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The 1st gen. iPod Shuffle was my first-ever Apple product. I have since owned a bunch of different iPods, Macs, iPhones and iPads as well as Airports, Apple TV's and so on. I still remember it as a good product, although the headphone jack had a tendency to fail prematurely (at least the two that I had).
 
The last gen was the best gen. Wish they still made them. They're still useful.

I think bluetooth really lead to the death of the shuffle. I used to use mine mainly at the gym with a set of headphones to which I soldered shorter wires. These days I just leave my phone in my bag and use a bluetooth headset to listen and control
 
I recently pulled our old 1st-gen iPod Shuffles (2005) out of storage. They are both 512MB (lol). I plugged them into my iMac and iTunes told me the software was out of date (no kidding?). Both still work perfectly!

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Somehow, I've managed to accumulate the first three generations of Shuffle over the years. This is how I've thought of them:
  • First gen – Most iconic and could plug directly into your computer.
  • Second gen – Best form factor (area to left of navigation for your finger to open clip).
  • Third gen – Confusing as hell, but at least it had song information, I guess?
  • Fourth gen – Smallest design, buttons integrated again, plus song info. Bonza.
I always wished they made some combination of the first and fourth generations with an internal speaker too. The idea of being able to play music directly from an SD-card-sized device that needs no cables to plug into your computer still seems cool.

Low-res mockup of advertisement of said iPod that I made in 2009:

View attachment 815292

Ah, a vintage AD MacRumors mockup! A decade later and they still haven't hired you.

Take the hint, buddy. :p
 
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Still have my 1st gen shuffle and it still works. Gets used for lawn mowing duties where I don’t want to risk my iPhone. Great product then and now.
 
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Since it was discontinued in July 27, 2017, shouldn't it be "iPod Shuffle would have turned 14 today?".
 
The last affordable low-priced Apple product for everyone lol. Now it's all overpriced iPhones and iPads.

iPod Shuffles were at least double what other similar MP3 players cost with less storage capacity, so while they were inexpensive relative to other iPod models, not many people would agree that they were priced any differently than Apple prices devices today.
 
The Shuffle that I'm most impressed with is the 4th Gen model (2010) with hats off to the 2nd Gen (2006).
 
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Still use my 4th gens daily (one green, one black) during running and at the gym. The 2010 version was the best, having enough physical space to grab the thing by w/o pushing buttons and better button feel. The final iteration was too small to manipulate easily w/o erroneously hitting the wrong buttons.
 
I had a 1st and 2nd gen shuffle. Used them at the gym. Loved it!! I had no interest in that 3rd gen version. No buttons, no thank you.
 
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It's a shame they don't still offer a small iPod like this. My boyfriend's mum had to shell out over $300 to get a new one because her old one had gotten crushed. I enjoyed my clip style shuffle until the plastic button split right down the middle.
 
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How long before we get an iPhone Shuffle?
Joke aside, that's what the Watch+cellular is. Tiny cell phone with minimal interface; press button (or Lift For Siri) and say "call XYZ" and maybe it will actually call the number you want.
 
Was about to come on here and comment about the truly lousy audio quality of the 1st gen shuffle until I saw the picture and realized I’d been trying to listen to an old Apple TV remote.
 
And the 1st generation had a better shuffle algorithm the iOS today. I hear the same dang songs on my iPhone.
 
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Tim would have sold the lanyard separately.

First gen was great. I got a 4th gen as a backup as well. Being able to order them engraved made a nice gift too.
 
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The first generation shuffle was actually a good price compared to other flash MP3 players on the market. I will agree later on, other products like the Sansa and GoGear and whatever else would undercut the shuffle's price, but it was a good value during the first gen. Plus most flash MP3 players at the time used triple A batteries, so it was nice that the shuffle had a built-in battery.
 
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