Apple 1 GB iPod Shuffle MP3 Player M9725LL/A

Rating:
Summary: Prefect at what it was made for!
Review: Extremely small, amazingly light, great battery life, good sound, very inexpensive, and easy to use. This player is prefect at what it was made for.

Personally, I have a 40GB player for car trips, long trips, etc., and I use the Shuffle for working out, short trips, etc. Now I can't imagine life with out the Shuffle.

Rating:
Summary: problem with some MP3 songs
Review: I got 1 GB Shuffle last week, but I found that it is not playing some of my MP3 tracks. It jumps within the song. While other tracks played Okay. Those particular songs played perfect in iTunes, Music match, Real Player, Portable CD player, iRiver Flash Player etc.

So it seems that Shuffle is very particular / strict about MP3 encoding and omits a portion of song when things are not according to its own specs. Or it is designed to favor iTunes encoded songs and AAC.

I tried everything possible like resetting, restoring etc but no luck. I couldn't try encoding those tracks again with iTunes as I don't have original CDs.

At the end, a visit to an Apple Store, there they tried on their system and finally concluded that although those tracks are technically Okay, Shuffle just can't play those tracks.

I was offered a full refund but I upgraded to iPod Mini and it is playing those very tracks without any problem (Please note this).

So if you have lots of MP3 tracks encoded with different software (non iTunes),you might face similar problem.

Shuffle is beautiful, no doubts. I really wanted this product to work.

Hope this helps.

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
Review: I HAVE WINDOWS XP. I TRIED EVERYTHING TO MAKE IT WORK. APPLE SUPPORT WANTED ME TO BUY ANOTHER USB CARD. APPLE SAID I NEEDED A NEW DRIVER. THEY TRIED TO BLAME EVERYTHING ON MY COMPUTER BUT IF YOU GO ON THE APPLE WEB SITE YOU CAN READ ABOUT ALL THE PROBLEMS OTHER PEOPLE HAVE WITH TRYING TO MAKE IT WORK WITH WINDOWS. THANK GOODNESS THEY ARE LETTING ME SEND IT BACK. ALSO THE SECOND TIME I CALLED THE CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSON SAID YOU CAN ONLY CALL APPLE ONE TIME FOR FREE OTHER CALLS ARE 49.00 BUT HE WOULD HELP ME THIS ONE TIME AGAIN. (THE SECOND TIME IT WAS NO HELP.

Rating:
Summary: This thing is cool...
Review: I just bought a Shuffle for my wife and I am extremely jealous that she has one and I don't. I almost bought the 20GB iPod, but decided that for what she needs, the Shuffle is much better. This is the perfect device to use if you are an active person...it is extremely small and lightweight and unlike the regular iPod, it does not skip. I am extremely impressed with the design and frankly think it is one of the coolest looking devices out there. Not only is this thing unbelievably practical, but it is also extremely hip (I was amazed at the irrepressible urge I had to dance around like the dude in the commercial when I first used the Shuffle). My feeling is that there are other flash devices out there, but none even approaching the Shuffle's level of cool.

Rating:
Summary: Best MP3 Player. Period.
Review: I was a bit skeptical about the shuffle at first, but I decided to go buy the 1GB version and just try it out. I immediately fell in love with how small it is, which is a huge selling point for me because I only use it for when I'm walking around campus or when I'm at the gym. The iPod MINI is still too heavy for me-- I don't want it weighing down my pants (I'd put it in my pocket) when I'm at the gym, and I just don't want to deal with the belt-clips. The Shuffle doesn't weigh anything-- you could even just let it hang from the headphones if you wanted.

I don't need to listen to every single song that I have, so the 1GB gives me more than enough room for my favorite 130+ songs. I've had it for just over two weeks and I'm still not tired of the songs on it. You could also use the random-sync mode in iTunes to add songs at random to the player so that you get a surprise you turn it on.

