Why the iPod shuffle still rules. Why iPod shuffle still rules iPod shuffle 3rd generation

Surely many of the readers have a good idea of ​​what an iPod Shuffle is and what it comes with. These are the most inexpensive iPod players, as simplified as possible, but at the same time with an interesting design and features, the main emphasis is on the ability to play music in random order, in addition to standard playback of songs. The main distinguishing features of these models are the lack of a display, miniature size, and small memory capacity. At least that was the case for the first two Shuffles. You have to understand that the release of such a player on the market was a big experiment, because simplicity is simplicity, but will people buy this “pack of gum” without the opportunity to see what tune will play next? As practice has shown, consumers were not at all against it and even for it. After the first, plastic Shuffle, an aluminum model comes to the market, half the size. Charging via a 3.5 mm jack, the player becomes much more beautiful and attractive, and all by getting rid of the USB plug. In order not to be unfounded, I will say that I had all Shuffles, and these players are attractive precisely because of their simplicity, and the second generation was still interesting to use, attaching it to a watch strap and running the cable in the sleeve. But there was also something unpleasant, of course: if the first generation “shuffle” just needed to be plugged into a USB connector, then the “second” one needed a cable with a stand, this is not very cool. In addition, we must not forget about the great role of the Shuffle as a “switcher” instrument; psychologically, the price of this small piece of the big apple is very comfortable; many people buy the Shuffle precisely because of the price and big name. Like, well, it’s fashionable. They get acquainted with iTunes and the simplicity of the product, think that maybe it’s worth trying Nano or Touch, and then the MacBook is just a stone’s throw away.

In short, the “third” Shuffle makes that impression. It’s as if the developers got together and started thinking about what else they could throw out of the case to reduce the size. But just do it in such a way that a new, cool “trick” appears. We thought and thought and got rid of the controls on the body. And, in theory, this particular player should be called Nano because of its size. So, the controls were moved to the included headset, plus they added a “feature” - voice prompts. But first things first.

Design

As almost always, the appearance of the product can fascinate not only Ellochka the cannibal, but also a seemingly normal person. A very, very small thing, very, very nice, very thin, compact and elegant. I asked for a black sample for review, and there is also a silver one. No fingerprints are visible, the assembly is excellent, no squeaks, no problems. This thing is truly weightless, you can see it in comparison with the “second” Shuffle. At the top end there is a connector for charging and connecting headphones, and at the back there is a metal clip. I wouldn’t call it comfortable, there is a cutout where you need to press, the pad of your finger gets caught in it, it’s not very pleasant, the edges are sharp. The fastening is secure, the “clothespin” moves tightly. The physical dimensions look like this: 45.2 x 17.5 x 7.8 mm, the Shuffle weighs just over ten grams. You can easily lose it in your pocket.

A little about the packaging: it is still a plastic case in which the player, headphones and charging adapter are neatly folded. There are also instructions. The box is small, quite neat.

The thing seems to have a wow factor, but you need to understand that it is so small - those around you may simply not notice it in your hands. Although they may notice a clothespin on the shirt. And you will answer them with feeling the question that was not asked out loud - yes, this is it, the new Shuffle. All jokes aside, I personally think the player is a very utilitarian thing for everyday use. And I would say the main purpose is sports, a player for two to three hours of fitness or for a morning jog. The inability to break it is very attractive. At the very least, you need to make a remarkable effort.

Control

There is a small sliding button on the body that turns on Shuffle, with its help you can activate random playback mode or playback in order. It is clear that this is only a small part of the control; all other functions are transferred to the remote control. Let's talk about him.

