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"‘the worst iPod ever released’
May be you should be in the Apple's board of director....oh wait, you are just a bad blogger... That means that Apple is making millions with what they do and you are doing, let see, a hundred?, a thousand? I believe you should keep your opinions and recommendations for your self.

please let the sales figure speak. Period.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:26 pm Comment from: DreamTheEndless

Finally - someone had the courage to say it.

the headphone-only controls are stupid. I don't care if a dongle will be available in the future - no "adapter" could ever be as good as some sort of control on the device. I have no problem with the idea of controls on the headphone cable - it just needs to be in addition to the controls on the device - not instead of.

@Viktor
Microsoft makes millions too. That doesn't mean the Zune wasn't a bad product. Now I don't mean to directly compare a Zune to the new iPod, but criticism shouldn't be denounced based squarely on the argument you laid forth.

Change is not indicative progress.
Different is not always better.
New is not synonymous with success.

Apple needs to recognize that not all consumers consider it obligatory to buy the next thing from Apple nor shower each product with uninhibited praise and admiration.

Back to the drawing boards, Apple, after a hearty helping of humble pie. Same to you. Obama.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:35 pm Comment from: cptnkirk

Actually, if you don't like it, don't buy. After all that how to tell a company you don't like their product. Telling us that we don't like it is a pointless review.

You know it's bad when these fanboys don't like it.

The third generation iPod shuffle might go down as one of the worst products Apple has ever released. It's an impractical mess; an example of form over function and engineering for the sake of engineering.

To have another PR disaster following so closely on the heels of MobileMe(ss) is frightening. Nobody likes this thing and everybody's snatching up the 2ndGen shuffle while they still can.

When I first saw picture of new Nano and saw presentation, somehow I had the same feeling. Improvements of (already) good things sometimes can go wrong way. This is already second example: first is new OS X Finder and Dock.

:(

Mar 13, 09 - 04:39 pm Comment from: clinicaltechmaster

@kat
Don't start with the cheap shot political commentary.
Go peddle your opinions on the political sites.

This is a well-written review that raises some good points.

Whether or not it succeeds, at least we know that Apple's not afraid to experiment and try new things. And, whether or not it succeeds, Apple will replace this w/ a newly-designed shuffle in a year or so, as it has done w/ the mini/nano and past shuffle iterations.

Yeah, I think iLounge has gotten a bit full of themselves and has reached the point some popular Mac sites reach the "We've been following Apple so long, we OBVIOUSLY know better than they do". A little constructive criticism is NOT a bad thing, but I can't help but think that the hits they may get from being "the iPod website that hates the new iPod" must have run through their minds.

I stopped going there regularly when they went on a warpath against Apple regarding the DRM chips in the later docks and cords, and reading the above will the the closest I read of this particular whine (unless someone copies and pastes the entire article on a site where they won't receive ad revenue).

Just sad.

Repeat to yourself, "it's just a product refresh, I should really just relax..."

thanks for showing us how an adult behaves.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:44 pm Comment from: coolfactor

I think the new iPod is a huge opportunity for new ways of "wearing" iPods. Just think of having a pair of sunglasses with the iPod attached to one side, and built-in earphones. By moving the controls off of the device itself, all kinds of new integration opportunities open up. The iPod is now officially "wearable".

apple called. they're so impressed by your brilliance, they want you to be the next ceo.

@ R2

Your scenario does indeed sound frightening. I'd sure hate to be inside your head, since that's the only place where it's happening.

Well, I'll agree with all that SteveJack said, but especially the last: 200 million visually impaired persons worldwide. I live in Rochester, NY home of the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, also known as ABVI-Goodwill.
ABVI-Goodwill's history dates back to the early 1900s when a group of graduates of the New York State School for the Blind had a dream that all people who are blind or visually impaired could lead full, productive lives. In 1911, these pioneers made the decision to form an agency to serve the local blind population and in 1913 the Association for the Blind was incorporated.
Throughout the years, the Association for the Blind provided for a dramatically increased demand for services, education and training which emphasized the capabilities and contributions of people who are blind or visually impaired.

