On one hand, you've got your full-sized iPods and the burning question "When will they add a great big screen so they're great video players, too?" Then you've got the iPod that hit stores today--Apple's new second-generation, matchbook-sized iPod Shuffle, which is even more unapologetically, artfully minimalist than its Wrigleyesque predecessor.
Nobody will ever ask when the Shuffle will add video. (Hey, that question kind of assumes the presence of a screen, which the Shuffle still doesn't have.) But the new little guy, which is half the size of the original, does sport a slick aluminum case, a built-in clip for fastening it to your person, and a tiny but functional dock.
My colleague Narasu Rebbapragada was in line today to buy one of the first Shuffles; she's now tried it and liked it. But before she gave it a listen, we opened up our Shuffle, rummaged through the box, compared the player to various other teensy objects, and discovered that it'll fit (barely) into an itty-bitty Halloween-sized Willy Wonka Nerds(tm) box--and recorded the process for posterity, in the form of this cheerfully amateurish video. That's me talking...
Once again, the Shuffle is kind of cool--the original one had long since become decidedly anachronistic--and once again I can envision even folks who own a big iPod or other MP3 player springing for the reasonable cost ($79) for one of these 1GB midgets. (In fact, for most people, the Shuffle would be a much more pleasing second audio player than only audio player--as opposed to the $149 iPod Nano, which is all the iPod that many music lovers really need.)
Given that the new Shuffle is A) tiny, B) an impulse buy, or close to it, and C) so clever and well-made that it feels like a little luxury rather than a budget-priced compromise, you've got to wonder: What would a third-generation Shuffle be like? I'm not sure. But you gotta think--or at least hope--that someone at Apple is secretly figuring out how to build something even tinier, cheaper, and neater...
