Why can pizza get to your house faster than police?
Do not eat iPod Shuffle.More and more people seem to misunderstand the recent products from Apple. It’s like people see them and go, “I wouldn’t buy that, so why did they make that? Apple is [dying|dead|bankrupt|Republican]! The horror!” Umm, so, yeah. There’s approximately 5,999,999,999 other people in this world and I’m guessing, it’s just a wild guess, that some of them might have different opinions. Take, for instance, the quotes from Adam Curry and Doc Searls whining that the iPod shuffle sucks for “podcasting.” Oh, really? I’m sorry, I must have missed the part of the keynote where it was advertised as aiming at that market. Seems to me that it was aimed at the low-end Flash market, one dominated by teenagers and compulsive joggers that can’t use a hard drive-based device because it skips. It seems that all the add-ons (armband [complete with a photo of a jogger] and necklace) also targeted that market. I didn’t see a single unkempt geek with a microphone during the presentation. Maybe I just missed it. If you want to be involved with amateur radio shows on the go, get a full-fledged iPod and do it the way it was intended from the very start. This is not the product you are looking for. Move along. Move along. Just one button? How do you use it?
I know this is a hard product to understand, mainly because it goes against so many concepts in the industry, but the lack of a display is what makes the product special. It holds one playlist. You determine, on the computer, the order the tracks play in. You determine, on the device, to respect that order or ignore it. Treat it like a radio station, only you chose what music to put in the line-up. Every time you plug it back in, you get a new set of music as well. It’s not something you compare to the full iPod, or even normal Flash players. Their competition is still the iPod mini. The iPod shuffle is priced to compete at the low-end, yes, but it has a usage methodology that will become it’s own phenomenon. No more do you hunt for music. You just let it play. We’ve become so accustomed to complete control over what music is playing that many have totally forgotten the joys of just letting the music play without interfering with it. I’ve gone to great lengths to make this happen, actually. When I get my 1GB iPod shuffle I’m going to point it to that radio-like playlist and hit the sidewalk. That’s what it’s meant for and that’s what I’m going to use it for. No more iPod in a case in my pocket, remote clipped on my shirt, headphones in that, and wires everywhere. Fob on my neck and I’m walking. Perfection. I don’t care what’s coming next. That’s the whole idea. I want random. I want shuffle. Apple was right.
That thinking will be their undoing. She thinks there’s nothing innovative here? Didn’t she just rattle off a list of things the iPod didn’t do? It’s innovative in that it’s not feature-heavy. People don’t want feature-heavy. In the consumer electronics arena people want features they will use and nothing more. More features, especially unused ones, means more complexity. I could go out and buy one of those monstrous 50” HDTV sets and plug in everything under the sun and have it working in an afternoon, at most. When it’s done, however, I’ll have so many gadgets and features available that I would lose all my possible entertainment time just getting the thing to do what I want, when I want. Here, now, with a regular TV and a TiVo, I have just enough complexity to do what I want. Nothing more. The iPod is the same way. I have a 40GB iPod that I use as a home stereo source, car radio source, and portable player for when I’m at work. When the iPod shuffle arrives my “old” 40GB iPod will never see a pair of headphones again. It will be purely an input source for the home and car. The iPod shuffle will be the gadget I carry everywhere, unless I need a 40GB hard drive for something. It’s not the size, and it’s not the capacity, it’s the feature set. I listen to, generally, one playlist. I have others that I listen to on the home stereo and such, but when I’m walking I have one playlist I listen to, and it would work fine trimmed to 1GB. I suspect I’m not alone. Small size, relatively large capacity, one playlist, superior loading program (iTunes w/Autofill), and great UI (minimalist, but complete) make the iPod shuffle the winner. The other Flash players are just … crap. One of the last comments by this person has me a little amused: “An extra battery adds weight.” Oh, really?
One AAA battery is 0.31 oz. (9g). So, really:
It adds weight, eh? You’re right, it does. You might want to reconsider your design, knowing that bit of information, Creative. As for the FM tuner, well, I can walk into any store now and pick up a $2.99 one-way-scanning FM radio if I wanted a radio. I buy a DMP because I want to listen to digital music. If I wanted a radio, I’d‘ve bought a radio. Quit adding features I don’t want and then calling them needs. Apple got it right. For the market they aimed at, they got it right. If the iPod shuffle does not appeal to you consider that you may not be in the market they were aiming for. You may want the iPod mini, or the iPod, or the iPod photo. Just like the Mac mini, it’s about the market the product was designed as a solution for, not what the Mac users out there want. We aren’t normal people. Normally, we’re proud of that. Here, we have to step aside and realize that some people might want something different than the Universal Gadget. Some folks actually like a specific tool for a specific job. I happen to be one of them and, thus, I’ve ordered a Mac mini and an iPod shuffle. They will do what they were intended to do: solve a problem of mine. 