I have several visually impaired friends, associated with ABVI-Goodwill, who are hailing the new Shuffle as "The first iPod for the blind." All of my visually impaired friends are long-time Mac users who have desperately wanted an iPod they could use easily. Now they get their chance...iLounge apparently didn't "see" this the way we do. Their loss and pun intended.

MDN word: "Rest" as in, iLounge, give it a rest.

Steve Jack:

I lost all faith in your opinions when you carried on and on about how iPhones do not need a better camera. Someday when the iPhone has a 6 MP camera, I want to see you still carrying around your dedicated point and shoot along with your iPhone. You won't. You'll just be happy that this new iPhone takes awesome pics and and won't bother referring to your earlier comments.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:50 pm Comment from: coolfactor

Just think of the jackets that will allow you to keep the iPod safely tucked inside while you are skiing, snowboarding, cycling, and the controls are conveniently placed on the sleeve or collar of the jacket itself.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:50 pm Comment from: ron

"Back to the drawing boards, Apple, after a hearty helping of humble pie. Same to you. Obama."

Apple just keep doing what other people are not. Making money with great products. As for Obummer, go back to organizing communities or we're doomed to mirror England. I left there to make it in our great USA.

There are people that will always hate whatever is new. It's human nature, especially if the human fears change. Next year this time, the shuffle will be a big seller. People will still hate it, people with money will still buy it, the audible interface will become more refined across several devices, there will be Linux and windows based copies and Apple will, again, have changed the world's expectations on what a consumer electronic device can be.

Steve Jack,

An utterly childish response to a mature and legitimate set of criticisms against what is Apple's worst product in a decade. I wouldn't be surprised if Jobs said "fine, build a product without me and see how well you fare."

B-BUT, the BLIND PEEPLE! You're full of shit, buddy.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:56 pm Comment from: sfemet

I'm disappointed that Apple has taken a pretty nifty shuffle design that would be useful for a lot of users and turned it into this. Apple is pretty presumptuous to demand that we use their earbuds and we should NO have to rely on a third pary, extra-cost adapter to use our own buds. And iLounge has a right to it's opinion.
My 79 year old mom had a hard enough time understanding how to use my old iPod mini with a screen and scroll wheel. No way she could EVER use the new shuffle.

Mar 13, 09 - 04:57 pm Comment from: RamaFan

How about we all reserve judgment until we've used it for more than five minutes at the store.

Time will tell and it's not like Apple has never had bad products or judgments. They just keep at it and you win some and lose some.

Mar 13, 09 - 05:01 pm Comment from: justme2

@DaclanFalx: Great insight -- with more and more content available at the iTunes Store, and especially the content available at iTunes U, it's possible that Apple came out with this shuffle to head off any lawsuits from the blind/visually impaired community.

When Apple (or a 3rd party) comes out with an adapter to use regular headphones with the 3Gen Shuffle, I'll likely pick up a couple -- one for myself (it'll be nice for when I fly cross-country; I'll have my iPhone for movies and the Shuffle for music/audiobooks) and one for my mother-in-law that I can load up with music for when she takes her afternoon naps.

@colnst,

Yeah, who could forget SteveJack's lame excuses for the iPhone's sucky camera?

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/17517/opinion/

"Some people are complaining that Apple kept the same iPhone camera with its 2.0 megapixels in their new iPhone 3G.

To those people, I say: If you want to take better pictures, use a real camera.

That camera on the iPhone is for quick and dirty shots, mostly meant to be emailed as part of the communication process.

Apple correctly has given users enough to get the job done while not bogging down networks unnecessarily with 5+ megapixel shots of Sally running around in shin guards."

Indeed, we don't want Apple "bogging down networks" with an improved camera! Leave it up to this guy and we'd be stuck with that piece of shit 2mp still camera for an eternity. He'd probably be cool if the 3rdGen iPhone still can't record video.

