IPod shuffle (1st generation)

Life Is Random

The iPod Shuffle was released on January 11, 2005 in the Macworld conference in San Francisco. It's goal is to go after the remaining 30% of the digital music market, for it's big brothers already captured 70%.

The iPod Shuffle is "smaller than a pack of gum, yet much more fun" quotes Apple.



Capacity & Pricing
The iPod shuffle comes in two different models. The first, which is $99, is a 512MB model. It can hold 120 songs (based on a four minute AAC format song).

The second, which is $149, is 1GB (a quarter of the iPod mini). That one can hold 240 songs. The iPod mini is actually a much better deal at $199 for 4GB (1,000 songs), for it's not even double the price, yet four times the amount of size.

Shuffle
The feature that gave it it's name - Shuffle. It shuffles your songs automatically. As Apple says on their website, "Your songs. A million different ways." To activate it, just move the switch at the back to the Shuffle position.

This feature was actually the point of the iPod shuffle. Steve Jobs said at Macworld that the most popular feature on an iPod was the shuffle function, so they made an iPod just for it!

Playlist
If you just got a new album and want to listen to it, or for some other reason that you don't want your music shuffled, you can use the Playlist mode. This allows you to listen to playlists created on iTunes. Just bring the playlist to the top of the list in iTunes. To use it, flip the switch at the back to Playlist position.

Hold
Like other iPods, hold mode is for when you don't want to press buttons while in your pocket and such. Although most have the Shuffle on a lanyard, hold mode can be activated by pressing the Play/Pause button for three seconds. To turn it off, do the same thing.

Navigation
Navigation is purely elementary. + for volume up, - for down. << for previous song, >> for the next song. The middle is play when not playing, and pause when playing. It can also be used as the hold function (listed above).

Unlike the other models, you can't scroll by moving your finger around the circle, as there is no navigation menu to navigate, and the volume controls are already taken care of.