very pleased. I've already learned the controls tactilely, without having to look at them in order to skip, modify volume, etc. I'm using it to play music at the moment, to get used to it and try out the shuffle feature, but my main intended use is for audiobooks. I was pleased to see that on straight-through play it saves its place when it is turned off, which is precisely the behavior one wants with audiobooks. Low-bitrate audiobooks also increase the effective playing-time capacity of the device. My music is mostly at 256 or 320 MP3, so the capacity of the Shuffle is substantially reduced for this purpose. My plan is to make two custom playlists, for music and audiobooks, and simply reload the thing whenever I want to switch from one to the other. It took maybe 4 minutes to fill the 493 or so MB via USB 2.0 (I have a 2.0 PCI card in my Quicksilver 867), and it worked smoothly in the background. Not sure if I have to delete files by hand when I do this, but I reckon I'll find out. I'm immeasurably pleased. I had tried other hard disk- and cd-based MP3 players, such as Nomad and Rio, and hadn't liked any of them; too many problems. This looks idiot-proof and trouble-free. That mean's I'll probably lose it or have it stolen soon... George Fowler > My 512 MB model, ordered the day they were announced, arrived this > morning > I don't have a regular iPod, Could you compare the quality of the headphones to each other? iPod looks like in-ear-plus, while the iPs looks like the ordinary $1-crap!? > Could you compare the quality of the headphones to each other? iPod > looks like in-ear-plus, while the iPs looks like the ordinary $1-crap!? I have an iPod that came with the original Apple headphones. They're okay, but they were getting old and worn. I bought a pair of the new Apple ones with the removable rubber piece, and they were the worst sounding headphones I've ever listened to. The treble sounds like a whine and there's no bass. And $40 isn't cheap. I ended up returning them and getting another brand. Some of the review sites aren't much help either. Many of the reviews I read for in-ear headphones focused on higher-end hardware that was $50-$200 and that's way more than I would want to spend for something like that. I ended up getting a pair from Sennheiser for like $25 (the 510 model IIRC) and they sound very nice. > Could you compare the quality of the headphones to each other? iPod > looks like in-ear-plus, while the iPs looks like the ordinary $1-crap!? They are the same $1 earbuds that come with say the iPod Mini (I have never experienced any of the higher-end iPods). Sound fine, don't stay in very well, absolutely nothing special. George > What's the word on this - anyone know how it compares to similar sized > mp3 players? The Shuffle: It's quite small and lightweight. No Display Rechargeable battery 512Mb, most others are 256Mb in roughly this price range. $99 for the 512Mb which is less than most 256Mb MP3 players Can be used as a flash drive. Has some neat features in conjunction with iTunes. If I understand it correctly you can basically tell it to automatically load some file at random, but with some sort of order (most popular or such). In other words you can just grab some music and go. USB 2.0 The only real downside is the lack of a display and that would have put a crimp into size and price. SignatureClark Martin Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting "I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway" Clark Martin <cmnews@sonic.net> writes in article <cmnews-9C970A.18151217012005@typhoon.sonic.net> dated Tue, 18 Jan 2005 02:15:13 GMT: >It's quite small and lightweight. > >No Display Then how does the user interface work? Even my $18 phone has a 10-digit caller ID display. Does the Shuffle have a voice that comes through the headphones, or do you just have to skip through all the songs until you find the one you want to hear? -- spud_demon -at- thundermaker.net The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer. > Clark Martin <cmnews@sonic.net> writes in article > <cmnews-9C970A.18151217012005@typhoon.sonic.net> dated Tue, 18 Jan 2005 [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Then how does the user interface work? It works a lot like a portable cassette tape player. You can play, pause, skip, repeat, and adjust the volume. And there's a switch to choose between normal sequential play, shuffle play, and off. > Even my $18 phone has a 10-digit caller ID display. I doubt your $18 phone is the size of a pack of gum. It has plenty of room for a display. The iPod Shuffle doesn't; it was made to be very small. My portable cassette tape player doesn't have a display, but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying my tapes. I usually ignore the 2-digit display on my portable CD player, because the track number doesn't tell me anything if I don't have the track list in my hand. > Does the Shuffle have a voice that comes through the headphones, or do > you just have to skip through all the songs until you find the one you > want to hear? If you want to listen to a specific song, the Shuffle is not for you. The iPod Shuffle is for the kind of people who listen to an entire CD from beginning to end or on "shuffle" mode; it's not for people who want to choose what songs they'll listen to next. |
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