The Best iPods at the Best Prices

5 Comments on “Apple iPod Shuffle 1GB – Silver”

1. Gary Hilton
   May 16th, 2010 at 1:09 am

   At the time of writing this review there are 68 others already on here, but I thought I would tell you of my own experience with the ipod shuffle.

   I go the gym and used to have a MP3 player – just a basic “memory stick” type that I plugged into my computer to recharge and I could drag & drop songs onto. Unfortunately it died so it was time to look for a new one. Now I was undecided whether to buy a basic model by a less well known company, or go for a leading name. It seems to me that if you’re prepared to go for a relatively unknown manufacturer you can get a basic mp3 player for half the price with twice the memory, but eventually after much deliberation I plumped for the apple ipod shuffle, swayed by a combination of the reputation of apple & (hopefully) a better build quality.

   I have had it just over a week now and I think I have made the right decision.

   Yes, there is no screen, but I knew that when I bought it. I know from my prior experience at the gym that I just tend to switch it on and let it play so I didn’t really need one. Also, I have a mobile phone that takes pictures, plays videos, games etc and I hardly use any of those features so I figured I wouldn’t need a screen to watch tiny videos on. The earphones are great – several reviwers say they fall out but I’ve used mine on the treadmill, rower, cross trainer, exercise bike and wave machine and they’ve stayed in throughout! I’ve got about 14 hours out of it before I had to recharge which is impressive, and although initially I missed the simplicity of the “drag & drop” method of my old mp3 player, its just a question of getting used to itunes and once you have it seems simple enough.

   All in all, an excellent purchase and having never had any previous experience of apple or ipods I am very pleased with my purchase.
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. JA Stuart
   May 16th, 2010 at 2:24 am

   Now, to start with, if you want a player which is multi-purpose, and can play videos and view photos – look elsewhere. This is strictly music only (with the exception of using it as a data drive). It doesn’t have a screen, but for me this is perfect. I’m tired of waiting for my other player (Sony NW-HD3) to load up, then I have to troll through various menus, select the song, wait for the hard-disk to spin up before putting in my pocket, and having to take it out every time i want a song change. This for me does exactly what I need. I use it primarily in College and at the Gym. Its great because it just clips on, you turn it on and music plays literally straight away. There are no loading times, even when skipping tracks, and it is very easy to use. There’s 5 buttons, all operated by the thumb, and the great thing is, if its clipped to your trousers, you just press the next track button to change songs. Theres no faffing about with menus and selecting albums.

   However, it won’t be perfect for everyone because of this. If you want all your music in albums, this wont work, because you can only skip through tracks, but ive made a playlist of my favorite songs of the current time, and put that on. I know whats on there too – because they are my favorite songs. iTunes is easy as you’d expect, and the sound is good too, on par with its bigger alternatives.

   Now, to clear it up, there is hiss if you use in-ear headphones. I sometimes use my Sony MDR-EX71’s, and there is some hiss, not particularly noticeable. But i use the headphones which came with it, which are fine, if lacking in bass response.

   This thing looks and feels great, and well put together. Its tiny, smaller than the size of the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard, and light too, so if it drops, it just dangles from the headphones and doesn’t detach, so it wont hit the floor. Its not noticeable, unlike bigger players which you can feel in your pocket. Some people say it may get lost, but keep it attached to your headphones and there shouldn’t be a problem.

   Of course, with the dock, it looses portability value for data storage, but to be honest, if i wanted to transfer my data/work files, i use a USB dongle, and not a £50 music player.

   Whats more, its cheaper than any previous Shuffles, and at only £55, a cheap way to get in on the iPod market, and noone will call you a cheapskate because it looks fabulous.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. KM
   May 16th, 2010 at 4:32 am

   I bought my iPod Shuffle (but in orange) for when I went skiing earlier this year as I didn’t want to be weighed down with my original iPod.
   
   I now use it for when I go running or to the gym and it’s tiny size and little weight is absolutely perfect for clipping it onto my t-shirt or vest and not noticing it is there.

   You can fit about 250 three and half minute songs on it and the battery life is quite long. I have dropped it once or twice and it didn’t break, so it seems pretty durable too.

   I recommend this to anyone who likes to listen to music whilst running or training and does not want to feel the extra weight of their iPod/MP3 on them. Otherwise it is probably better to get a Nano for everyday usage.
   Rating: 4 / 5

4. Mr. David J. Moore
   May 16th, 2010 at 5:08 am

   First the good. This player is the smallest yet most robust piece of electronic equipment I’ve bought in a while. It is so small is reminds me of some of Ben Elton’s rambling’s in Stark where he suggests that Japanese led electronics are becoming so small that we can barely find them half the time, let alone use them. Thankfully, Apple negate this problem with the ingenious clip, which seems strong and highly practical, bravo Apple – yet another innovation in the smallest of their devices to date.

   So why only 3 stars? The sound quality. It is loud, yes. Quite full, there is a lot of detail there, but ultimately it just sounds a bit flat. This has caused me to send mine back – I’m a bit of an audiogeek, I use the Shure e2c’s and expect a decent sonic experience. Instead, I’m going to buy the 1st gen shuffle – since from what I can gather, the sound quality on that device was applauded at the time. Indeed, if you do a quick search on some of the mac forums, I’m sure you will find questions over the sound quality on this 2nd gen as compared to the 1st.

   So in all then, a great player, if you can live without brilliant quality sound. It seems to me that a lot of the work at Apple went into the design and aesthetics with this device, at the expense of a ‘iPod quality sound’ that they managed to maintain in the 1st Gen shuffle.
   Rating: 3 / 5

5. Skizz
   May 16th, 2010 at 6:52 am

   “Why on earth do I need an iPOD?”, I used to think, “It’s not as if I listen to a lot of music.”

   Then last Christmas my sister bought an iPOD shuffle for me from Canada. What a revelation.

   This is a great device for the gym: it’s tiny, light and easy to wear. I use it to listen to radio podcasts. It doesn’t have a hard disk like an iPOD, so the shuffle doesn’t have any moving parts. The upshot of this is it’s extremely reliable (so I’m told). I’ve not found it fragile, but I am quite careful with it, having only dropped it once. Yes, it is difficult to shuffle through each recording.

   Recommended, especially for the gym and for recordings you don’t want to permanently leave on the iPOD.

   PS Have seen reviews with poor ratings of this product since I originally posted this. A few more comments.
   
   I would emphasise that it’s very difficult to navigate your way around tracks – you really need to use this as a “I play everything in sequence” machine (which is why it’s good for listen once and delete).
   
   Comments around style – well, this is all about size. This thing is tiny and light – that’s the major advantage.
   
   Durability – dropped it lots of times now. No problems. Have even bent the sturdy bulldog clip – slight problem in that it struggles to fit into docking port. My big belly bent it when I bent over…

   2 points haven’t been made –
   
   the battery life is good (even when I’ve left it on by mistake) and it’s never run out
   
   you can’t delete tracks from the machine – you need to do this from the computer.
   Rating: 5 / 5

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