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I was surprised by the small size of the Shuffle when I first opened the package. It's about the size of a half-dollar coin. When I get to the gym I just turn it on; no time is wasted searching for playlists or trying to decide what I will hear. I already had iTunes on my PC, loaded with music, so it was very easy to transfer songs to the Shuffle.
The earbuds fell out of my ears while exercising so I use a different style of headphones. If you have differently shaped ears or don't move a lot, the earbuds might work fine for you. As always, ordering from Amazon was quick and reliable.

If you have budget problem like me, this is a good choice. Good for its value, the sound system are nice. Easy to carry and to find and load music, the complain is.. you need more memories. Go for those have higher memories ones.

Nice little MP3 player. It's tiny and will clip anywhere on your clotheing while working out on the treadmill, but plan on buying a quality set of earphones because the ones that come with it are terrible. They do not stay in if your active at all.

This is the perfect iPod for anyone who wants an additional iPod (or first iPod, whatever) that is small, wearable, and kind of amazing. This thing is incredible, and I love it. The sound quality is great and it is especially good for running and exercise, because it clips onto any piece of clothing. For the price, it is a great value.

BACKGROUND: I am an experienced mp3 player user, and my current other unit is a SanDisk Sansa Clip 2 GB MP3 Player (Black). I bought a silver 1 Gb iPod Shuffle primarily to use at the gym; however, I will also comment about general usage as well. This is also the only Apple device that I have owned of any kind.

SETUP: There are two things to note about the setup process for the iPod Shuffle. Neither of them is complicated, but they are annoying. Unlike most other mp3 players that use a mini-USB cable for charging and transferring music, the Shuffle requires the use of a proprietary docking station. As such, I wasn't able to reuse any of the myriad of mini-USB cables that I have from other devices. So you either have to buy a second docking station or take the one that comes with the Shuffle with you for charging away from home.

The other thing about the Shuffle that I found frustrating was that you are limited to using iTunes for music transfer. Further, you can only transfer music from a single computer. This is a very restrictive requirement for such a low end device. Finally, I was surprised by how slow iTunes is. Believe me; the last thing I expected was for iTunes to perform slower (by a significant amount) that Windows Media Player. I am no Microsoft lover or apologist by any means (I actually prefer Linux).

SOUND QUALITY: This is the area where I give the Shuffle its best marks. The sound is great whether I am playing m4p formats from iTunes or mp3s that I have ripped from CDs or purchased elsewhere. It is equal in dynamics and range to my Sansa Clip, and it even sounds good plugged into the AUX jack for my car stereo.

Of note, however, I am not using the headphones that came with the Shuffle. I have never thought of myself as having small ears, but I found that the headphones that come with the Shuffle seem rather large and hurt my ears immediately after putting them on. For my workouts, I am using a pair of Skullcandy Buds Ink'd Earbuds - Dark Gray because they are inexpensive, and the in ear style have a secure fit while active. While these ear buds will not win any awards, the Shuffle still sounds good even using these.

USAGE/NAVIGATION: This is the area where the Shuffle is way behind the competition. Without a display, you essentially have one giant playlist that is in the order that you put songs on the device. You can either play straight through the list, or you can "shuffle" your music. However, I noticed that between 30 and minute minutes into shuffling, the first song gets repeated. This was with over four and a half hours of music on the device. Unlike every other CD or mp3 player that I have ever had, I was surprised to find that the Shuffle repeats songs before going through the entire list.

If you decide that want to find a specific song, best of luck to you. You have skip and reverse navigation, and you'll need a good memory of what order you synced things to your device. Ultimately it is not worth it to try to use the Shuffle this way. It seems that it is really geared toward the gym/active user who doesn't need a lot of control over their music. With this in mind, I can hardly see the point of even having a unit larger than 1 Gb. It would seem to make sense to have a 512k offering to better match the functionality.

In short, it's great for working out, but it would be extremely frustrating to use this as your portable music collection.

OPTIONS: Really, the only option that you have on the device itself is the toggle between continuous or shuffle play. From iTunes, you can update the software for the Shuffle and change a few settings that most people won't alter from their defaults.

COST: You are paying a premium for the Apple name, but you probably already knew that. Creative and SanDisk both have competing offerings with more functionality at a lower price.

CONCLUSION: The iPod Shuffle as an expensive offering that really only makes sense to a specific subset of mp3 player users. While the sound quality is good, it is really only for brand loyalists looking for a player to use at the gym.

I bought this product as a gift for my wife, july 2007. Within 4 months it had to be replaced for a new one, in 5 months it had to be replaced again, in 4 months that last replacement stop working and I was out of the 1 year guarantee (no more replacements) and a very upset wife!

I use this iPod shuffle every time I go for a long run or a workout in the gym. One thing I love about this product is that I don't need an arm band to attach it to my body. It comes with a clip that you can simply clip on to your t-shirt or shorts. And the battery seems to last forever.

Thanks you so much for the orange ipod. My dad will love it....gator fan that he is.....great purchase experience with this vendor!

The Apple iPod shuffle that I bought is awesome. The price was about 40$ cheaper buying through Amazon then it was in any of the stores I went into. Plus it keeps all my songs when my computer crashes, which is often. Maybe I will be buying a new computer this way......

This tiny Ipod is too small to be of any real use.
There is no display so you are guessing what is playing.
Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB Metal (2nd Generation)