iPod Shuffle

I received a new iPod shuffle in the post about a week ago now, just in time for The Final Conflict paintball event. It was the red edition, complete with www.richarddavey.com domain name engraving.

iPod Shuffle (PRODUCT) RED

It’s a bit pricey considering what it is, especially when you take into account that most places now sell ’stick’ MP3 players for around £10. You can even pick one up at Tescos with your weekly shopping! However, this is an Apple product and like all the others before it, there’s more than meets the eye.

I’ve had numerous comments on how nice looking it is, and have even been told how sexy the docking base station looks (despite online claims of it being extremely fragile). It has all the features you really need; shuffle, hold and the general play/pause controls. I’ve found I rarely miss the display as found on the big brother iPods, but it would sometimes be nice to know what song I’m listening to. The clip is definitely handy as my pockets tend to fill up with all the useless bits found with day to day living. The fact it can be synced with iTunes is the big seller with most people, since it can be automatically be filled with your favorite music with a simple single click.

Another feature which I’ve found fairly useful is the ’shuffle’ switch. Handy when you want to listen to ‘that new album’ in the order intended, or just to mix it up a bit. The first time I turned the iPod on I discovered a useful, and initially a somewhat mystical flashy light on the top and bottom of the player. After a read of the manual, I found that this light indicates what the player is doing, by a series of either green or orange flashes.

Overall, it’s a great MP3 player and highly recommended. I think I’ll stick with my iPod video for now as it’s not really any comparison, but for those rough paintball weekends away I’ll happily take this little baby along instead!