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March 9, 2007

ipod

My life is random

Posted Mar. 9, ’07, 4:37 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | iPod

lifeisrandom.jpg

Back when I was young and innocent, I had reservations towards the smallest member of the iPod family. The iPod shuffle was small and shiny, but what about listening to music? You can’t choose the song you want to listen to? Useless.

But back in November, after the second-generation shuffle’s release, I snapped up a first-generation 512MB player for $29 on Apple’s own refurb store (don’t click frantically, they’re gone - though you can still get a 1GB model for very little). That once-in-a-lifetime price pushed me over the edge, and I decided to give chance a chance. After three months of use, I can assure you it was a good choice.

I enjoy uncertainty. One of the shuffle’s apparent disadvantages, the small storage space, turns into an advantage for me, because I need to carefully choose what I load onto it: only a hundred of my favorite tracks get to live on it at one time. What’s also great is that I don’t have to worry about scratching a screen or breaking a hard drive as I do with my full-size iPod. Finally, the physical controls make it much easier to control the music through a pocket than a Click Wheel.

What do you think of the shuffle? A little gem or the forgotten member of the iPod family?


10 Comments

Clair said:

Loved mine until I washed it in the washer. It didn't recover. :(

Perfect for exercising, daily commuting. I rather liked making a couple of smart playlists ( to eliminate what I definitely didn't want to hear) to randomly fill my ears for commuting, etc.

March 9, 2007 6:48 PM
definetheline said:

Was that is Canadian dollars?

March 9, 2007 7:02 PM
Thomas GvL Author Profile Page said:

@definetheline: it was $33 Canadian dollars on the Canadian Refurb store, but I checked the US Refurb store at the time and it was $29 there, so I thought I'd mention the american price for the benefit of the american majority.

March 9, 2007 7:07 PM
Moe said:

Mine was the first iPod I ever owned. I have a Nano now and the shuffle is no longer a music iPod. I use it to store files and move them around from mac to mac or even pc's (I know, I feel dirty).

March 9, 2007 8:32 PM
Johnald126 Author Profile Page said:

Yes, I also washed my 1GB shuffle in the wash. However, to its credit, it still functions as a flash drive.
I loved the shuffle for all the reasons stated in the article. It's ease of use and on-the-go style are fantastic. I also liked being able to manipulate it in my pocket without looking, great for a lazy SOB like myself.

March 10, 2007 6:12 AM
NyxoLyno Cangemi said:

I too was hesitant about the shuffle when it first came out.

Having owned the 80gb 5th gen player, two iPod Nanos (1st and 2nd gen), I purchased the 1gb shuffle with a $50 gift card I received for Christmas (plus $30 out of pocket).

Giving the new shuffle a chance in my iPod life, I've come to truly love the little matchbook player.

In comparison with my other players, I actually have come to prefer my shuffle over it's more robust family members.

Life in random! Granted, the other players also have a shuffle setting, somehow the iPod Shuffle just makes it easy! I clip the small player to my t-shirt sleeve, backpack, etc., and go. It's fantastic!

March 10, 2007 7:45 AM
trskrap said:

I have a 4 gigabyte 1st gen white Nano and a 2nd gen 1 gigabyte silver Shuffle.

The shuffle is great for listening to podcasts while driving - no need to press buttons after each podcast is played - the shuffle keeps playing them until they have all played. Whereas my Nano and my iPod Mini (since given to my niece) required pressing buttons to start the next podcast (etc, etc.) Dangerous when driving.

80% of the time I choose the shuffle.

March 11, 2007 11:18 AM
lipbalm said:

I have a first gen iPod shuffle (1GB) and an iTunes compatible Motorola SLVR (512MB). I use the shuffle for a carefully crafted playlist of about 250 songs. I use the SLVR for Podcasts and a few dozen favorite songs I want to be able to find when I'm feeling less random.

I actually had a 60GB iPod for two months (a loaner from work) and despite having all of my music on there and a ton of video, I missed the simplicity and small size of the shuffle. I'm now back on the shuffle and perfectly happy.

March 11, 2007 12:19 PM
SemperFi Mac said:

I agree that the shuffle is very handy when you don't want to worry about damaging a screen or hard drive on the full size iPods. the shuffle is a handy little device to throw some songs on and just go.

March 11, 2007 1:20 PM
Ward Author Profile Page said:

A couple years back I had a 1 GB 1st gen shuffle as a suplement to my 4th gen iPod, and that thing was great. I ditched it for the nano when it came out, but I still have a certain fondness for it.

Besides being just plain fun, it had the best headphone stage of any iPod Apple has released. Great bass...

March 11, 2007 3:21 PM

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