elfurbe said:
My name is Furbe and I hate the iPod Shuffle.
Am I the only person that thinks this is a total dilution of the iPod brand?
You may call it dilution. I call it positioning for total world wide dominance.
iPods are known for their exceptionality. They are "the best". By market share, by user adulation, by critical acclaim, undeniably "the best". This is not the best. This is not even close.
Excuse me? Can you please define your definition of "best"? Because until you do, your ranting and justification just doesnt hold any water. Why? Because the shuffle is meant for a completely different market. Runners, joggers, athletes, students & other poor persons. Remember, without iTunes, the iPod would still be a niche product.
With no screen, no playlisting, not even some adapted version of the classic iPod click/scroll wheel, what's the point? Not only do I not know how long the current song has, I don't know what the next song is until I memorize my playlist, and even if I'm in love with random, I can't even choose a song to start the randomizing on. This is inane.
Looks like an iPod mini would be better served for you. Why would Apple want to bring out another mini clone, but with only 1GB memory and a price that has to be at least $200? Makes no sense to me. iPod shuffle was meant to be differentiated from the other iPods. So no screen, no clickwheel.
I know the iPod brand has the thunder of god behind it right now so everything stamped iPod is gold, but why would they choose to under-feature their device compared to currently available competition and expect us to believe it's somehow better? Danger! Reality distortion field at maximum!
Steve already eluded to this point. He said the other flash mp3 players had lousy navigation controls, small unuseable screens, etc. Why would Apple want to do the same thing? this iPod shuffle was meant to be as small as possible and as easy to use as possible, which mean no screen, and shuffle mode of songs, since as Steve himself said, most iPod users just listen to their songs in shuffle mode. Myself included.
Let's scan the real world for a second. Shuffle isn't new. I'll wait for your shock to wear off. That's right folks; shuffle has been a feature since digital music began. Shuffle existed before digital music. Shuffle worked on my last TAPE DECK. Everything that plays music has shuffle. It's not a selling point. It's a REQUIRED FEATURE. No scroll/click wheel is not an improvement. It's a travesty. No screen isn't streamlined. It's a mistake. This is to an iPod what a MINI is to a BMW. It's not one. Period. Even if they make them in the same building. You wouldn't try to pass off a spiffy new MINI Cooper as a low-end Beamer, and this is absolutely no different.
Shuffle aint new. Ok, nice argument. Thanks.
This is not an iPod, this is a joke.
Tell that straight in the face of those people lined up to buy it. Laugh at them for being stupid and dumb. Joke to you maybe, but then your argument for why it sucks has so many holes.
This is corporate bottom-lining taking over.
Corporations are out to make a profit, no joke.
Apple has a cash cow, now they're gonna milk the brand-name for all it's worth, quality be damned.
I'm sure the shuffle is engineered and built well. Build quality is fine. If you drop it, it'll probably survive. Cant say the same for the regular iPod.
I wouldn't touch this with a 10ft Dell-branded pole. It's so underwhelming the urge to cry consumes me.
I have some Kleenex if you need them.
It features NOTHING that makes an iPod an iPod: not visually or stylistically, not software interface, not physical interface, not storage space, not a thing.
What in God's green earth are you talking about? OMG. Visually, it is very striking. Clean, uncluttered, looks very easy to use. Software interface? You got iTunes to handle that. Why do you need an expensive software interface and backlit screen to traverse through 120 songs? Sounds too idiotic to me.
Not one single thing that has defined and pushed the iPod brand to the pinnacle of portable audio is there, except white Apple plastic with a half-eaten fruit on the back. This could just as easily be an Apple-brand USB memory stick, or even an Apple logo ink pen holder, from what it looks like, who would know.
Nice argument.
The fact that everyone and their brother intends to buy one doesn't justify this. Pandering low-end feature-poor products to everyone is Rio's job. Little Timmy doesn't have an iPod because Little Timmy doesn't need one. Cheapening the iPod's quality and capabilities to make it more attractive to Suzy Simpleton is 100% debasing Apple's nature. If they can afford to do it better AND as cheap as the other guy, do and do well, but it'll be a cold day in Satan's Workshop before I support Apple in lowering their standards to accommodate price points of their competition, playing on the success of a revolutionary device to pimp a catastrophe of a device like the iPod Shuffle on the unsuspecting masses.
Time has shown with the original iPod and the iPod Mini that people WILL PAY. Competing products sell for half as much and move only a small percentage of iPod's units sold. iPods are the best because Apple chose to maintain the quality of their product and produce something better, cleaner and more attractive than anything on the market then, now, or coming, price point be damned. And it worked. And now, now they want us to cheer like frenzied cult members as they take something innovative and debase it into something average at best, with no justification but the bottom line? Red flags should fly when you're trying so hard to think of a GOOD thing about your digital audio product that SHUFFLE SEEMS BEST. No thanks Steve, you can keep the tagline and the extra-helping of brainwashing. I'll continue to use my real iPod with real features, real Apple style, and real industry-defining clout, and hang my head in sadness each time I have the dubious good fortune to see a Shuffle in use.
I've gotten too tired to respond further. Go do yourself a favour, and stop beating yourself over the head and buy a iPod mini. Its only $150 more.
