Review: Apple’s 3rd Generation iPod
Shuffle 3G
Rating: ***\ (3.5/5)
Upside: As small and light as an office paper-clip, the unique feature named “Voice Over” that tells you the name of the song and the artist in 14 different languages, multiple playlists, enhanced support for podcasts and audio-books, and a very elegant design to go with.
Downside: Battery life is not that great, the button-sized remote on the headphones can be irritating to operate and if you lose the headphones, you lose the control on iPod, no new features such as FM Radio or Voice Recorder.
Overview: Launched on 11th March, 2009, the latest from the iPod family, the new 3G iPod Shuffle impresses with some unique features. At the same time, it leaves us with some complications also.
The new iPod Shuffle is the smallest MP3 player ever made and its unique design and the new Voice Over feature, which tells you about the name of the song and the artist at the push of a pea-sized button, is indeed commendable.
The remote placed just below the right ear offers three buttons: Two for volume control (up/down); and a central button with multiple functions. Another feature new to the Shuffle is the capability to sync and navigate between multiple playlists, audio podcasts, and audio-books.
The Shuffle is purely a digital audio player. There's no FM radio or voice recording feature. Audio formats supported include MP3, AAC, Audible, WAV, AIF, and Apple Lossless
, but no hope for WMA or FLAC.
But given the price of $79, we can certainly afford to ignore its few negatives.