We recommend! Apple unveiled a 4GB Shuffle that’s half the size of its predecessor. Apple touts this third generation iPod shuffle as “the world’s smallest music player.” The device is nearly half the size of the previous model. The third generation shuffle is significantly smaller than an AA battery, Apple says, and is able to hold up to 1,000 songs thanks to the 4GB of memory it boasts.
All the controls are conveniently located on the earphone cord, enabling users to play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and enable VoiceOver with a few presses.
Shuffle also adds a new VoiceOver feature that can recite song titles, artists, and playlist names, as well as provide status information, such as battery life. Speaking of which, Apple said the gadget’s battery life clocks in at 10 hours.
With the new Shuffle, users can organize songs by multiple playlists. The VoiceOver feature can speak in 14 languages: English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
So Apple introduces an iPod that has the controls on the earphone cable, that means the only replacement earphones that will work with it are the earphones sold by Apple. I guess that shouldn’t come as much as a surprise in Apple’s proprietary kingdom. I’m still trying to figure out why Apple is discontinuing the 2GB shuffle and not the 1 GB shuffle. Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to dump the 1 GB and make 2 GB the new entry level? I guess it didn’t make sense to anybody at Apple.