I think Steve Jobs’ anti-button fetish may have gone a little too far.
Let me start by saying that I love the Shuffle’s concept, especially the first generation “white gumstick.” Why? It was an iTunes music player and flash drive that could survive an unfortunate encounter with a truck (in not one of my finer moments, I almost killed mine under a 16 foot box truck). The first-gen Shuffle was very useful, very practical, and in true Apple fashion, engineered out of its usefulness in the next edition.
The first generation’s standard USB input was a genius decision, and I’m still miffed over the switch to the absolutely silly extra cable thing in the second. Version 1.0 got it right on the first go (for once), and it has only gotten worse since. The Shuffle has become the embodiment of excess minimalism and sacrifice in the pursuit of a design ideal. I say this as a guy who thinks Swedish furniture is attractive; throws conniptions when there isn’t proper white space allowed on a page; and will walk out of any restaurant that uses the comic sans font on a menu: Yes, I am a design snob.
Although the second generation’s stupidity was embodied in a custom cable, you could still hook it to any headphones you wanted and use it in the car. The stock headphones—though better than they used to be—remain woefully inadequate to someone who considers Audio Technica ATH-M30s the minimum in quality listening.
This new “buttonless” design can’t be used in your sled, because it has no in-line control between your Shuffle and your car’s mini jack or cassette adapter. I’m sure there will be some third-party adapter that makes it work, but again with the special cables. You’d think that a company headed by a person with an obsession for clean lines and designs wouldn’t want to clutter your life with yet more cables.
To boot, the controls are idiotic. To rewind, you must “triple click and hold?” You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Simply holding the back button accomplished this on prior models. This is not Dance Dance Revolution, this is a friggin’ iPod.
No buttons? What the hell?
On the upshot, I look forward to voiceover becoming an option in my iPhone, which is I’m sure will happen. I would love for the iPhone to announce the name or number of a caller without assigning custom ringtones to know who’s calling without pulling my phone out.
In the end, if you’re looking for a cheap, general-purpose iPod, the 2nd-gen Shuffle is really a better choice; they’re only $49 in the stores. If you’re buying an MP3 player that you will never (ever) plug into another device, then maybe the newest Shuffle is for you. Or you could pry my first-gen Shuffle from my cold, dead hands.
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