Digital Trends

Apple iPod Shuffle (512MB)

March 15th, 2005 | by Ian Bell

Setup and Testing

In order to transfer music to the iPod Shuffle, you must install the Apple iTunes software. The iPod Shuffle is not compatible with any other software. Period. This means that if you happen to like MusicMatch or Windows Media Player 10 on Windows, you have to make a switch. Apple iTunes is not actually that bad and is probably one of the better music management software programs out there. But what this also means is that you are not only limited to the iTunes software for transferring music over to the Shuffle, but you can only use the Apple iTunes music service to play DRM protected music you purchase off the web.

Our copy of iTunes which came with our Shuffle unit required that we registered the software and input the Shuffles serial number before using the iTunes software. If you want to skip this whole process for privacy reasons, downloading iTunes from Apple's website instead should help to bypass registration.

After the iTunes software is installed, connecting the iPod Shuffle to your computer will activate iTunes automatically. We tested this unit on a Windows XP (w/ SP2) system and noticed that the iPod Shuffle popped up as a hard drive under “My Computer”. You can drag and drop files to the shuffle this way, for storage, but music files will not be played by the player unless they are transferred over using the iTunes software — so be warned.

The controls located on the front of the iPod Shuffle are easy to use and give a sturdy click when they are pushed. While a “hold” button is missing from the Shuffle, you should not worry about accidentally hitting a button since they are not touch sensitive and require a certain amount of pressure to activate. The power and play mode slider on the back of the Shuffle is another story however. We like the idea of using a slider to change the play mode or turn off the unit, but found it hard to use sometimes, especially after workout where you are more likely to have sweaty hands. Apple needs to loosen it up a little to make it a tad bit easier to move.

Performance

The iPod Shuffle supports USB 2.0, so music transfer is very quick and easy. There are only two playback modes to choose from, random play (thus the name Shuffle) and repeat all, which will play your play list in order and repeat the entire collection after the last track has finished playback.

There are no equalizer settings at all, so if you like to listen to music that radiates from the ends of the equalizer spectrum such as Classical music or Hip-hop, you will probably be disappointed by how the iPod Shuffle sounds. Bass is not particularly deep and appealing for hip-hop and techno listeners nor is the sound very crisp, the way classical music enthusiasts would prefer. But overall, the internal equalizer preset setting is probably good enough for most types of music.

The ear buds that come with the Shuffle feature an 18-mm Neodymium driver, and sound better than most stock ear buds. Apple does not list on their website the sensitivity level of their ear buds nor do they tell you what the players power output per channel is. We were able to use a pair of Shure E3C headphones and got better sound out of the Shuffle, but we doubt it could drive a high-end pair of headphones that would require a lot of power output.

Apple rates the battery life of the iPod Shuffle at 12 hours of use before needing to be recharged. We were able to get around 13.5 hours of battery juice. This is not particularly bad, but other flash players in this segment offer around twice the battery life as the Shuffle does. Having an integrated battery can be both good and bad. Good if you are near a power source allowing you to recharge the player, but bad if you are traveling and run out of juice since you cannot simply throw another battery in.