So, we have the usual company headphones with a remote control, volume keys, and a button in the middle. But, in general, this is just the beginning, there is no music in the player yet, right? In general, to work with Shuffle you will definitely need iTunes 8.0; it will not sync with younger versions. Afterwards you will need to download the so-called VoiceOver Kit, iTunes does everything itself, you just have to click. After installation, you will need to select the language in which the player will speak to you. I note that the main purpose of VoiceOver is the following: the player will inform you about the title of the song and the artist; to do this, you need to press and hold the center button. The function can be disabled if you do not need it. I checked the work with compositions named in Russian, the player says something strange, I still don’t understand what it is. But there are no problems with English names. It is interesting that the voices with which names and other information are pronounced differ depending on whether you are synchronizing the player with a PC or Mac; in the first case, it is a male voice, rather indistinct, but with native computers there will be a female, pleasant voice. I'm afraid that when synchronizing with Linux, if possible, the player will say “boo-uh”.

In short, you can get lost in management. In principle, if we talk about simple things, then everything is clear. One press on the central button of the remote control is Play/pause, two presses go to the next track, three presses go to the previous one. Press and hold the button and hear the name of the song. Press and hold until a beep sounds - we hear the name of the playlist. You can also use the volume buttons to select the desired playlist and go to it. Audiobooks each come as a separate playlist; if there are podcasts, the player also recognizes them separately. There is rewind within the composition. Finally, there is an extensive manual that you can read on your own to understand the full depth.

But the depth actually turns out like this. So I go for a walk and take my player with me. There is a remote control hanging from the cable, which is easy to access; you don’t have to take anything out. You get used to the controls after an hour of use, and the suspicion begins to creep in that you haven’t seen anything more convenient, the main thing is that the tags are filled in properly. It's easy to create playlists for running, walking, and stress management and then quickly refer to them. In the end, there is also a playlist called All songs, that is, all songs outside the playlists, especially for quickly downloaded and quickly downloaded favorite songs. Listen, buddy, no problem. The simplicity of the solution is captivating. Drug.

Another cool thing is that if you quickly turn the player on and off, a voice from the car will tell you how the battery charge is. Battery full, battery low and so on with percentages.

We must not forget about the indicator light, which is located between the connector and the button. It can signal you about a bunch of different things; Honestly, I’m not at all interested in understanding this. Everything is in the instructions, link above.

Music

Literally after the announcement of the player, alarming rumors spread across the Internet, saying that the new headphones for Shuffle have a special microchip, and companies that want to make accessories for this player will have to use it. And really, if the old Shuffle could easily be connected to a car with a 3.5-3.5 mm cable, then what about the new one? The controls are on the headphones... There is something to think about, in short. This is not the first time for Apple to play different games with accessory manufacturers; let’s remember the recent interesting thing with the connector of the first iPhone, when not all headphones could be used only because of the design of the connector. Let's remember how consumers reacted strongly to this, and let's remember how many different headsets, attachments, and additives saw the light of day thanks to this feature. Like in The Fifth Element, Mr. Zorg breaks a glass, and robots immediately fly in from everywhere, movement begins, and so on. It seems to me that Shuffle is just a testing ground for VoiceOver and microchips in headphones, that is, smooth preparation of accessory manufacturers for the fact that they will have to be friends with Apple on this topic. In the sense of buying technology or something else. Otherwise, no matter the hour, VoiceOver will penetrate both the iPod, the iPhone, and even the Mac, and you can simply miss the happy moment. In the sense of not giving consumers quality accessories from a third-party manufacturer.

In general, this is not what this is about. We are dealing with the company’s regular headphones, which, in my opinion, work quite well with the company’s equipment. The sound cannot be called ideal or very good, it is average and normal. Accordingly, Shuffle sounds exactly the same - normal, but nothing more. Testing the second “shuffle” with these headphones showed that in terms of playback quality the new model is slightly better, louder, cleaner, the difference is noticeable, but not particularly significant. For an unassuming listener it will be more than suitable (and these are the majority of listeners), but an audiophile will feel sick. I’ll note something else: the included headphones seem to be shorter than those that come with other equipment, maybe not by much, but shorter. Apparently, this was done specifically for the convenience of wearing the Shuffle, and this is the right move. Please note that the headphones form almost a single unit with the player body when connected.

