| Home > Technology > iPod Shuffle: even more like the original Sony Walkman (and the Outer Limits!) |
| iPod Shuffle: even more like the original Sony Walkman (and the Outer Limits!) | | Date Created: 12 Jan, 2005, 08:02 PM |
 The iPod shuffle whose flash-memory I suggested Apple ought to use to tackle this large market (back in 2004 here) is set to divide opinions.
Some will rejoice in Apple's going after those at this end of the market who can't or won't afford its bigger more expensive siblings, with their hard drives.
Others will lament its lack of visual feedback as to what's playing, in preference to its flash competitors whose interfaces Jobs described as "torturous".
I unfondly recall purchasing my first minidisc from Denon, which shared the same guts as models from Pioneer, Kenwood and Sharp when I visited Hong Kong the first time.
Minidisc blanks were expensive, held 74 minutes of audio (about 25 mp3s), and required enormous patience to name the tracks by single tapping through the alphabet seeking each letter of the song's title. And no other meta data as such.
Of course, that was a vast improvement on the analogue elderly citizen that started it the personal audio genre, the Sony Walkman.
Like the iPod Shuffle, there was no physical read-out and if you wanted to know the order of tracks on a cassette, you had to pop it out to read the label - that is, if it was a commerical release. If you made your own copy in those free and easy pre-DRM days, you often didn't bother writing the titles, and it would often take many minutes to fast-forward to the desired track in a hit and miss affair.
In some respects, the iPod Shuffle returns us to the days of guessing what's on the cassette and where it is.
But Apple designers have clearly followed much of the commentary on the success of the iPod, such that many including myself, wrote of discovering a new appreciation of old familiar tunes through the random mode.
On long car trips with friends we used it to play guess the artist games using the random mode to see who could name that tune first.
The first Walkmans also had no fast forward or rewind either so you just let the cassette play, and this seems to be the attitude behind the latest iPod, albeit one where you have two modes of advancing through files.
So I'm not going to grieve about the loss of a tiny LCD screen should I get one. The idea will be to grab a collection from your iTunes playlist before your morning walk or workout, or city commute, and use the skip button to get to whatever song or talk or podcast you want.
I don't think the youth market will care either - not at the price point. And when their birthday comes around or the vacation job has concluded perhaps they'll trade up to an iPod mini.
But did you notice Steve Jobs wearing it on a lanyard? Think of how this might be used...
Museums and art galleries could purchase a swag of them and loan them out to visitors with pre-recorded exhibition narratives from curators or the artists themselves; conference goers could plug their's in to minimacs and get the audio from seminars and lectures they missed; you could carry around with you foreign language phrases when you visit other countries, etc.
(For a more academically-oriented discussion on the shuffle mode, head to Dan Hill's exposition at his website, City of Sound.)
I even wonder if its possible for a third party accessorisor to develop a small LCD to hook into the USB 2.0 connection to display what's on the Shuffle, for those who simply must have a display. This will be the design "feature" that will incur most comment, and most of it will miss the point, in the belief that the Shuffle can't compete with other mp3 players, or their own 20GB iPod.
I have news - it's not meant to compete with your full-size iPod. It's part of a suite of iPod products which allows you to choose whatever suits your current activity. I don't shlep my iPod with me wherever I go, but I would always have an iPod shuffle on me, hopefully updated with the latest podcasts, IT conversations interview, and my songs of the moment. And leave a little space for files too.
If you think Apple didn't think through carefully the ergonomics of the Shuffle, you don't know anything about Apple.
And just wait until the inventive minds at Griffin Technology and Belkin and DLO get their mits into it before we see some very clever add-ons. My bet for first cab off the rank? A lanyard with built-in white earbuds. Go visit any department store which stocks iPods and look at the forest of accessories which has sprung up around it, with no end in sight. You can bet your last dollar the same will occur for the Shuffle even though it may seem somewhat limited in how it can be added to... But that's precisely why it is so attractive for the third-party market who can have a field day being creative and innovative. I mean if a simple guy like me can dream up a combined earphone/lanyard, and Apple is already offering a suite of add-ons like the battery pack and sports case, what will the dedicated innovative people like Paul Griffin dream up?
I'll reserve complete judgment until I get my hands and ears onto one, as this is often the best way to judge Apple products like the Shuffle.
But at this price point - and its dual life as a storage medium - they'll fly off the resellers' shelves.
Update: The more I think about it the more I am convinced Apple has been reading Barry Schwartz's book, The Paradox of Choice: Less is More which I used for an earlier blog entry on why Windows users are depressed compared to Mac users - no kidding! Shuffle extends that by saying "we will make the choice for you, but based on what you choose to listen to in the first place". Just lie back - or run, cycle, workout, walk - and enjoy!
Sort of like the1960s Sci-fi series, The Outer Limits, where its intro says: "We will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical.... for the next hour, sit back while we control all that you (see) and hear... you are about to participate in a great adventure."
Funny about that: At the bottom of Apple's iPod Shuffle homepage, you'll find written:
"Since iPod shuffle automatically charges while syncing, it stays ready for your next adventure." |
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