Well, hype sells.. I had been hearing about the ipod mystique for ages and always wanted to get one, but the price was just too steep. I lusted after the nano when it was launched, but could not get myself to shell out the close to ’’10 large Gandhis’s’’ (as Sujanroy so elegantly put it: https://mouthshut.com/review/Apple_iPod-90040-1.html)
Then my 11th wedding anniversary/Valentine’s day came around and I was tired of getting my wife the same old flowers/gold/saree type gifts) I remembered buying her a Sony walkman on the 4th , which got lost somewhere and I thought, Maybe an ipod would be just right...?
So I did my research, hunted out Cnet and other sites for reviews, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the shuffle rated better sound quality than even that much lusted after ipod nano.(https://pcmag.com/article2/0, 1759, 1778968, 00.asp).. wow.. For me the sound quality was paramount, as I couldn’t (and nor could my wife)care less for a display.. which walkman has it anyway..?
So here it is:
Features:
A slim white stick a little bigger than a stick of chewing gum(see all the ads), has a cute grey selector dial with play/pause in the centre and volume up and down, forward and back infront and a slider switch for power on/off, shuffle and straight play behind, plus a button to check your battery charge, behind. Green is good charge, amber(not had it yet), means weak and red means bad..simple and beautiful. it comes with a lanyard (a cord with a fancy name) that is very useful to hang around your neck
You can autofill it each time you charge it at the USB port with a selection of your favorite songs.. if you have more than 120, so each time you hear it, you can hear a new song. itunes is pretty good, I feel.
Pros:
Its an iPod!
It is incredibly slim
it is white, sexy and beautiful (Wow!, if this was a matrimonial ad, I’d be flooded with responses!)
It is impossibly easy to use (I know, I know.. oxymoron..moron!), the dial is so easy to operate and is so user friendly
Finally.. the SOUND... is AWESOME!... I could hear nuances and tones I never heard before on my PC or my CD player
It doesn’t skip or jump while exercising ( because it is flash based-like the nano, not hard drive based, like its bigger brothers)
Battery life: supposed to be good for 12-15 hours..I haven’t had to charge it after the 1st charge though!
Cons
No display: Not a con in my opinion..only matters if you have a large capacity ipod and loads of songs to select from
No charger: U have to charge it from your computer’s USB port
Headphones: Those ’’signature’’ white ipod bud earphones were jarring the noise a bit and I was worried.. Imagine my surprise when I found that replacing them with a cheap (125 bucks) black(I know, the cool factor just halved) Philips earphones, just made the sound 2 times better. Really wonder whether it was a problem my wife’s ipod, or a general complaint...
In short:
I feel that the shuffle is more than enough for chaps with a medium budget and other important things to do with their money. It holds 120 odd songs, roughly 8-10 CDs or cassettes worth(isn’t THAT enough!?), sounds just fabulous, is easy to use, looks like dynamite and lasts for ages on a single charge.I highly recommend it!
PS: My wife LOVED it! and she is ’’technically challenged’’ yet still she finds it a breeze to use..