Apple MC584LL/A - 2GB iPod Shuffle (4th Gen) SILVER Apple MC584LL/A - 2GB iPod Shuffle (4th Gen) SILVER

Pros: It's good when out jogging or working out. Has a nice firm clip.

Cons: It's incredibly overpriced plus the hassle of being forced to install apple software. I know I'm ignoring the concept of it being called "Shuffle" but I would like to actually select the albums and what not that I want to play. I would suggest buying a different Mp3 player from a different brand that offers more features at a lower price.

Other Thoughts: Mine fell in the toilet when buckling my belt forgetting that it was clipped on there.

Pros: This is the only good thing that Apple has ever made

Cons: Price

Pros: It plays music. It's small.

Cons: Price, you can buy other MP3 players WITHOUT the hassels of Apple or iTunes for the same price with a larger capacty. More of a paperweight to me

Other Thoughts: Bassically only got this for my girlfriend's brother for a graduation gift. About the only thing I can say about this thing.

Pros: Well done! After finally finding some great running headphones (Philips SHQ-4000!) I decided to rid myself of an ancient Samsung 1Gb SDMX1. It will not die! I've killed like seven sets of headphones, but the SDMX1 lives on. After using it exclusively for years, I can tell the Shuffle has much better sound quality.
Built-in clip and super lightweight. You could clip it to your bangs!
And shuffle. Over the years, I've tried to make a mix per month for running. Newly discovered music, etc. It's redundant to the point where I anticipate the next song coming as the current one ends. Ripe for shuffle! Loaded selections from two years of running mixes.

Cons: Cons @ $50?!

Other Thoughts: I've owned a number of iPods which thankfully broke so I could eventually find and use a Cowon S9! I cracked my S9's screen but still carry it for divx and music along with a hi-res Verizon iPhone. Cowon rocks!

In the meantime I've gone Mac so I've got native iTunes. Made a difference for me. iTunes on PC felt like a virus. Since it's part of my MacBook Pro, the Shuffle made sense. Your mileage may vary.

Pros: Very small (smaller than 2nd gen); Battery life is okay but not great; Buttons are better placed and a little bigger/raised more; Extremely lightweight.

Cons: USB cable to charge is incredibly short but then again its super lightweight so you can just let the player hang off the cable. The voiceover or whatever they call it is a waste and the shuffle is one of the players you should know the songs you're putting on there. You can't really surprise yourself with a 2GB music list. Wish the battery life was a little longer. Random function still plays a song you might have heard 2min ago leaving plenty of unplayed songs hanging around.

Other Thoughts: I used the 2nd gen shuffle and mounted it on the side of my motorcycle helmet with my helmet speakers routing into the headphone jack. The 2nd gen buttons were a little hard to control with gloves on and it was a little bulky for a small player. This one however is truly square in shape, low profile, lightweight and coupled with the raised buttons allows me to control it even better while riding. I still don't understand how certain companies refuse to have the random function go through the playlist once before it starts repeating songs. On this player you have to put the "on" switch in the middle for regular play when you have to slide it all the way over for random, it would make sense to do it the opposite way so you didn't have to pay attention to the positioning. The voiceover function is dumb as stated above and sounds worse than a circa 2000 Nav system. Why is there no basic black color either? All in all its a basic player and for $50 its a good buy.

Pros: Amazingly small. I'm still wondering how they fit everything inside it. It's lighter than a single AA battery (IMO). The sound quality is great (playing 350kbps VBR AAC), and the volume definitely goes higher than necessary (not a bad thing).

Beautiful product and packaging. Clip works well, and was a key selling point for me, as I'll be using this iPod mostly in active settings. I have an iPod Touch to use for other situations. Voiceover works pretty well.

In contrast to previous generations, I'm very glad they decided to put the button controls back on the shuffle again. The previous generation forced you to use Apple headphones. This generation works with any headphones, which is a huge plus for me.

For the amount of design and portability provided here, it's a pretty good deal at under $50. It's one of the first Apple products that I think is appropriately priced.

Cons: Not a complete con, more of a neutral issue, but the shuffle makes it difficult to navigate by album/artist/etc. The reason I can't completely categorize this as a con, because it's by design. The shuffle isn't really intended for those that must be able to navigate to specific albums to listen to them. That's not really it's purpose (hence it's name).

You're restricted to either listening to songs sequentially or in shuffle mode (which I use most of the time). The only exception is that you're able to create playlists and then can browse through playlists. I'm not a fan of playlists in general, so I can't comment as to how well the navigation is for those.

Other Thoughts: I haven't used it enough yet to gauge how accurate Apple's battery life expectations are, though I haven't been disappointed by battery life in their other products.

Pros: The body of the player is made from a solid piece of aluminum and appears very sturdy. The most likely area for the unit to suffer any type of moisture penetration is through the clickable buttons, although that too appears fairly solid (more so than other low-end plastic mp3 players). The Shuttle's earphone jack does double duty for charging the unit as well, thereby alleviating the need for a separate USB port; again enhancing the unit's resistance against moisture/sweat during workouts.

Functionality: It's an Apple product and works with iTunes--pretty straight-forward. The Shuttle DOES handle playlists and podcasts (and supports resume playback position); this is a great feature low-end mp3 players do not have. The Shuttle has Voice Over that will announce songs & playlists for navigation; it works pretty well. Battery life is solid.

Cons: Voice Over installation fails for many Win7 users and Apple tech support seemed oblivious despite their forums having numerous people with problems. That problem IS fixable. Navigation on the Shuttle can be difficult during exercise since the buttons (and the unit) are so tiny. As previously mentioned, the Shuttle charges via a special cable that plugs into the headphone jack; the cable is only about 2 inches. The Shuttle only handles 2gb of audio; would have been nice if it did 4gb.

Other Thoughts: The Shuttle is a tiny device, easily lost or accidentally left on clothing bound to be washed. As an mp3 player for running/sports, it seems very solid and easily clips onto a shirt or waist-band. As mentioned, navigation on the Shuttle can be tricky while on the move. Still, the solid water-resistant uni-body construction makes it an attractive device for activity where sweat and movement are involved.