iPod Shuffle Shrinking in Size and Price...

I think that my son would love one of these to take to the gym since it's extremely small, light and wearable and it really doesn't matter if you can see the song title playing while you're working out. And, at only $79 - Santa could consider bringing Mom one, too!


Smallest iPod yet going on sale

November 2, 2006 - Mike Wendland - Free Press technology columnist

The new iPod Shuffle, $79. (Apple)
Five years after it changed the music world with the iPod, Apple Computer has released its new Shuffle, the smallest digital music player yet in its line up of iPod models.

Priced at an affordable stocking-stuffer price of $79, the shuffle officially goes on sale today in Apple Stores and major electronics retailers and is predicted to be a hot seller for the holidays, perhaps at the expense of the more costly iPod nano (starting at $149) and the larger video iPod (starting at $249).

The new Shuffle model is super small, measuring about an inch high by a little more than an inch-and-a-half wide and a quarter-inch thick. It weighs a half an ounce, but it holds up to 240 songs.

As such, the Shuffle is about half the size of the original model and comes in a new brushed aluminum case with a built-in clip for fastening to a shirt collar, a pocket or waistband.

Battery life is about 12 hours.

You charge the Shuffle and get its tunes by fitting the headphone jack into a special dock that in turn is connected by a USB cable to the computer, be it a Mac or a Windows PC.

As with the earlier shuffle model, the downside to this entry level iPod is that there is no screen that lists the music so you can select a specific song. Instead, the music is played at random, shuffled, if you will, thereby explaining the name.

But, hey, come on, for $79 and 240 songs and iPod cool, I wouldn't shuffle off to a store to get it. I'd run.