Also, what's really incredible is that other than transferring the music to the device initially (it got a slight charge on the first day), the battery light still reads as "green." It's supposed to go "green, amber, red" to let you know how the battery is holding up. This thing has an incredible battery life, since I have been using it every day since I bought it for several hours a day. The specs say 12 hours (I think) until the battery goes dead, but I'm sure I've been listening to it for way more than that. My best friend bought one the same day (also the 1GB) and his battery has lasted a long time too. We love the shuffle.

The only complaint that I have is that you have to use iTunes to get the music onto the device. I'm not sure if there is any 3rd party software out there that will let you get around this, but I hate iTunes and so that's my only complaint. The way I see it though, I'm only going to sync it every once in a while, and it's something that I'm happy to put up with in order to use this awesome MP3 player.

My other complaint is about the white iPod headphones that come with the Shuffle. How can I put it nicely-- THEY SUCK. They have absolutely NO bass response and they flatten out the tone of almost every song. At first I was disappointed with the sound quality of the MP3s through the shuffle, but I switched to my good Sony headphones and there was a tremendous difference. The songs sound so much better, and I felt relieved that it wasn't something wrong with the player itself (because there is no equalizer on the shuffle, but it's not needed). Despite the fact that the iPod earphones look good and they have a short cord that doesn't get all tangled up all the time, I think that they are uncomfortable and don't sound good at all.

I've been looking for a great MP3 player for years, and this one definitely wins me over. If you are in the market for an MP3 player, and you want something for the gym or something active, or if you just want to be discreet and not have some clunky player attached to your waist, this is definitely the way to go!

Rating:
Summary: wonderful product
Review: I would recommend this to anyone who already owns an ipod. Easy to use, easy to carry, and makes the ipod experience that much more exciting. Ignore the reviews that talk of the pros and cons of owning this ipod... bottom line, Apple always makes a wonderful product, and the fact that it doesn't have a display isn't worth criticizing... its a beautiful design and if you want a display screen fork out the extra money for a larger ipod...

Rating:
Summary: I love this player!!
Review: My husband got a 1GB shuffle this past weekend and I will be getting my own very soon. There's not much to love about this audio player. It's small (about the size of a thick stick of gum), it has great quality, and it look super-cool.

You can listen to songs in the playlist order or have the shuffle mix them up for you. You can fast forward and rewind a song. You can skip forward & backward to a new song.

Yes - there is no display, but it doesn't need one. If it's your shuffle, you know what music you have and with iTunes you can choose what songs to put on your shuffle.

I really think that if you want ALL of your music with you - buy and ipod mini. But, how many times do you really need that much music with you? The ipod shuffle is great for errnads, exercising, working around the house and sitting in your room, and it costs about 1/2 of what a mini costs.

Three cheers (again) for Apple. They truly are an innovator!

Rating:
Summary: Inexpensive, High Quality Player
Review: The iPod shuffle is a great mp3 player for what it's meant to do. It isn't meant to store your entire music collection, but rather would you want to listen to more frequently, or a random selection of music that fits in a device smaller than a pack of gum.

As with all devices, there are pros and cons, and I'll try and go through those.

Pro - Inexpensive. Even though Apple is known for having very high pricing, this device competes even in the price category against other players, and often beats out other players in the price category.

Pro - Size. This thing will fit into your pocket, or almost anywhere, and it weighs in at just under an ounce. Bring it quite literally anywhere.

Pro - Simplicity. This device is very easy to use, very self explanatory on how to use it, and to understand the LED lights, Apple gives you a small little card with the iPod shuffle.

Pro - USB Flash Drive. You can easily set aside a certain amount of storage space on your iPod shuffle to use as a USB Flash Drive.

Pro/Con - No screen. Not having a screen can be seen as a pro or a con. On one hand, it gives the device a clean, simple look, but on the other hand, you can't navigate songs, or if you can't recognze a song, you can't look it up.

