Secret of the Shuffle!

Reading this article this morning prompted me to make this proper blog post regarding Apple's iPod shuffle.

First of all the sound quality. To quote the above article "With earbuds, the iPod Shuffle's signal looks darn near identical to the no-load signal. I checked and rechecked this result because I couldn't believe my eyes. The iPod Shuffle sounds great, with a solid low end, and no need for bass boost. The reason for this sterling performance is that the left and right channels each have two transistors, one pushing, one pulling, and no capacitor that gets discharged over time." So it would seem that the Shuffle has excellent quality output, certainly sounds good to me even through the Apple earbuds which can handle considerable bass. Obviously the quality depends of the strengh the compression algorithm and the bit rate. AAC is probably the most effective audio codec around right now and even at 128kbs the sound is full and precise for 80% of tracks I've listened to in the last week or so.

Now usability. First use of the Shuffle reminded me of the first time I ever used a Mac. Simplicity, absolute and complete simplicity. Is it over simplified? Some might say that it is but they would be the ones who don't really understand what the whole "iPod thing" is. To explain let me give an example. iTunes smart-playlists are simple to set up, you could have a playlist which contains the following filters -- Songs not played in the last 2 months but which have been played over 4 times but no more than 10 times, songs which are no longer than 3:50, songs which have a rating of more than 4 stars. The end result is a list of tracks which you obviously have enjoyed in the past but haven't played them to death! Simply set this playlist to be the default sync in the 'Autofill' option and you can look forward to 8 hours of great music which is still fresh. This is just one example of the endless options for the Shuffle. In short, the power of iTunes allows the iPod shuffle to be incredibly simple.

The usablilty doesn't end there. Audio books, Pod casts, DVD soundtracks which can be bookmarked (Blade Runner full movie soundtrack!) -- all other uses which extend the overall fun of Shuffle ownership.

The physical design. I could rant on and on and on about how 'right' the Shuffle design is. Everyone who’s seen it and touched it has agreed that it's astonishing. Where to start? The way the volume goes up and down in an almost analogue fashion, the way the buttons click to such satisfaction, the ease of operation when holding the Shuffle in any hand and from any direction, the battery life, the perfect length of the lanyard, the ever-so slightly countersunk buttons.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the Shuffle is the plain white surface, but more on this later . . . ;)