Nutrition

The kit includes an adapter for a USB connector, at the other end there is a seemingly typical 3.5 mm connector. In fact, of course, he is not typical at all. You can charge the Shuffle from a laptop or computer, or use an AC adapter, for example, from an iPhone. As indicated in the product specifications, a full charge from USB will take about three hours, with an AC adapter charging in one hour and forty minutes. It is preferable to do just that. The stated operating time is ten hours, my player was brand new, so a banal strength test with random playback at full volume is not entirely indicative. But, nevertheless, eight hours and thirty minutes. Give or take a few minutes. The result for a fresh battery is good, here you need to take into account the size of the device. Accordingly, I think that these are more than normal indicators.

Memory

If earlier we saw a variety of Shuffles, there were versions with 512 MB, and 1 GB, and 2 GB, but now there is one model - with four “gigs”. The only differences are in the body colors. Four gigabytes is good. This allows us to easily stock up on an acceptable amount of music and add to the collection as needed. Synchronization is fast, selecting and transferring songs to iTunes, I noticed that they almost instantly appear in the player’s library. Faster than the second generation Shuffle.

Naturally, you can use a certain amount of memory to transfer files; all this is configured in iTunes.

And, by the way, just yesterday a new firmware for the device was released, correcting minor errors. Probably related to VoiceOver.

conclusions

Apart from admiration for the arrogance of the company, I personally don’t have any other emotions. This is a great thing that is great to give to someone or buy for yourself when you have some burning money lying around in your pocket. As a player, the Shuffle is good for the gym, running, and it is also suitable for those who use the player occasionally. It is also suitable for getting acquainted with the iPod in general, that is, for beginner “switchers”. Regarding the controls, voices in the headphones and the inability to use the player with your favorite “ears”, I have nothing special to say - this is all very cool, however, it seems to me that we are seeing tests of some new ideas from the company, which could well be implemented in “adult” iPods . Marvel, test reader, how great they work.

But all jokes aside, I liked the device. All of this voice stuff is easy to learn and gives a new rhythm to use. It's very easy to come to terms with the fact that you can't change headphones. You can even believe that the sound here is great, and it seems so if you use normal compositions. Grace directly. All that remains is to be amazed once again at how people’s heads work in the company, when they manage to come up with something new year after year, even in relation to such simple things. True, there is a double feeling here: on the one hand, you were cheated, on the other, your life was simplified. For some, the need to use iTunes 8.0 will become a stumbling block (you need to download many, many megabytes), while others will not be afraid of using only the included headphones. It's up to you, of course, to decide. But the price will also matter; it is not yet clear how much this model will cost in Russia, I assume that it will cost about three thousand. And for this money you can buy something else, for example, a Sony Walkman from the E series. Even if there is less memory, even less image charge, but playing Sonya music will be a hundred times better. Plus, no problems with headphones, synchronization, and so on. But it's not that fun to use—it's not fun or interactive. Are they really needed? I think it’s time to stop and give you the opportunity to independently determine for yourself the degree of need and interest of this player.

And, of course, it will be interesting to discuss the new Shuffle in the forum.

• Dimensions: 42.5 x 17.5 x 7.8 mm (including clip);
• Weight: 10.7 grams;
• Memory capacity: 4 GB;
• Operating frequencies: from 20 Hz to 20 KHz;
• Supported formats: MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store, M4A, M4B, M4P), Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4 ), Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF;
• Battery life: up to 10 hours;
• Full charge time: about 3 hours (2 hours to 80%).

Introduction

As you probably remember, the Apple iPod line of players consists of four types: iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod touch. The smallest of them all, the iPod shuffle, was updated just recently on March 11th and has quite a few changes over the previous model. This is already the third generation of the player, the smallest. Looking at the previous generation iPod shuffle, it seems like it’s possible to make the player even smaller? It turns out that it is possible, but for this it needs to be radically changed.

Obviously, small players have one big problem - controls. Technically, a battery, a chip, and a headphone jack can fit in a very compact case, but you can’t make the buttons as small. More precisely, it is possible, but here the question of user convenience already arises - and then the manufacturer must find a certain balance between dimensions (the smaller, the better) and the control unit (the larger, the better, within reasonable limits).

