Apple iPod shuffle 4 GB Black (3rd Generation)

This is exactly what I am looking for at the gym. I had the previous shuffle but I like to use different playlists for different workouts and this is perfect. Love the voice over, and the controls on the earbuds. I did get the upgraded in-ear earbuds from Apple and they are perfect as they control the iPhone as well. I cant wear the free ones as they fall out of my ear but the in-ear Apple earbuds with control is pretty awesome, almost as good as the etymotics, and def better than the v-modas, etc.

Been running with the new shuffle this week and all I can say is this is my favorite of the 3 iPod shuffles. The 2nd gen shuffle weighed enough that when clipped to the bottom of my shirt it would bang against my leg when I ran. This new one is so light my shirt always laid flat, no bounce. Also with the 2nd gen it always took a few seconds to figure which way it was clipped on to make a change in vol. This new one is so easy to change vol while on the run. So if you are like me and want a player that holds lots of music, easy to adjust while running and so light it never bounces, then this one is for you.

I haven't had any trouble with this product, but it was a little difficult to get used to pressing sort of a "morse code" with one button to accomplish various things with the headphone remote. The sound quality is good, but I wish I could upgrade to headphones that stay in the ears a little better.

This player is not for everyone and it is what it is - a basic player and, yes, it does have some design quirks. People seem to be obsessed about the controls being on the head set chord and it breaking and the player becoming useless blah blah blah. Hey I rather replace a headset than an entire iPod!!! It is not an audiophile's player or a replacement for a regular iPod. Its great if you want something super-light to take walking, shopping, working out, etc...but not good for anything that involves jumping around, LOL. I give Apple credit for trying some innovative things on this player and so far, for me, it works and its easy to use and I love it. I take it almost everywhere now.

I've only owned the larger classic type iPods which I've always loved. But I was ready to get a smaller iPod for working out and ease of portability, so I bought the new iPod shuffle last week... I was immediately concerned about not being able to use any headphones but I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, I love it! The ability to use playlists is essential in my opinion and the controls are extremely intuitive after a little getting used to. Some people have been complaining about the "voice over" and why you would need to know the name of the song you are listening to... Well, the great thing is it's like having a screen without ever having to see it! And besides announcing the current song playing when you click and hold, you can then DOUBLE CLICK and the NEXT song will be announced. Continue double clicking and each subsequent song will be announced until you find one you want to listen to! Triple clicking will move backwards in the playlist.

Of course, I never had the 2 G version, but I am thrilled to have a sleek lightweight iPod to take with me everywhere. The only thing I don't like is that the standard headphones hurt my ears so I am looking forward to an adapter so that I can use more comfortable ear buds...

I'm a Mac enthusiast. I love iPods, so much I've had every accessory for each line. The incredibly small new iPod Shuffle at first seemed amazing, and so I purchased one from the Apple store. Indeed, it is almost unbelievably tiny. But it's so small it's inconvenient. I also hate the fact I can't skip ahead to a song if it happens to be one I don't want to hear. The fact the remote is in itself high on the chord does not help either. Sure, this works great to take into a store to listen to music while shopping (and to avoid lugging around my 120gb Classic), but that's about it. It's hard to believe, but this is one Apple product that shouldn't have been released.

The shuffle has always been great as a no nonsense, tiny music player. Apple has slimmed it down for this generation.

Good:
+ It's smaller now, and still retains it's clip (for those who thought the last version was somehow too big?). It's got a voice over technique, so you can hear what's coming up next, however, if you disable it you won't be able to browse your playlists.
+ Multiple playlists are now available on this model.

Bad:
- The controls for the unit are on the headphones. This means you'll have to use the Apple headphones until a company starts producing headphones with controls on them.
- The unit looks very plain (which could be a good thing, I guess).

Overall, it's nice to have a 4GB music player in such a small package, but unless you really need to upgrade your shuffle, I'd stick with the older model for now, if just for the fact that the controls were on the unit, and not on the headphones.

