a new opinion in Audio / HiFis about Apple iPod shuffle (4G) 2 GB

Well hello there, thanks for looking at my review in your decision to purchase a new MP3 player. This is my first review on the site but it is not the first MP3 player I have ever owned, in fact it is not even my first iPod that I have ever owned. My wife and I recently split and as with most relationships that end; the his and hers things form a lively debate. To cut a long story short, she got the old ipod shuffle (even though it was a gift for me from her) and I had to go and buy as new one. I spent quite a while deliberating over models, styles and size in my quest to buy a new MP3 player and I was even considering not buying an Apple product. There are so many different devices on the market and some priced so cheaply that I thought that a change would be as good as the rest. Unfortunately, I love my gadgets and loved the new mini shuffle so had to buy that one. I already use Itunes so the familiarity of system was a bonus. The only thing that really put me off was the lack of screen, I really did want something with a colour screen so I could read which song was about to play. Aha! The new ipod shuffle combats the problem of not having a screen and instead it plays the name of the artist and song so you know which track is about to play. This is a genius move by Apple and for this reason, I bought the new shiny ipod and I have not looked back since.

==Money, Money, Money==

I must admit, I was a little shocked to see the new shuffles priced at ?40.00 as you can get other branded machines for this price and they have a screen or at least an LCD Bar that tells you the time, date and track listing. I was won over by its smallness though as this is exactly what I need for running, I do not want to be weighed down and to be honest I was still pinning over my last shuffle. I wanted this ipod so I was prepared to pay the money for it.

==A look at the product, so what do we have here?==

Size:1.1 high x 1.2 wide x 0.3 inches thick
Weight: 0.4 ounces.
Material: Aluminium.
Colour: Silver, blue, green, orange, or pink.
I have the blue one because I am a man and blue suits me much better than pink does! It is shiny and sleek and you can have it engraved on the back for your nearest and dearest. FRONT - Here you will find the click wheel which is a very apply thing to do. From here you can skip forward, skip backwards, play it, pause it and toggle with the sound volume. BACK- There is a bulldog clip that holds the ipod in place on your garments, it is as wide as the device so it is quite well made and sturdy. SIDES - On the side of the device there is the Voiceover button, a slide clicker that controls Shuffle, Play in Order and Power On/Off. Also on the side is the 3.5 mm headphone jack and a power light.

==Charge me up Scotty==

The ipod takes around 3-4 hours to chanrge to full charge but you can give it a quick burst by charging it for an hour. Charging it is not a problem for me as I have the laptop on constantly for music and films so I do not need a wall adapter, which is good as it only comes with a USB lead. This USB lead is how you upload songs to your new machine. Charging is quick and easy and if you want to see how much battery you have left then you need to double click on the Voiceover button and this lets you know how you are doing.

==Music, Music, Music==

Apple have kindly installed an iPod Setup Assistant which configures your new iPod shuffle with you computer and helps you sync it all together with your iTunes library. Once set up, the ipod starts to transfer music over and the default setting is to take songs from the Apple Genius. You can change this default setting and highlight songs to transfer, whole albums or playlists. Each song takes around 10 seconds to transfer so it really is quite painless. If you do not want this then you can choose to copy over playlists or even just singular songs. The iPod supports AAC, protected AAC from iTunes, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio files.
Storage - for a tiny device 2GB is plenty and I currently have over 400 tracks on my machine. I love music and I will regularly change this selection, removing old albums and adding new. I am always on the computer and love messing with Itunes so I do not mind doing this at all, in fact I find it relaxing.

==Sounds like?==

Sound quality is good for a device that is so small you could hide it under your tongue, if it was waterproof! The volume can be turned up high and even deep bass tones shine through. I enjoy listening to rock, blues and jazz and the heavy percussion is handled well on the ipod. I do find that the best songs are ones downloaded directly from Itunes, this have the best crystal clear clarity and sound so good. I often download songs from itunes and I can really tell the difference. I use the ipod with a decent pair of headphones as I do not have any luck with the Apple ones, my last pair got crushed in my gym bag so I do not even bother now. They are cheap and plastic and not comfortable at all. They vibrate in my ear and make my ear feel itchy. I just can not do with them. You can get a decent pair of ear buds for less than ?20 so it is worth the investment. If you love your music you will want more than the default earphones that come with this. Sorry, Apple these are just my opinions! I have had some good gym sessions with the new shuffle and enjoy listening to it, what has made my experiences all the better are the new features:

==Features==

Voiceover is Apples answer to a screen and it gives you the freedom and control to be able to select a track you want and work out which song it is that is playing. The old shuffle was much of a guessing game and I used to get quite annoyed that I had to magically guess the order of my tracks. VoiceOver, which is an uber cool robot voice tells you which track is playing and who it is by. To use it, simply push the VoiceOver button once. You can have it saying the name in over 23 languages but surely, Kings of Leon are the kings of leon in every other album? Nice one Apple. To locate a playlist press and hold the VoiceOver button and it tells you every playlist you have uploaded, if you get the playlist you want then click play and you will now only hear songs from this small selection. It takes a while to get to grips with this while you are pounding it out on the road but you soon can fiddle with it without looking and get what you want.

==Finally?==

Have I droned on? Seriously? Ok I will make it brief: The advantages are that this is slim, it used itunes and it charges up so quick. A full charge lasts a whopping 9 hours! The downsides are the headphones. I would rather apple knock a tenner off and sell me the ipod without them. Just a thought.

Source: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/portable-mp3-player/apple-ipod-shuffle-4g-2-gb/1685029/

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