In the previous iPod shuffle, as we remember, the controls were on the player itself - the central button was responsible for play/pause, and 4 keys located in a circle from it were responsible for adjusting the volume and switching between tracks.

If we look at the new iPod shuffle, we will not find such buttons on it. Apple decided to transfer controls from the surface of the player itself to the headphones. But let's first examine the appearance of the player itself.

Appearance

As you can see, the player is made of aluminum, there is a mirror clip on the back, under it there is data about the player, serial number and other information. All controls on the player itself are located at its upper limit and are reduced to one selector with three positions (off, sequential playback and random shuffle playback). Nearby is an LED status indicator, and next to it is a headphone jack. Please note that there is simply no way to make the player thinner - the headphone jack does not allow it.

The second generation iPod shuffle came with a long cable with a USB connector on one side and a small dock on the other side. Now Apple has decided to abandon the dock, and made the cable very small - literally a few centimeters. Keep this in mind, it may be more convenient for you to buy a USB extension cable.

The USB connector conveys the dimensions of the player well

Control

Now let's move on to management. On the headphones there is a control unit of three keys - a recessed central key that performs various functions and keys above and below it - these are volume control.

A short press on the center key pauses or resumes playback. A double short press allows you to go to the next track, a triple press - to the previous one. With a long press everything is much more interesting. As you probably remember, previously iPod shuffle did not pay attention to the presence of playlists - it played all the songs sequentially, and the user could only move to the next and previous songs, gradually finding the desired track.

VoiceOver (voice selection of playlists)

Now you can move between playlists. But how - because there is no screen in it? Apple made the player talk. That is, of course, if you tell him the name of the playlist, he will not understand you, but he can list all the available playlists and you will select the one you need. This feature is called VoiceOver and it works as follows: first, in iTunes, you activate the VoiceOver function (in the player section) and select a language. Of course, audio fragments with the names of songs and playlists are generated not by the player itself, but by iTunes, which, in turn, synchronizes this data with the player. So once you activate VoiceOver and sync, you can take advantage of the new feature.

If you press and hold the center key while a song is playing, the volume of the current song decreases and the player tells you its name and artist. After that, if you continue to hold down the center key, you hear a short beep (now release) and iPod shuffle begins to pronounce the names of all available playlists. As soon as you hear the name of the playlist you need, press the center key once and you will proceed to play it. If you don't press anything, the player will continue playing the original composition. If, while playing a list of playlists, you decide to just continue listening to what you were listening to and not select another playlist, press the center key a little longer than to select a playlist.

All this is done quite conveniently - after you try VoiceOver a couple of times, you can easily remember all the controls (it’s difficult to get lost in three buttons, two of which are only volume control and nothing else). So, in general, I really liked the controls - transferring the buttons from the surface of the device to the headphones now allows me not to think about what position the player is in and which button needs to be pressed (which I often had to do with the second generation iPod shuffle), and in general, all the controls are intuitive It's clear. Having studied all the control options indicated on the official website, we were disappointed that there was no rewind function, this is especially true, for example, for long podcasts. It turns out there is, and it is also controlled from the central key - to fast forward you need to make one short press and press and hold the central key (release when you find the desired fragment), to rewind it is identical, but you need to make two short presses and hold on the third center key. So the control, despite the seemingly low functionality of the small unit on the headphones, can be safely given a high rating.

The decision to transfer control to headphones carries a disadvantage for those users who are accustomed to using not standard Apple headphones, but connecting others. They will have to purchase headphones made specifically for the new iPod shuffle (either from Apple - it produces not only standard ones, but also additional ones, or from other manufacturers).

Unfortunately, we were unable to test the sound quality in the player due to the transfer of controls from the player to the headphones and the player's features. The testing method involves connecting the player's audio output to the sound card, but the fact is that to launch the desired audio file, we need to connect headphones, select a test file and start playing, and then remove the headphones and connect the player to the sound card. So, the whole problem is that when the headphones are turned off, the player is paused and playback can only be continued with branded headphones.

