I bought Apple’s 3G iPod shuffle a few days after it came out. It’s a marvel of modern minimalist design, featuring only a single button for powering the device on and off. Too bad, then, that it completely sucks ass.
Technically, it’s the headphones that suck, but the catch is that since the new shuffle is operated entirely by a tiny remote bud on the headphones, the fact of the matter is that if the headphones break, the device is rendered useless.
The problem is that Apple apparently designed this thing without any regard for how people will actually use it. What is the most common use for a small form-factor MP3 player, one that clips on to your shirt or waist, that uses flash memory so it won’t skip, and has no buttons to accidentally press? Right, working out or exercising.
It turns out the the placement of the control pod on the headphone cord is such that it is subjected to a constant showering of sweat and spittle during a workout. My first set of headphones malfunctioned after about five or six outings. Replacement headphones were $30 from Apple. Remember, you need the special ones with the built-in remote, otherwise you have no way of using the player, and right now Apple is the only ones making them. My second pair failed on the third use.
Also, this isn’t a failure of the speaker portion of the headphones. It’s clearly in the remote itself. The failures manifest in many ways: the volume shoots up to maximum or fades to silence; advancing through menus won’t work; songs won’t play or pause.
Oh, and Apple also apparently took all the negative feedback over the sharp edges on the Mac Book laptops, and completely ignored it. The edge on the new shuffle makes it extremely uncomfortable to clip on your waistband. Again, not the best design decision for a device intended to be a workout companion.
It’s really a shame, because the new shuffle’s form factor, buttonless controls, voice-over playlist navigation should have added up to a winning combination. To bad it didn’t.