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Quotes
“Complaint always comes back in an echo from the ends of the world; but silence strengthens us.” – The Father Brown Omnibus — G. K. Chesterton
3 great articles in one day, thank you. I just found the site that resumes my own opinion about Apple products and its potentiality. And more than I can express it myself
Thx
Very nice article. It’s always nice to see that there are people out there who understand what it’s all about. I have silently mused about the comments from Rio and Creative, and with people like that it suddenly becomes clear why it isn’t Rio or Creative that have a 70% marketshare.
Good entry, and if we look at the delays due to overwhelming success on the sore, my guess is that Apple will also be the major player in the flash market as well.
I don’t misunderstand what the iPod Shuffle is about. Or what Apple’s strategy is. But my remarks to Michael Singer, and in my own post to the rest of the world, were not about Apple. They were about podcasting.
In the context of podcasting, it doesn’t matter if the Shuffle is a work of genius. (And maybe it is. it would certainly be in Apple’s character.) It’s just one device, intended for a different market. So, except for the snarky tone, I don’t disagree with any of this:
“Oh, really? I’m sorry, I must have missed the part of the keynote where it was advertised as aiming at that market. Seems to me that it was aimed at the low-end Flash market, one dominated by teenagers and compulsive joggers that can’t use a hard drive-based device because it skips. It seems that all the add-ons (armband [complete with a photo of a jogger] and necklace) also targeted that market. I didn’t see a single unkempt geek with a microphone during the presentation. Maybe I just missed it.”
Hell, I was at the keynote. I had hoped that Steve would announce something that would improve the iPod for podcasters. He didn’t. Instead, he introduced something that offered, on a feature-by-feature basis, less.
Again, that was fine. He wasn’t after podcasters with the Shuffle.
If I’m disappointed that Apple didn’t come out with something I liked, that’s not a slam on Apple. On the contrary, it’s a sign that Apple is leaving the podcasting niche open to other manufacturers. Hey, maybe that’s a good thing.
Saying we need more devices, from more manufacturers, isn’t a “whine” about Apple, or about anything at all. It’s an opinion about what podcasting needs from its device suppliers.
As fir what Lara Vacante said, you’re right. But what else would you expect from a competitor (and former partner) that’s getting its butt kicked? Or any competitor, for that matter? It’s called spin, and it’s pro forma marketing BS.
You say “Some folks actually like a specific tool for a specific job. I happen to be one of them and, thus, I’ve ordered a Mac mini and an iPod shuffle. They will do what they were intended to do: solve a problem of mine.”
So how about respecting when other folks, finding a lack of specific tools for a specific problem in Apple’s product portfolio, call on other manufacturers to step forward with an appropriate tool, and for customers to help them out?
I say that, by the way, as an iPod Mini owner who’s mostly happy with the thing, except for listening to long podcasts. Which also, to my taste, happen to be some of the best.
Doc, podcasting sucks. Sucks sucks sucks.
In other words, it’s not the iPod – not any iPod – that needs to improve. It’s podcasting that needs to improve (or, preferably, simply go away).
Here’s an example of exactly the use apple intended for the shuffle, that you can’t use any other device for:
mount it on the inside of the chin guard of a motorcycle helmet, and run it with your tongue. (OK, maybe wrapped in saran wrap, but still…)
hands free volume and play pause (cause there are times you need to shut off the music and hear)
this is the same use a joggers etc, but taken to the extreme
Welcome back, BTW, we missed ya
Oh please, You guys are so obsessed with the “apple” brand that you can’t see it’s a peace of overpriced junk. Ok, some people like the randomness about it, but you have to admit that it’s still overpriced for a flash player with so little capabilities.
Tom: At Fry’s today I saw a 512MB Flash fob for $60. For $40 more you get a damn nice music player. Not a bad deal.
It’s not the brand, it’s what the brand makes.
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Wholeheardetly agree. And I love my iPod Shuffle for what it does (I’m a runner & own a regular 20GB iPod and a 5GB Mini so I know what I’m talking about).