[T]he Apple CEO has been on a crusade to wipe moving parts from the face of Apple’s products as early as the replacement of PowerBook trackballs with trackpads or the removal of the physical scroll wheel from the original iPod. The iPhone and iPod touch were further steps towards a button-free world, relegating as many controls as possible on the touchscreen.
And now we have the buttonless iPod shuffle. With the exception of a single switch that controls the unit’s power and lets you change between shuffle and ordered play, the iPod shuffle itself contains no buttons. Instead, the playback controls are integrated into the headphone cord: you can squeeze either the top, bottom, or center of the remote to execute different functions.
If you ask me, the war on buttons has gone too far. […] The fact that Apple has to put up this diagram tells you how much more complicated it is: how would you figure out the controls without this chart? The only markings on the controls are the “+” and “-” that mark volume controls. There is no indication of how to play or pause music.
[…]
I understand the desire for the Apple design team to push themselves and try to accomplish something new and perhaps even revolutionary, but in the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm, perhaps they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
As this other article points out, 3rd parties should soon have adapters to allow other earphones. If Apple allows them.
That’ll work well at the gym…
I guess that means T-shirts from now on….
4 years of jet engines and weapons and 128K still sounds like shit.
#2 No T-shirts, turtlenecks.
#3 I think itunes store is now 256 aac.
I have an Apple TV and my least favorite thing about it is the stupid remote. The thing would be so much better with a traditional pause, play, fast forward, rewind, chapter skip, chapter return, and most importantly a freaking POWER BUTTON!!!
The only way to turn it off is to unplug it. The closest equivalent is “standby” that originally did not exist, and even now its buried in the on screen menus. Even in standby mode the thing generates a fair amount of heat.
They just moved the buttons up onto the headset cord. They’re easier to reach there if the ipod is on your pocket.
I think the shuffle is designed for joggers and fitness types to use while exercising.
Apple doesn’t like reasonable pricing either. This is a grossly overpriced 4GB thumb drive with a $0.25 audio IC added and made in a Chinese sweat shop.
If they wanted to build something for fitness types, they would add bluetooth, and create a wireless headset that has controls on them. like other manufacturers do. This would prevent any movement caused by excersicing to pull the headphone out of your ears.
Apples target market is not something that want something usefull, its those who want something with a picture of an apple on it, no matter how useless.
6,
No. It’s now an essential wardrobe accessory. Apple has moved to hubris 100%.
“Even the iPod shuffle clip gets the rock star treatment. Now forged in stainless steel, the clip attaches securely to your shirt, jacket, workout gear, even your backpack. And the sleek, durable, anodized aluminum case — available in silver or black — makes iPod shuffle a wardrobe essential.”
5,
Please leave the hive. Apple does not approve of thinking different.
It cracks me up when people hammer Apple for not making something useful. Not useful? ha!
Kudos to Uncle Dave for the Jurassic Park reference!
Since only cool, superior, eco friendly people are allowed to operate Apple products, the elitist company also makes it nearly impossible for anyone to learn how to use the Itunes software. There is no instruction page, no help page, and I’ll be damned if I could ever figure out what a “check”, a “dot”, or any other of the non-labeled things on Itunes do or are for. On the original shuffle, a little criss crossy symbol meant something, but I could never figure out what. And, of course, no instructions anywhere. Thanks, superior, elitist, snobby, bastard, BMW or Prius driving Apple fan boys. I am very happy with a 30GB Zune, paid $85 for it, and love it and it’s software. The video is great, and it is rock solid. But I am not playing the fan boy game, am I? I guess you have to be nuts about “American Idol” to love Apples. Dumb herd mentality.
Useless upgrade. Like most Apple shit
Is there any good reason why only the first ten to twenty pixels of pictures load on this blog? I notice very frequently, and only on this blog, that only the very top parts of pictures are loading.
#11 faxon – Us Mac users use something called the internet. Not sure if you’ve heard of it, but people can post questions and/or answers to questions to help people out. It’s endless information. Might wanna try it sometime, its very helpful if you need some help on what something does or how it works. And I can’t name one American Idol contestant, unless I look it up on the information network I’ve been elaborating on, so that kinda blows you senior thesis out of the water.
#13 Kanjy – That sounds like it’s on your end, bro. Cause I’m fine.
14,
You should use that “Internet” thing to look up grammar.
Mackie…I’ve had the same issues with iTunes. That software sucks. New nomenclature, no wizards, no tutorials, new icons lacking pop-up descriptions…classic cult software: if you don’t know how to use it, tough.
And your answer is “go to the Internet?” How about if the software worked just like all other mature software works? No, that software is different, just like this new shuffle is different…because it’s different.
Yeah, that iTunes is crazy complex!! I’m taking an adult ed. course on syncing at my local library.
Ever notice the way it starts up as soon as you plug in your iPod? What kind of dark magic is that?
Why oh why didn’t I buy the far superior Microsoft “Zune”?!
Yeah, the button thing. Jobs seems obsessed with this. I love it when people get CD’s/DVD’s stuck in their Mac Notebooks. Their is no way to extract them except to take the machine apart. I make lot’s of $$$ doing this. The customer hates it. Keep up the good work Apple.
#13. Switch to Firefox at least for this blog…I bet you are using Internet Exploder.
19,
My favourite was the false screw on the bottom of the MacBook. Only reason for it was symmetry… Of course, it being an Apple screw, it was far superior to anything seen before… EVAR!
Well guys, I guess the reason I’m so confident with iTunes is because I got my first iPod when they first came out. I’m not sure how old you guys are, but I’m a college student, and maybe ‘can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ applies here.
#16 Named – I looked it up then remembered my nightmares I had in high school. Thankfully, I completed all those shitty classes before college and I’m an engineering kid so who cares about grammar.
http://apple.com/support/itunes/
That might be of some help.
Not less absurd as any iPod Nano in the past.
In fact for people willing to use a device limited as a Nano, it is probably really a better device than the old ones.
#20. Yes the first time I saw that I was puzzled. I thought it was a design flaw, or for future use, but no, just for aesthetics.
21,
“Thankfully, I completed all those shitty classes before college and I’m an engineering kid so who cares about grammar.”
Make sure that you keep me abreast of what you work on. I don’t want to use anything an “engineering kid” with bad grammar handled. Who knows how your English deficiency can lead to catastrophic failure.
#24 Named – I’ll be sure to keep you updated. I don’t know how I’ll do that, but maybe I’ll take an out an advertising space at CNN so I can just keep the whole world updated on me and my godless, grammar-less work. If you could see my grades in my ENG courses, you would notice professionalism is used when it is appropriate, though. No need to use your interpretation of my blog posts to create a psychological analysis which will forever govern my future.
#24 Named – I’ll be sure to keep you updated. I don’t know how I’ll do that, but maybe I’ll take an out an advertising space at CNN so I can just keep the whole world updated on me and my godless, grammar-less work. If you could see my grades in my ENG courses, you would notice professionalism is used when it is appropriate, though. No need to use your degree in psychology to create a psychological analysis on how my informal blog posts will affect my professional life.
#19.
Don’t tell your customers about the paper clip trick!
[That would require a hole – Apple doesn’t like those either – ed.]
#18 – I bought the brown Zune but accidently flushed it.
# 24 Named said, “Make sure that you keep me abreast of what you work on. I don’t want to use anything an “engineering kid” with bad grammar handled.”
Good thing Von Braun didn’t head up the US Lunar program, his English grammar was horrible. We’d have never made it to the Moon if he worked on the project.
LOL!
I don’t like the way Apple Headphones feel. They hurt my ears. So I guess I won’t be getting the new shuffle.