I own every generation of Apple iPods, shuffles, nanos out there. I guess I am a bit of a collector, so when then the 3rd generation shuffle came along, I knew I would get one. I've had it two weeks, and I can safely say this is the worst of all the shuffles.

Yes, it is beautiful and compact. I love that it holds 4 GB of music, so you can go many workouts without hearing the same song again. This was my main attraction, even the 2 GB 2nd gen would eventually return the same song in a week. Not this one.

But there are two major flaws with this one:
1) I doesn't seem to hold a charge for a long time. The 2nd gen seems to work for 2 weeks before I have to recharge, this one only lasts a few days. Maybe I have a defective one.
2) The headphones, in theory, are a great, but in practice, I find them terrible. Here's why:
  - The controls are in the wrong place, too close to the ear, so makes it awkward to control them when working out. closer to the chest would have been a better design in my opinion.
  - If you sweat (and I assume everyone does when working out) the headphone controls eventually get sweat logged (usually about 25 min into my workout) and one of two things happen: First, the whole iPod shuts itself off. Sometimes it will reboot if I shut it off and turn back on, sometimes not, or two, the controls become unresponsive, so you still have music but you can't control volume, play lists, skip forward, skip back, stop. I typically hope the second happens, but neither should happen at all. My guess is that if the controls were lower on the headset it might work a little better, but who knows.

So great concept, bad design. I will probably go back to an old shuffle. I'd rather have the same song every few days rather than lack of control.

First, the voiceover feature is more of a gimmick than something useful. The device stores music that you upload. If you can't recognize your own songs, you're an idiot.

Second, moving the controls to the earbuds means you can't change to better earbuds; you're forced to stick with the ones Apple provides.

Last, the earbud controls are not nearly as intuitive or user-friendly as they are on the prior version. There are 3 buttons on the earbud control: two of them, a "+" and "-", are dedicated to adjusting volume. The center button does everything else. All of the major functions-- skipping forward, backward, playlists, voiceover-- are achieved by clicking the center button multiple times or pressing and holding. Apple has crossed the line where minimalist design goes from slick to annoying. A huge step back.

The old shuffle was small enough; shrinking an already tiny device by half again doesn't really provide the user with any advantage. The main advantage to a smaller device is weight, and the prior version already weighs next to nothing. Making it smaller still simply makes it easier to misplace the device. Apple would have saved money for itself and its customers by skipping the gimmicks and making the prior shuffle body a 4gb+ device.

Anything that makes me touch the headphones while running on the treadmill at the gym will cause me to yank them out of my ears. I prefer having the controls on the device. The headphones are precarious enough when I'm at the gym. Once they're in, I avoid touching them. Also, this means I can't swap in different headphones but rather need a proprietary set. I think it's a mistake to move the controls to the headphones. I predict that this latest generation will have a short life, and Apple will go back to the 2nd generation design very soon...after all, why mess with a winner?

1st failure: One hour into a run, I tried to advance a track, go back one track, and select a playlist. All functions failed. On two occasions, a single press of the selector, the volume maxed out instantaneously, and this selector should have no effect on volume. My suspicion was that the controller could not tolerate the moist conditions, as I sweat a lot while running. I went to the nearest Apple Store, and a specialist gladly replaced the earphones/controller, which worked fine, until the next day...

2nd failure: The controller worked fine before my run. Less than 20 minutes in, the same problems occur. This time, without pressing anything, the earphones instantaneously went to maximum volume. I returned the iPod shuffle to the Apple Store after leaving the gym and questioned why a controller for an iPod, otherwise ideal for working out, would not be sweatproof.

This Shuffle has all it's controls on the included, lousy headphones. Apple earbuds are notoriously ill-fitting and have poor sound quality. You won't be able to adjust volume or change songs if you use your own headset, until Apple and 3rd party adapters are available at EXTRA COST. Shame on Apple for this design.