Apple iPod Shuffle – The small wonder
I’ve recently bought a Apple iPod Shuffle 1 GB (Orange Color) after so many recommendations from my friends. After using it for three weeks now, I’ve decided to review it here in my own personal way as I felt it.
I’ve always been reluctant to buy Apple iPod as I’ve received comments from existing users that it’s tend to attract dust and scratch easily and will loose it’s glamor within weeks. I was using Sony Ericsson W700i mobile as my MP3/MP4 player for a long time.
Now, I can say, I’m WRONG! Still, the facts about all iPods attracting dust and scratch easily is true, it’s worth having for anyway!
I’ve been addicted to it. Now, it’s with me everywhere I go. Office, home, travel or even while going to Cinema theaters.
I always wanted a small and compact solution to music. But I never thought this much small and compact is possible. Even while seeing the pictures of iPod Shuffle in Apple’s website and other magazines, I didn’t able to figure out the exact size. But when I received the Box from Apple three weeks ago in a catch White transparent box with a middle cut where the iPod was seated beautifully, I was totally lost. I’ve fall in love at first sight. I’ven’t even opened the package for long time and just sat there admiring it’s beautiful look. When I opened the box, voila, it’s such a small thing I can ever dream of!
I don’t know what is the technology geeks in Apple thinking of themselves, but I can only think of them as Gods! They did their job very well. One immediate cool factor you will came to know when you purchase an iPod Shuffle is it’s tiny size. I don’t know how these guys are managed to put a Rechargeable battery and an 1 GB chip along with Player programming processors in this tiny unit! It’s simply the small wonder. I’ve even seen 1 GB RSMMC (Reduced Size MMC) chips which I wondered how came this much small is possible. But when I compare them with iPod Shuffle, I can’t even put them in equal state.
One amazing thing for me is the Sound Quality of this small wonder is awesome and supports super volume levels. One thing you will surely notice is no matter whatever the volume you raise, the Sounds are NEVER noisy. That’s an amazing thing! I always think even Sony Ericsson has one default like when you put a maximum volume, you will have some noise in the Sound delivered. I always thought Sony is the best in Sound world. But Apple is surely an equivalent and even a bit more of Sony.
One more thing that amused me is the Battery Capacity. Apple site for iPod Shuffle says the iPod Shuffle can last for 12 hours. I thought it’s same as the cellphone companies claiming their cellphones offer the longest lasting call duration and standby time and we buy it only to realize it’sn’t actually that much longer. But I was AGAIN WRONG! Apple iPod Shuffle provided me full 12 Hours playback. And one side note to this, the Battery Capacity when on the last of it’s minutes, doesn’t actually reduces the quality of sound or volume like other mobiles does, it just plays the Sound as it did in a fully recharged state until the Battery dies and it just switches the sound off abruptly once the batter dies so you don’t even know the Batter is going to die until the Sound is abruptly switched off. Man, that’s the wonderful thing to happen to any Rechargeable Battery based gadgets. I only hope this kind of backup can be given on Mobile phones too. (May be Apple iPhone can have that)
The bundled ear phones are of high quality and one specific aspect of them which I liked very much is, it allows us to hear outside voices even when on full Volume! That’s an amazing thing for me as I’m a frequent traveler and I always hear music on travel. It helps me to hear the blowing horns, back-seat person’s talks and everything even I’m on full volume. I don’t know about you guys who might like a fully filtered sound that didn’t allowed anything of the outside world sound inside (like the Sony Ericsson headsets does), but for me, this is the BEST thing!
I think I made a wise decision on buying an iPod Shuffle rather than iPod Nano or iPod which isn’t as small as iPod Shuffle. Also, the excellent 1 GB capacity is more than enough for me. I never watch videos on small Gadgets so, this perfectly fits me.
On the negative part, I can only say three things about the iPod Shuffle and even the whole range of Apple iPods. One, they didn’t offer any possibility of fast forwarding or fast backward of sound tracks (which is offered in so many other MP3/MP4 players I knew). Two, they are easily attracting dust and scratches. Three, they NEVER offer FM Radio capability. I know even a small gadgets now a days comes with FM Radio and I don’t know why the geeks at Apple never thought about that.
That being said, I still like and love the iPod Shuffle very much. Let me know your comments guys and gals…
The world may be going gaga over the iPod, but I have always been skeptic. One that you can’t use it without iTunes installed on to your computer and second your playlist is configured for the iTunes library on one computer, so if you need to get some stuff from your friend’s, your existing library gets deleted. And you can’t even use it as a USB drive or simply drag and drop music (which other alternatives offer), instead you have to go through the cumbersome iTunes process. Other digital audio players are as good, if not better, with more features (like FM, as you mentioned) and come at a much cheaper price. Their audio quality also gives the iPod some competition. It is the hype in the media that the world has gone crazy over the iPod and Apple’s first mover advantage. The Shuffle also doesn’t come with a display.
That’s an excellent comment Soumyadip!
Yes, I completely agree with you that there are more MP3/MP4 players around that overcome all the negatives of iPod Shuffle. Still, the main catch about iPods is their cool looks and easy carriage. Especially iPod Shuffle is the easiest one to carry around (of course not to mention that it’s the easiest to be lost). Somehow, Apple was able to pack tremendous amount of battery backup and 1 GB space in that small thing that makes it the ultimate choice of music lovers. All said, I still agree you’re absolutely right!
Thanks for commenting…