That tells you all you need to know about the lengths he'll go to excuse Apple's embarrassing misjudgments.

Macdailynews, I love you guys. I seriously do. And even if you felt it necessary to rebut the review, that's fine; I know you believe (at least most of the time) that Apple really is smarter than it's customers. Sometimes that's actually true. Other times, it's not. All I am going to say beyond what was said in the review is this: we never post things to get hits. Seriously. I run the site's editorial side but am not the site's owner, and none of us get paid more or less based on traffic. Doesn't mean a thing to us.

Dacian: My dad's visually impaired and I always take this into consideration when I review. The new nano is a smarter buy, sorry. Thanks for the assumption though.

Wrong Again: appropriate moniker. Do you have any idea how many companies lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to that chip issue? How many consumers have had to cough up $50 for cabling worth at best $20? If you don't work for Monster Cable or Apple, seriously, apply for a job there.

Yes, yes, but have you seen the chick demonstrating it in the movie on the Apple website? Oh, man...

Mar 13, 09 - 05:05 pm Comment from: justme2

@Sam -- I've done a lot of work/volunteering with the disabled community, and I'd like to speak for them in saying you're the one full of shit.

You can slap an Apple logo on a terd and MDN will defend it. How sad and pathetic!

All it has to do is show a silhouetted guy dancing around with its latest music player and people will stand in line to pay full retail for it

Did Microsoft pay iLounge for this?

I agree that Apple misfired pretty badly with the new shuffle. HOWEVER, by now EVERYONE should know there's more to the iPod's overall success than marketing and fanboys!!

There's only one company with one monkey CEO who'd be clueless enough to not understand this....

SteveJack... shut up! You don't have to cheer every decision Apple makes. Who in there right mind wants to sort through 1000 songs using ONLY Apple's headset controller? This iPod is almost the size of the original iPod but without ANY of the user friendly controls.

MDN, nice too see you lemming like ability to support everything to come out of Cupertino.

btw... I have and use my 1st gen iPhone and MBP everyday, I have converted about 10 people over, and I still have my 1st gen ipod in my office. I'm a fan but I also know when to ask "What were they thinking?"

Why do so many commenters go with these sweeping absolute statements? "Worst ever", "nobody" likes it, "no way it can EVER be used"... are there really this many people who see everything 100% one way or the other?

All I have to say is, THESE ARE THE WORST COMMENTS EVER POSTED ON THE ENTIRE INTERNET!!!!!

Mar 13, 09 - 05:15 pm Comment from: Lilochris

The Reviewer is absolutely correct 100%. Apple has added some nice touches, but really it's functions are far more difficult. The controls of the iPod on the earbuds wires is so unnecessary. All you have to do it clip the older gen iPods shuffle to you neck collar and you have the same function. Even though apple added voiceover, the shuffle has really dumbed down.


*How can you use this in a car?

*Where is the battery Life Indicator?

*How do you fast forward or review through a song?

*Why 2 less hours of battery life?

*Why no buttons? No buttons doesn't always makes it easier!!!!

*Why so small. Wasn't it small enough? This will get lost easily.

Apple could of just slimmed the older 2nd gen Shuffle, center the click buttons towards the middle and add the voiceover feature to it.

Honestly, I've never thought apple would release something like this. APPLE has chosen looks over simplicity.

Mar 13, 09 - 05:15 pm Comment from: macrunner

I've been a runner for over 30 years. I've had every iPod Apple ever made. Moving the controls for simple commands while running at 8 mph to the earbud cord is a blessing. Thanks, Apple.

I personally think it's very cool. Even though I'm on a tight budget now (thanks economy) I'm going to get me one of these suckers.

Like someone posted earlier, let the sales figures speak for themselves.

iLounge is clearly missing the boat. This iPod isn't intended for everyone. You have a choice of all different iPods. For people who want this one, it's available. For people who want another one, they can get a different one. That doesn't make this the worst - just different.

