Cool Gadgets 3/11/09: The New iPod Shuffle

on 3/11/09

Today Apple released the next generation of the iPod Shuffle. (skipping the press conferences and keynotes as usual) But wait, where's the click wheel? Oh! They're in the headphones. Bad idea. The controls look small and hard to manage, don't they? Apple headphones are the only ones that work on the new Shuffle now unless you can get an adapter that will be released "shortly". The new Shuffle also has a new VoiceOver feature that uses a monotone voice to tell you what song you're playing. (for some reason Mac users get a male voice and PC users get a female voice) Also, there's now Playlist support. The new VoiceOver feature will tell you what Playlist your listening to by holding the center button on the headphones. I will then read the other playlists in its robotic voice. You can choose the playlist by clicking the center button when you hear the one you want. You use a control on the top of the Shuffle to turn it off and choose the listening mode. It has 4 gig's of space on it and can (apparently) hold up to 1000 songs. You won't be using this on an old Mac 9 laptop (only runs on 10.4.11 and above). It also is amazingly small, only 1.8x0.7 inches. Also, with Apple being more Eco Friendly it has all this earth saving mumbo jumbo attached to it (it's dolphin safe, right?) I wouldn't buy one though until the headphone adapter comes out; Apple headphones have a tendency to be flimsy.

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