Apple is smarter than you are. You never said so, but it knows you always want your devices to be thinner than they were before. Even if you complain about some high price or a proprietary new connector that makes you replace perfectly fine items you’ve already purchased—fancy headphones, a car stereo, whatever—it doesn’t care: you or someone you know will buy its latest product anyway. All it has to do is show a silhouetted guy dancing around with its latest music player and people will stand in line to pay full retail for it, even in a bad economy. Right?
For the first time in iLounge’s history of reviewing iPod and iPhone hardware—one that has previously seen these devices rate everywhere from a flat A “high recommendation” to a B- “limited recommendation”—the answer should be “no.” Yes, the third-generation iPod shuffle ($79/4GB) is Apple’s smallest and highest-capacity shuffle yet, defying those who thought that there wouldn’t be a need to carry 1,000 songs in a device without a screen. It comes with those famous shiny white earbuds and a remote control, there’s an Apple logo on the back, and it plays music. Plus, it talks! Well, sort of: a feature called VoiceOver plays simple, computerized song and playlist titles that are created by iTunes and transferred to the device.
But despite significant technical accomplishments, it’s also the worst iPod the company has ever released—designed not for the value-conscious consumers who originally wanted shuffles, but apparently, for the ever-narrowing niche of athletic users who want to listen to music but for whatever reason find the similarly shrinking, Nike-friendly iPod nano unappealing. In brief, the third-generation iPod shuffle is more challenging to use for simple things than the versions that came before, the least distinctive visually, and the most overpriced relative to what it actually delivers. It may be a clean design visually and impressive electronically, but conceptually, it’s a mess.
Made almost entirely from silver or charcoal gray anodized aluminum, the third-generation iPod shuffle has literally no facial features, and similarly nothing on its sides or bottom to reveal that it’s an iPod. There’s no screen, no Click Wheel, not even the recognizable circular five-button controller found on the last two iPod shuffles. Only a mirror-finished stainless steel shirt clip on its back, etched with the Apple logo, and the aforementioned pair of included white earphones give away its Apple lineage.
Those headphones—specifically, the fact that they require the user to learn and use an integrated three-button remote control—are the new iPod shuffle’s single biggest Achilles’ heel. They needlessly and foolishly complicate a device that was originally designed to be Apple’s easiest to use, forcing the user to learn a series of tricks to coax the shuffle to skip, fast forward, or rewind tracks, or even to reveal its current battery life: it is, in sum, the Microsoft-like opposite of the Apple we once knew, making users adapt to a product’s quirky interface rather than designing the interface for a great user experience.
Taking no joy in rendering such a harsh verdict, we comprehensively discuss the new iPod shuffle in full throughout the pages that follow. Inside, you will see the results of our battery, audio, accessory and transfer tests—some positive, some negative—as well as details on the new model’s packaging, controls, VoiceOver feature, and more. [
Editor’s Note: This review was updated on September 14, 2009 to add a page on the late 2009 addition of four new colors to the third-generation iPod shuffle family, as well as a less expensive $59 2GB model.]
The third-generation iPod shuffle follows in the packaging tradition of its predecessor and most other iPods of the past two years. It ships in a clear hard plastic box that prominently spotlights the device through its front window, listing the 4GB storage capacity on its top, computer requirements on the back, and serial number details on its bottom. All that’s noteworthy about the package is its simultaneous display of the device’s remote control alongside the iPod, a first for Apple’s clear packages, and its size: unlike the second-generation shuffle’s originally iPod nano-sized box, the new one is barely larger than the shuffle itself in height, and wider solely to allow room for accessories and inserts.
Those items are obviously spartan: the remote control is obviously attached to the headphones, which ship wrapped and hide behind the shuffle’s white mounting board, and the only other accessory is a 40mm (1.8 inch) USB sync and charging cable that’s designed specifically for the new shuffle; gone is the larger and less than popular iPod shuffle Dock that Apple packed in with the prior model. In keeping with tradition, both the headphones and the cable are a mix of white and light gray plastic, regardless of the color of the shuffle in the package.