If Apple had only one iPod, you could complain. As it is, you're just spewing more of the "this product doesn't really meet my needs, so I'll trash it" nonsense that iLounge is becoming more and more known for.

Mar 13, 09 - 05:21 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

"I'm a fan but I also know when to ask "What were they thinking?""

I guess it wasn't "Will Aldarion approve?"

An utterly childish response to a mature and legitimate set of criticisms against what is Apple's worst product in a decade.

Yeesh. The new shuffle's only been out for a couple of days, and it's already worse than Mac OS 8, the G4 Cube, and liquid-cooled G5's?

The new shuffle's form factor does look screwy, but let's at least give it a chance before dismissing it.

This was developed while Steve Jobs was not in the office.

As an engineer I would like this design because to not only removes the cost of controls on the device, but more importantly, sweaty hands, rain/snow, or dirt will only gum up the cheaper headphones and not the more expensive controls on the player! Speaking from experience... The perfect ruggedized device!

All I have to say is, THESE ARE THE WORST COMMENTS EVER POSTED ON THE ENTIRE INTERNET!!!!!

Sir, if those comments were the worst things ever got, the Internet would be a very different place.

You should be here when our resident political monkeys start throwing turds at each-other....

Mar 13, 09 - 05:31 pm Comment from: Glossy is good

iLounge is tantalizingly narrow minded.

when the iPhone came out, many said it was a horrible ipod. The rest is history

Mar 13, 09 - 05:35 pm Comment from: Swing Geezer

@DacianFalx

Thanks for the insight. Like most sighted folks, it would never occur to me to consider these aspects of the new Shuffle as a boon for the blind.

I use my Iphone as my ipod, My Wife has a older nano, my son has an even older mini, my son wants a touch, My wife want's everything, You can't please everybody all of the time, Threre are plus point and negative point to the shuffle there always has been and there always will be, I like it , I Won't buy it, but it will sell, 3rd party stuff will be out soon to fix most people moans , It could be worse it could be a shuffle zune now think how bad that would be..........? lol

I think the article makes a good point that this shuffle demands that the user adapt himself to the device rather than the controls being just intuitive. I like my iPhone controls on the cable, but it's a good point nonetheless.

sure we could have a 5 mp camera on the iPhone, but you need a better lens to notice any kind of difference... youre just gonna have the same shot at a larger file size.

Mar 13, 09 - 05:41 pm Comment from: Sixvodkas

@colnst, R2;

It'd take an utter buffoon to believe a 6 MP, fixed aperture/fixed focal length device using a CCD the size of your pinheads equals that of a 6MP, full frame camera with interchangeable lenses, off camera intelligent flashes and high speed drives capable of shooting a dozen frames per second.

That tells everyone all they need to know about the lows the "i hAtorZ teh aPPlezes" crowd will sink to.

Claiming someone won't carry an SLR because an all-in-one device has the same MP rating proves how bereft of intelligence colnst is.

Defending that lame assed argument proves how pathetic (and ignorant of technology) R2 is.

Assclowns such as you two ought to consider engaging their brains before putting their mouths into gear- Unless, of course, your intention really was to be humiliated in a public forum.

Have I mentioned that both of you were Assclowns?

Assclowns.

One man's floor is another man's ceiling. I use the cord controller with my iPhone daily. I LOVE not needing to dig the device out of my pocket to control. My only gripe is that Apple doesn't include their MUCH better in-ear buds with this. And while the vast majority of iPod users blissfully retain and utilize their original white earbuds, everyone knows that they are the weak link. I think we'd be seeing far less grumbling over this new shuffle had Apple supplied the newer earbuds, which, while not matching the best of the upscale earbuds available, do a very good job... much better than the crappy original buds.

Mar 13, 09 - 05:43 pm Comment from: rdbvideo

Is there any surprise after the firewire removal from MacBooks?

As I said then, "Ive won't be happy until he can deliver a single, connector-less (control-less) block of aluminum."

My wife will never own a new shuffle... she prefers headphones to earbuds.
The upside is that I have extra sets of earbuds.