While the iPod Shuffle is great (I will be buying one soon) I think that Apple should have made it with an LCD display since other flash players have them. One good example is the Teac MP 200 which is available in the EU (not sure about the US). This Teac player has a beautiful “full graphic Organic LED / Panel 128 x 64 dots Featuring 4 line / 2 color OLED display” in a (almost)similar compact design and it looks great.
With the display you can see the currently playing artist and song as well as search for any song stored on the player. If Teac (and many others) can then why can’t Apple make a flash player with a built-in display even if the display is less than 4 lines and only 1 color?
Of course, this first version of the iPod Shuffle will be popular but I think that consumers will want a second version of the iPod Shuffle with a display, if Apple wants to keep selling them for more than two years. I really hope to see the next version of the iPod Shuffle with some sort of a display.
I currently own an iPod mini and will still buy the iPod Shuffle so i can use it for working out and sports. Speaking of which, I wish Apple would release an iPod mini with a color display, I think that it would be easy on the eyes, but that’s probably too much wishing at once, huh? (Submitted to the PowerPage anonymously.)
3 Responses to “iPod Shuffle Rivals”
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February 1st, 2005 at 3:46 pm
This will be the last article I will read on the powerpage. I have been a viewer for more than 3 years now but I have grown tired of your whining. Apple designs EASY TO USE products, NOT flasy uselss POS. You might want to change the name of your site to “Anti Industrial Design Apple Critism” because as of late, that’s all it is.
February 1st, 2005 at 9:19 pm
I was at the show and picked up an ipod shuffle for kicks at the store across the street. There was a huge line and people were buying them by the stack. I own an ipod photo and a $99 insurance policy (shuffle) made alot of sense when I didn’t need long battery life or as much music on hand. The standard ipod photo is good for trips, the car, move files back and fourth to work and presintaions (convert them to jpegs). The shuffle is great for listing to music short term – shopping, working out, even a quick trip in the car when you don’t want to deal with a large ipod. I have found that if your machine goes to sleep at night while you charge your shuffle when you go to workout in the morning it won’t be charged. But its sound quality and portability is great. It’s perfect to get some one started on digital music who only needs 150 songs at a time…. I guess its a “gateway” ipod as the mini mac is to the imac.
July 5th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
I think that Apple should eventually take your suggestion to heart, but in a different way. I think that as flash memory chips begin to come down in price and go up in size, Apple should replace the hard drive in the iPod Mini with a flash setup. The flash-based iPod Mini could then be marketed in 2 or 4 GB configurations. If this would keep the costs up, Apple could sell a smaller version of the iPod Mini with a smaller LCD and USB-only to shave costs.