Overall, it is a very solid device that I would highly recomend to anyone who just wants some music in a very small device, easy to access, and use. If they want their entire music collection in one device, this isn't it, that's what the regular iPod is for.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Player.
Review: This is an excellent product that I would recommend to anyone wanting a hassle-free way to take music on the go. I'm not going to write a full account of how the thing works. You will find all you need to know in the product blurb above.

But there are a few issues that need to be addressed.

The first issue I would like to address is the lack of a screen. Many people have criticised the iPod Shuffle for lacking a screen. In my experience this is not such a big deal. The displays on players of this size tend to be as useful as those on portable CD players: that is to say not very useful at all. Apple has decided to make the Shuffle as simple as possible: load it up with music and go - that's it. No fiddling about with playlists and selections, just go. While you can play songs in a predetermined order, in practice the Shuffle feature is actually a lot more fun. It is essentially like a radio station tuned to your own taste and without the annoying DJs or advertising. The controls are the simplest and most efficient of any player of similar capacity.

Other companies decided to make a digital version of the Walkman/Discman with similar interface conventions and expectations. Apple did not. In my view Apple understands that the rules have changed for digital music and that this means a whole new kind of portable player, not some smaller version of a discman. Apple has realized that, for a player that will transport only a fraction of your music library with you, the management aspects are best offloaded to the software you use to transfer the music to the player. That is where you really need the organizing features, not in the player itself. As I'll point out in a minute, in this aspect of use Apple is currently unbeaten.

The sound quality is surprisingly good for a portable device - in fact that's faint praise - it's great. Note that it is worth encoding from your CDs in the iTunes (default) AAC format rather than mp3 as AAC files just sound a whole lot better. If you don't know what this means, don't worry. iTunes is already set to do this when you first install it. However, you can change it any time you like.

The supplied earbuds are very very good, but like most portables you can obviously get better sound quality if you upgrade to a more expensive set of headphones.

The build quality is robust, although you might wish to buy one of the sport cases or skins to protect it from scratches. The thing looks pretty cool too. I have had people stop me in the street to ask what it is.

The price is excellent for what you get, which is both surprising and pleasing given that it is sold by Apple.

But now for the most important feature: it's the software, stupid.

A digital music player is next to useless unless the software that organizes and transfers the music to your player is simple to use and actually works. Other companies have produced fine players, but their worth is marred by the fact that the software they supply for music management is outrageously bad, and in many cases simply too difficult for ordinary users to operate and troubleshoot. I know many people who have bought or been given digital music players who have simply put them in a draw because they could not get the software to work (Sony is the worst offender in this regard).

Apple's iTunes is still the best music management app available for the regular user. As its fans are so fond of pointing out, it just works. Filling the IPod Shuffle from iTunes works exactly as advertised, and iTunes is simple and easy to learn in a few minutes. The best strategy for the Shuffle is to use the "Smart Playlists" feature to automatically select music in various groups that you might like (e.g. dance for "Workout"; mellow for "Walk in the park"; and Pink Floyd for "Quiet Desperation on the Subway"). You can make five or six smart playlists like this in a couple of minutes. Then plug the Shuffle in, select the particular list you want and press "Autofill". In a few minutes it is done and you can leave.

If you are thinking about trying the iPod Shuffle, you can download iTunes for free from Apple to see if you like it. Technophiles sometimes complain that iTunes lacks some features that they (and only they) want, but is irrelevant to the ordinary user: iTunes is simple, anyone can use it, and it works. End of story.

If you want a simple solution to carry a reasonable subset of your music with you during any activity, it is hard to beat the iPod Shuffle. I'm really enjoying mine.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent value; Very Useful
Review: This is my first MP3 player/iPod purchase. I couldn't be more satisfied with the 1G Shuffle. I am so tired of having to lug my cd player, carrying case and a selection of cds to the gym everyday. I have only had my shuffle for 3 days and have put 47 songs on it, which is over 3 hours of music and the memory is not even 20% full! I can't wait for the sport case to come in stock. For what I need it for the Shuffle is perfect. I would recommend this product to anyone.