Electronics Review: Apple iPod Shuffle 2GB 2nd Generation

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Around 500 songs to enjoy with hardly any inconvenience

Cons: Little control over what you hear; inconsistent sound levels, having a cord

The Bottom Line:

Light weight, convenient

For a life on the go if

Enjoy random songs

Shuffling Up 2 Gigs of Songs for Just a Bit More

(This review was written in 2008.  My opinion is the same today.)

Being a late adaptor, I am just now buying my first MP3 player. I've argued that I didn't really need one. After all, I don't use my Walkman much any more. And, if we're going to be honest, I still don't need it. But since I got the 2 GB iPod Shuffle two months ago, I have had so much fun with it that I wonder how I got along without it.

I love music and wanted something that would store lots of it for me to take with me. But I also wanted something lightweight since I figured I would mostly be using it while I exercised. And I didn't want to spend a fortune. Okay, so it still cost plenty, but they did lower the prices in the last few months. And, really, this has been exactly what I was looking for.

Apple designed the Shuffle to be a basic model, lightweight with limited storage capacity. Originally, they only had a 1 GB model. They've now added this 2 GB model. It looks exactly the same, but holds twice as much music. And the best part is, they sell them for only $20 more. And really, for a music lover like me, narrowing songs down to 2 GB worth is hard enough.

The Shuffle model recently went through a redesign. I'm not sure what it looked like before, but the 2nd Generation design is simple and compact. It's basically a small rectangle that just over one and a half inches long by just over one inch wide and only half an inch thick. Even better, it only weighs half an once. This baby is light! The main reason for the thickness is the build in clip. You can squeeze one side and clip the other onto any article of clothing. Pop the ear buds into your ears and you can forget you're wearing anything extra.

The controls are fairly easy as well. On the front is a circle. The middle of the circle is the big play/pause button. Around the outside are the skip forward or backward button and the volume up or down buttons. If you hold the skip buttons, you can fast forward or rewind the song to a certain spot. On one side are the On/Off switch (self-explanatory) and the Shuffle switch (more on that in a minute.) All the controls respond well. You have to hit the buttons intentionally but not too hard to get them to respond. And there are multiple volume levels, so finding a comfortable one is fairly easy.

When you buy the iPod, you get almost everything you need to use it. In addition to the unit itself, you get one set of ear buds. These are the latest and greatest in ear phones. One end plugs into the iPod. The other end is small speakers designed to fit in your ear. They are one size fits all, but they really work for me. In fact, I am amazed by just how snuggly they fit there. Additionally, you also get the docking port. You use this to connect the iPod to a USB port on your computer. When connected, the iPod battery charges and you can load music onto it via iTunes.

By now, you've probably figured out the additional tools you need to operate your iPod. There is no way to charge it without a computer, so even if you load your favorite songs from a friend, you still need a computer around to recharge.

Some people hate iTunes. Frankly, it doesn't bother me. It's the free jukebox software that anyone can download from Apple.com. I will agree it would be nice if the iPod recognized anybody's song format, but it doesn't. So if you refuse to deal with downloading that program, you don't want this device.

While they advertise it as being a 2GB iPod, in reality it only holds 1.89 GB of music. The rest of the space goes for the software it needs to run. They are fairly close on their 500 songs number. The first time I loaded music onto it, I got 496 songs. Tonight, I just let it randomly pick songs, and it got 528 on there. That's lots of music.

In fact, time wise, that turns into about 34 hours of music. That can keep you going for quite some time without hearing anything twice. The battery only lasts for 12 hours, however. (Less if you are an idiot who leaves the power on when you aren't listening to it. Not that I know anyone who would do that.) So, in reality, you could go with the less expensive model and change out songs every time you charge the battery and still get something different every time.

Loading songs is pretty straightforward. You can just add whatever you feel like at the time from all the songs on your computer, create a specific playlist to import, or even let iTunes randomly import songs from your entire music library. That will truly give you a random play list.

Once the songs are on your iPod, good luck finding any particular song you want, however. You'll notice when I discussed the controls earlier, I didn't mention a screen. That's because there isn't one. The only way to know for sure what you have on there is to memorize them and make sure they are in an order you can remember. Then, you have to hope you are near the song you want to begin with.

They do offer two play modes. In Shuffle, it will play a song from anywhere in the play list. And it does a good job of mixing things up. I rarely hear the song artist twice in a half hour, much less the same song. Since I tend to listen for about half a hour at a time, I can't remember if I've heard the same song between charges, but it so it was days apart.

The other play mode is in order. It will play the songs in the order they were imported to the iPod. So if you find an artist you want, you can hear everything by them by moving that switch.

Honestly, this is one of the drawbacks of the iPod. I like to be in control of things, and so being at its mercy isn't the greatest. But I am adjusting fairly quickly.

I do have another couple issues with the iPod. First, they only update you on battery strength when you first turn it on. Considering the green light that lights up any time you hit a button is the same one that changes color to show how low the battery is getting, seems like they could have programmed it to change color any time a button is pressed.

My other complaint is the inconsistent volume. It seems like I have to adjust the level every time a new song comes on. I know that CD's are recorded at different levels. But iTunes does a good job of compensating for that. Seems like the iPod could do that, too.

On the other hand, the music sounds great. It's crystal clear, and you can hear every drum beat or note perfectly. I really notice the stereo effect more here than when I am listening on my computer or in my car.

As I mentioned earlier, I got this to use while working out, and it is perfect for that. I clip it into place and forget I even have it on. And it makes running or time in the gym more pleasant. Well, as pleasant as torturing yourself can be.

So, while I don't need my iPod, I can't imagine giving it up now. Despite the flaws, I know we are going to have a long and happy relationship.