The battery life of the player, according to the manufacturer, is up to 10 hours of continuous music playback. We can safely say that Apple is not exaggerating these figures - during our test the player worked for 13 hours and 35 minutes. The volume was set at a level above average, sometimes switching between songs and playlists, and rewinding. The time to fully charge the player was 3 hours 6 minutes.

Uploading about 1 GB of music and podcasts (MP3, with different bitrates) takes about 6 minutes. The player can traditionally be used as a storage device (flash drive). The average speed of copying a gigabyte file is 5 minutes 10 seconds.

iPod shuffle 3G is available in two colors - silver (as we tested) and black. The capacity of the new product is 4 GB. The cost in the US is $79. In Russia, at the time of publication of this article, the cost of the player was about 4,000 rubles.

When you open the iPod Shuffle 4 box, you won't find anything out of the ordinary. Of all the manuals - only the usual user instructions. The kit, as always, is standard. This is the device itself, headphones and a USB cable. Nevertheless, all releases of this model (and there were many of them) enjoyed great recognition from fans of Apple products.

This review, as you understand, will be devoted specifically to the line of players called iPod Shuffle 4. Let’s analyze in detail the characteristics of the iPod Shuffle and try to find the shortcomings.

Let's start our review of the fourth edition of the shuffle with the design. The “appearance” of the device was left the same as that of a similar second-generation iPod. By comparison, the previous device was smaller in 2 parameters, but weighed 3 grams more. The four is slightly higher than its predecessor. Of course, there are changes, but they are not significant.

It is also interesting to review it in comparison with the current shuffle. iPod Shuffle 4 and reviews of this device indicate that many users do not like the regular headphones that come with it. Some people prefer the metal bar that came with the previous version.

So what changes have taken place? Presenting the product, the head of the Apple company did not hide the fact that there will be no significant changes. I must say, this is a common practice for Apple. However, as soon as a “fresh” device enters the market, the old ones become uninteresting to users. When releasing the fourth shuffle, the goal was most likely to expand the product line. Let's also take into account the fact that all the company's players have several variations. Products vary in color, memory, and cost.

The body is made of iron, with a tight clothespin on the back panel. At the top you can see the names of the main functions for the control components. They are located in the end part. This is an element of turning on the device, clicking, switching to playback mode in order, and so on. That is, everything is chaotically mixed... There is also an element of VoiceOver activation. Almost everything was the same in the third line of shuffles.

There is support for the Russian language – and that’s good news.

On the front there is a regular joystick, typical of players of the second series. No sensors - only mechanical action, which many people like. There are elements for adjusting sound volume, rewinding, pausing and starting playback.

Of course, you will also find a 3.5 mm jack for connecting headphones here. And next to it there is a small light indicator.

A review of the “appearance” of this player, in general, suggests that nothing radically new has been done with the device. They simply took the previous models as a basis, reduced the dimensions, and painted them with bright colors. By the way, a large selection of shades is one of the advantages of the fourth iPod shuffle. From a variety of bright, rich shades, everyone will choose something to suit their mood.

By the way, Shuffle never became Apple's best-selling player. But he also found his own circle of admirers. Basically, these are fans of minimalism. And also lovers of “eternal” technology, that is, reliable and not prone to rapid damage. But at the same time, when you look at the device, you can immediately see who its manufacturer is.

Memory

The model comes with only 2 GB of memory on board. There are no other variations for this parameter. This is quite enough for storing music tracks. Although, there will also be a place for other files.

Nutrition

The instructions state that the operating period of the device without additional recharging can be up to 15 hours. There is also a fast charging option. Thanks to it, the battery will reach 80% in a couple of hours. It will take 3 hours to complete the cycle.

As practice has shown, the operating period of the device is average. This is not to say that the battery is super durable. But it would also be untrue to say that the battery is weak.

