New iPod Shuffle

[whatcha got there?]

New Apple iPod shuffle unveiled
From correspondents in San Francisco
Agence France-Presse
March 12, 2009 12:35am

APPLE has unveiled a new version of its iconic iPod, calling it 'the world's smallest music player" with a feature that speaks to its owner.

However, fans have expressed frustration at the lack of buttons on the device.

The new iPod shuffle is "nearly half of the size of the previous model'' and includes a feature that voices song titles, artists and playlist names - originally previewed on the recent iPod Nano.

"The third-generation iPod shuffle is significantly smaller than a AA battery, holds up to 1000 songs and is easier to use with all of the controls conveniently located on the earphone cord,'' Apple said in a statement.

"With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist.''

However, the "press of a button" is only possible with Apple earphones that have built-in controls.

Non-Apple earphones can be plugged in but have no control without a seperately-sold Apple adapter.


Andrew from the port of Port Adelaide "So if you've got a great sounding pair of headphones with no volume control, oh well?" said one user on MacTalk.com.au.

Other MacTalk users observed that the new shuffle uses a different type of USB charger, and that the new headphones look very similar to old ones without the controls - which could be a problem for eBay resales.

The shuffle also randomly selects songs from the player's music library.

The device can speak 14 languages: English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

A 4GB model of the new music player will sell for $129.

Apple sold 22.7 million iPods in 2008.

[blink]

Lame.