Apple launched the new iPod Shuffle this week. It has been completely revamped. Made out of aluminum, it is much smaller in size, boasts of double the storage at 4 GB and the controls have been moved to the right earbud cord. And it talks.
Despite that fact that shifting the controls to the earbud wire will make it easier for users to operate the device, it kinda sucks in a way that you will have to stick with the crappy white earbuds which ship with it. So no Bose, no Sennheiser. A Nokia type solution with a 3.5 mm stereo jack in the control would have have been better. This might be temporary as Apple fixed a similar issue in the iPhone 3G by introducing the flush headphone jack.
The VoiceOver feature sounds cool. But imagine it announcing the title and artists for tracks which do not have that info. You will end up hearing “Untitled Track” and “No Artist” for most of your MP3s. LOL.
The size has been drastically reduced. The following images will give you an idea:
The storage space has been increased to 4GB. This means that you can fit in upto 1000 songs in this teeny weeny beauty:
The basic features remain the same with a belt clip and a switch to select the play mode/switch off the device:
All in all, its a nifty upgrade to the (now) ugly looking old shuffle. The new shuffle is priced at $79 in the US, is now available in India and should retail for approx INR 3200.