To interact with an iPod of this line (as well as all others) with a PC/laptop running Windows, you will need to download and install iTunes. A disk with drivers is not included in the kit, and there is nowhere to put it - the packaging barely fits everything you need. Although, experienced users remember that the first Apple products included a disc with iTunes. But these times have long since sunk into oblivion. Today, anyone can go to the company’s resource on the Internet and download the utility from there. By the way, it is recommended to do this from the official website so as not to catch a virus.

Formats

Here everything is as usual:

• AAC (8 to 320 Kbps);
• Protected AAC from the iTunes store;
• MP3 (from 8 to 320 Kbps);
• MP3 VBR;
• Audible in formats 2 – 4;
• AIFF;
• Apple Lossless.

Music and sound quality

The sound quality, if not excellent, is quite good. But among the previous Shuffle series, the fourth one is no different in this criterion either.

The user can listen to songs and have fun if his head is not filled with thoughts about formats, headphones and other rubbish.

conclusions

Absolutely any type of headphones can be used with this product - and this is its undoubted advantage. The button is located directly on the body.

The environmental friendliness of the player should appeal to everyone. This characteristic is reflected in the fact that the housing materials do not contain fire-resistant bromine components. There is also no PVC in the alloys used. And aluminum is recyclable. The packaging is more than 2 times smaller and lighter than previous versions of Shuffle.

So, the main feature of the iPod Shuffle 4 is the ability to use the device with any headphones. The previous series did not have such characteristics.

Other advantages include the presence of a control button directly on the body, VoiceOver, stylish design, and a wide variety of colors.

The average cost of a player in Russia is 3,000 rubles. For that kind of money, most domestic users will choose a player with a display, support for many formats, and other excellent parameters. And the iPod Shuffle of the fourth line is a niche product, mainly for those who want to get acquainted with Apple devices and are looking for a practical and inexpensive player.

In the world of Naruto, two years flew by unnoticed. Former newcomers joined the ranks of experienced shinobi at the rank of chunin and jonin. The main characters did not sit still - each became a student of one of the legendary Sannin - the three great ninjas of Konoha. The guy in orange continued his training with the wise but eccentric Jiraiya, gradually ascending to a new level of combat skill. Sakura became the assistant and confidant of the healer Tsunade, the new leader of the Leaf Village. Well, Sasuke, whose pride led to his expulsion from Konoha, entered into a temporary alliance with the sinister Orochimaru, and each believes that they are only using the other for the time being.

The brief respite ended, and events once again rushed with hurricane speed. In Konoha, the seeds of old strife sown by the first Hokage are sprouting again. The mysterious Akatsuki leader has set in motion a plan for world domination. There is turmoil in the Sand Village and neighboring countries, old secrets are resurfacing everywhere, and it is clear that bills will have to be paid someday. The long-awaited continuation of the manga has breathed new life into the series and new hope into the hearts of countless fans!

© Hollow, World Art

Next generation (third).
It's still one of the smallest mp3 players on the planet.

Characteristics:

• Capacity - 4GB
• The player controls have moved to the headphones
• Colours: steel and black
• New navigation system "VoiceOver"
• The battery will last for 10 hours of music
• Price: $79

From what's new:

The player has become even smaller compared to the previous generation Shuffle:

Oh... where are the buttons? UFO? No. The control “moved” to the headphones. Now all operations with the player can be carried out without taking it out of your pocket. But on the other hand, the ability to use your headphones with Apple’s new product is not possible. Lost? Buy new ones.

But with the new VoiceOver technology, you no longer have to feel disadvantaged by the lack of a screen on the player. At the first request, the player itself will “tell” all the necessary information: artist name, song title, playlist name, etc. Moreover, don't worry about pronunciation - 14 languages ​​are supported. So the title of the track in Czech and Japanese will be pronounced correctly. By following the link a couple of lines above, you can learn more about VoiceOver. But... Among those 14 languages ​​there was no place for the Russian language... It’s a pity...

Oh yes, on the site you can watch a “Guided Tour” with a nice girl who will explain everything to you (in English, of course).

Well, I’ll say it again that the price of the new product is $79. And the previous generation Shuffle can be purchased for $50.