You also get three paper inserts: a set of two tiny Apple stickers, a warranty book, and a tiny “Start here” manual that gives users only the briefest explanation of the device and its controls. Consistent with all iPods and iPhones released in recent years, users are directed to download the iTunes music, audiobook, and podcast management software themselves, but unlike past shuffles, users may well need to look at a manual or Apple’s web page just to learn how to use the third-generation model’s controls.
As with its predecessors, the biggest selling point for the latest iPod shuffle is size, not features, though in this particular case, the numbers don’t totally speak for themselves. The third-generation iPod shuffle measures 1.8 inches tall by 0.7 inches wide and 0.3 inches deep, a “true volume” of 0.26 cubic inches, with a weight of 0.38 ounces. It resembles Apple’s
iPhone Bluetooth Headset in materials, size, and design, though its proportions are a little different.
To put the new shuffle in perspective relative to its father and grandfather, the original iPod shuffle was 3.3 inches tall by 0.98 inches wide by 0.33 inches thick—around 1.1 cubic inches in volume—and weighed 0.78 ounces. If you turn its successor on its side for proper comparison, the second-generation shuffle was 1.62 inches by 1.07 inches by 0.41 inches thick, weighing 0.55 ounces; though technically wider and deeper, it was half the height, sporting a thick rear shirt clip, and so occupied a comparatively small 0.5 cubic inches of volume. The third-generation model is around 1/4 the volume of the first shuffle, 1/2 the volume of the second shuffle, and also comparatively light in weight: 1/3 the weight of the first, and 1/2 that of the second.
Thus, while the new shuffle doesn’t “wow” in person, it does impress: it’s as tiny as the smallest USB flash drives we’ve seen, yet still manages to pack a headphone port and battery inside, the latter occupying almost half of the anodized aluminum case’s innards. Apple’s engineers have once again done a stunning job of miniaturizing a basic MP3 player: though the new shuffle is already the thinnest in the family, it would be even thinner without the sturdy, polished stainless steel shirt clip on its back—apparently preserved solely to keep the shuffle wearable like its predecessors, and also to keep from getting lost. It is easy to clip on a shirt, and for some, to accidentally leave on that shirt as it goes into the wash.
Unfortunately, Apple cheated a little to achieve its shrinkage this time: even though there’s room for a series of buttons on the new shuffle’s face, Apple includes only a single control on the device: a tiny, three-position swirled metal switch off to the left of the headphone port. Between these parts is a pinhole-sized status light that can change from yellow-green to orange to red, but stays almost exclusively off while the device is playing. To actually use the shuffle, you need to attach the included three-button remote control headphones, a similar Apple replacement pair, or third-party accessories that are not expected to become available for three or more months. More on that below.
While we won’t completely revisit the topic of the largely familiar earphones Apple includes with the iPod shuffle, several points are worth noting. The earphones are identical to the late December, 2008
Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic, only they’re missing the microphone, the cord is around 8 inches shorter, and three almost imperceptible changes have been made. The shuffle’s remote is now around half an inch lower on the right earbud than it was on the mic-equipped version, a change which strikes us as odd given that a mic-less remote could and should have dropped much lower on the cable for added convenience. Additionally, the hard plastic-coated headphone plug is just a hair thinner than the prior rubber one, with a radius that matches the new shuffle’s rather than slightly hanging off of it.
If the old earbuds didn’t fit your ears, these won’t, either, but if they did, you’ll find—as we have—that the sound quality is actually quite good for a pair of pack-ins, with a bass-skewed but nice overall balance of sound. Unfortunately, users who prefer to replace Apple’s earbuds with others will find that the shuffle has some serious problems in this regard, details that will be discussed later in this review.
