New iPod Shuffle Shrinks to a Few Sizes above a Spec!

Soon we may not even be able to identify whether or not we have our iPod located anywhere on our person, these things are getting so darn tiny! Photo via: techfever
This newest edition to the iPod Shuffle was introduced recently and Apple tells us that it will be half the size of its predecessor (no bigger than AA battery), offer 4 GB worth of storage (1,000 songs), an internal speech engine, and will have a rechargeable battery capacity of 10 hours.
Will it Work in Automotive Applications?
While many vehicles today are set-up with their own technologically endowed music players, there are still a lot of folks who are still using an iPod plugged into an older stereo system, and why not… it does the job! The question I have for this setup, is whether or not it is going to be a good or a bad change for automotive applications?
I will let you make the final decision, although I give this a thumbs down until they introduce controls on this unit as well as a “clapper” feature that will help you find this little thing should you ever misplace it. You know, a clap your hands and it will beep back at you kind of thing.
The older iPod shuffle was perhaps not the greatest adaptable car player in the world, but it was functional for its compact size. It at least had enough room on the player to outline the controls enabling you to shuffle through the songs at the push of a button.
Features and Potential Automotive Problems with the New iPod Shuffle
The problem with the new iPod shuffle is going to be it is so small that there is only room for an on/off button and a shuffle switch, so you better make darn sure you like the songs on your playlist, as you aren’t going to be able to search through them as easily as you may be used to. The main controls are featured on the headphones rather than player itself this time around!
But even the headphone search feature will take a small amount of brain power to remember the functions that its “one” button offers. If you want to listen to a song again, click the button three times. If you want to pause the song, click it once. To skip a song, double click. To hear the voice speech engine recite the title and name of the artist currently playing (using its 14 language capability), just hold down the button.
The player also features playlist capabilities. To switch between playlists all you have to do is hold down the button and wait for a tone, then release the button and it will begin to play music from the next available playlist. I bet you never knew you could do so much with just one solitary button.
Sometimes smaller is better and other times it is just… well, smaller!




