Review: Apple iPod shuffle

Some might say that the craze to make the smallest mp3 player is just getting silly.

The new version of the iPod Shuffle is so small that it’s little more than a silvery button with a clip, so that you can attach it to your clothing.

The new Shuffle measures just 27mm high, 41mm wide and 10mm thick – and that includes the little tie-clip mechanism attached to the back of the unit.

It only weighs 15g, so you can clip it on to a jacket lapel or shirt pocket and then forget about it. They could probably have made it even smaller, but then the already tiny control button would have been too small to use comfortably.

The original plastic-stick Shuffle was available in both 512MB and 1GB sizes, but this new model is available in one size only – 1GB, costing a very reasonable £55. It should be able to store about 240 songs, and the battery lasts for around 12 hours (although we’re baffled as to where they actually found room to fit a battery inside it).

The silvery-grey aluminium case feels sturdy enough, though we’re a little concerned that it might pick up scratches after a while.

Needless to say, with a gadget this small there’s no room for a display or any kind of menu system for choosing songs. This means you still have to rely on the shuffle approach, where you either play straight through a playlist (created on your Mac or PC using iTunes) or just shuffle through songs at random.

If you like having a bit more control over your music then you might want to cough up a little more for the slightly more sophisticated iPod nano (£99 for a 2GB model). However, at this price there’s no doubt that the new Shuffle will fly off the shelves as Christmas approaches.