For all of the bad news regarding the third-generation iPod shuffle: there’s one piece of qualified good news: this new model sounds a bit better than its predecessor. We noted back in 2006 that the second-generation iPod shuffle was a step below the first-generation model, as well as the then-shipping fifth-generation iPod and second-generation iPod nano, due to a staticy audio chip that revealed its imperfections when headphones better than Apple’s pack-ins were attached. The gulf only increased over time, as two successively better generations of iPods and iPhones continued to improve in audio quality, and the shuffle remained stagnant and comparatively very noisy.
While it hasn’t completely fixed the noise issues, Apple’s third-generation iPod shuffle has improved. It starts with a sound signature that’s very similar to the other current-generation iPods, offering a neutral balance of treble, midrange, and bass frequencies, and way more detail than the included earphones can discern. Apart from Apple’s continued lack of graphic equalization, the only issues some users have had with the family in recent years are in the bass department, where all of the iPods can be driven to distortion. In this regard alone, the fact that the shuffle isn’t more powerful than its current-generation siblings may come as a disappointment to users familiar with the first-generation shuffle, which used a different audio chip from the rest of the family and exhibited less bass distortion when pushed. In our view, however, the third-generation shuffle is a very solid sounding little audio player, all things considered.
But it’s not perfect. Though we were initially optimistic when doing early tests with the shuffle using ultra-high-end Ultimate Ears UE-11 Pro earphones, it turns out that the shuffle still has a little background hiss—not as much as before—and that there are also situations in which you can occasionally trigger a series of high-pitched signaling beeps that appear to be the shuffle body attempting to communicate with the chip in the remote control. We heard the beeps when we tried the UE-11s in a quiet room: they lack the remote control and make the beeps a bit more obvious. Most users won’t notice or care about these sorts of things, but they’re worth mentioning.
There is, however, something that many users will care about: the new shuffle doesn’t fully work with any headphones except Apple’s. Because of what Apple has done here—something sneaky and arguably terrible for consumers, especially if it continues with other iPod and iPhone products in 2009—if you plug your old third-party headphones of any sort into the new shuffle, you’ll find that you can’t do anything with the device other than have it continuously play music, without volume controls or interruption, unless of course of you turn it off. Surprise: the only third-party headphones that will work are ones that haven’t even entered manufacturing yet, because they’ll need to contain yet another new Apple authentication chip, which will add to their price. Your only alternatives will be third-party remote control adapters—also not yet available, as Apple’s not even making one—and using Apple’s earphones. The prices for the third-party adapters will be no less than $19, and quite possibly more like $29; compatible headphones announced thus far start at $49.
For the time being, what this means is that one or more pairs of earphones that you’d like to use for other purposes—running, indoor workouts, or just casual listening—will be generally useless with the shuffle. All you can do is turn on the shuffle and hope that the volume and song that play through the headphone port are acceptable to you.
This is, in short, a nightmare scenario for long-time iPod fans: are we entering a world in which Apple controls and taxes literally every piece of the iPod purchase from headphones to chargers, jacking up their prices, forcing customers to re-purchase things they already own, while making only marginal improvements in their functionality? It’s a shame, and one that consumers should feel empowered to fight.
The same issues impact the shuffle’s utility as an in-car or home stereo playback device: other than pressing play, you can’t do anything to control its playback. If your car or home speakers have their own volume control—they should—you can adjust the volume, but bear in mind that the quality might not be so hot, since the car will be amplifying an audio signal turned down low enough for headphones, rather than one that’s optimized at a louder level for a car stereo.
One final accessory note is that Apple has announced a $19 cable accessory pack for the new shuffle: it combines one 1.8-inch cable like the one that’s included with each shuffle, and one nearly 40-inch but otherwise identical cable. Apple has not announced replacement earphones for the shuffle, for whatever reason; it can be controlled by the Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic and In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic, but aggravatingly, not by Apple’s iPhone Stereo Headphones or other one-button headphones that were previously released. This just appears to be another Apple trick to randomly break compatibility with pre-existing accessories that might have been semi-useful, but didn’t contain its chips.
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