Review: iPod Shuffle (Orange)
Last week Apple introduced four iPod Shuffles in vibrant colors including orange, making it the first iPod to be offered in orange. There were no changes made to the Shuffle other than the color and that the Shuffles were bundled with the newer ear buds. Let the unboxing begin.
Aesthetically the Shuffle is flawless and “unbelievably small” as Steve Jobs says, weighing in at a mere 0.55 ounces. It comes in only one flavor of storage - 1GB, yet offers improved utility from the first generation Shuffle via the integrated clip. I purchased the Shuffle primarily for the gym and walking between classes on campus - times when I want a no-nonsense, turn on and play experience. I don’t want to be bothered by going through menus and playlists. Going along with that logic, when you plug the Shuffle into iTunes with the USB dock, it will ask you if you want to autofill the Shuffle with random songs from your iTunes collection. If you’re not up for that adventure you can always drag and drop songs manually to the Shuffle.
The Shuffle sports two switches on the top spine of the unit; one for power and one for playback method (shuffle or regular), alongside a status LED. The Shuffle’s facade has the basic forward, backward and volume controls centered around the play/pause button.
The orange Shuffle is exceedingly vibrant and attention-grabbing.
Battery life hovers around a respectable 12 hours. On the other hand, sound quality is something I’m still up in the air about. During low-volume parts of a song, there is a noticeable hiss and static sound although not prominent enough to annoy even a moderate audiophile. Listening between my first generation iPod Nano and the Shuffle, I was able to discern that the Nano’s quality was better. Josh Pigford from The Apple Blog went as far as to tell me he thought that the second generation Shuffle has 50% of the sound quality of the larger iPods. I’m not an audiophile by far so you’ll have to determine that for yourself.
I got it engraved for free from Apple’s online store.
Despite the short cable, the new ear buds fit much better.
The cable of the newer ear buds included with the colored, second generation Shuffles is unfortunately several inches shorter; I’d say around 8 inches shorter. I find this rather annoying when I’m jogging and have the Shuffle clipped to the bottom on my shirt; it’s only just long enough.
Overall, I am happy with the purchase and enjoy clipping it on to my shirt and strolling to class. Unlike the other iPods, the Shuffle doesn’t require looking down at it to use. You will definitely not enjoy the Shuffle if you expect to be able to find a particular song to play. The whole point of the Shuffle is to utilize the shuffle playback mode and not care what song is playing. If you have a problem with that and often find yourself skipping songs, you probably have a sub-par music collection.
Good review, Paul. I was considering this as a gift. Sounds perfect for a workout session. I wish I had something so small when I was in college, instead of having to lug around my CD player. How tight is the clip?
–Rebby
The clip has two seemingly interlocking metal parts so it’s good. I ran a few miles with it last night clipped on to my t-shirt and I never once had to refasten it.
Have you noticed any charging issues? My stepdad hooked his up to his G5 iMac and it wouldn’t charge when the iMac was sleeping. It didn’t work on my Macbook, either.
@Pierre - I haven’t checked charging while sleeping, I’ll let you know later.
I replaced my earphones with some Sony in-ear ones when I bought my old 3rd gen iPod and they sounded much better. It might be worth looking in to that because they’re pretty cheap compared to the price of the iPod.
I ordered mine (orange also) a couple of days ago, it was dispatched yesterday so it will be here soon!
Bit unoriginal on the engraving eh? I think a certain lyric is far more suited, as the iPod is a music player. (I got “And she’s buying a stairway to heaven” engraved).
I believe the shorter cable on the headphones in only for the shuffle. The new headphones should be just as long as the original one with any other iPod.
Yeah, that’s what I figured as Apple assumes you’ll have the Shuffle clipped onto your clothing nearby at all times.
liked that comment about a sub-par music collection. :)
I love my Shuffle for jogging too. If you don’t like it clipped onto the bottom of your t-shirt, have you tried the collar? It works great over one collarbone and then I tuck the rest of the cable down the back of my shirt.
Hi, great shots of the iPod Orange Shuffle here, I’ve linked you up on my blog post, if you don’t mind. I got one for my husband last week and he’s in heaven.