The Apple iPod Shuffle 4th Generation Blue (2 GB) MP3 Player

Author's Rating:

Pros: Comes with clip, small, comes with headphones, durable, charges fast, cheap, and holds battery well.

Cons: Small, no screen, only about 2GB of memory, and durable but scratches easily.

The Bottom Line: 
Great, though not perfect.

Author's Review


The 4th generation iPod Shuffle is surprisingly, not a terrible buy.  At 1.1×1.24×0.34 in and .4 ounces it is the smallest iPod yet!

However that is not always a good thing as it is disturbingly easy to lose if you are haphazard with your possessions.  Another unsettling thing about it is that it comes with only roughly 2GB or around 6 hours or 500 songs.  While this may not be a bad for a casual music listener, like me, it can be frustrating for a serious music fan that is used to the 8GB iPods.  The final regrettable thing about this iPod is that it has no screen so you can’t view music videos or movies.  However, as an iPod is mainly for music this shouldn’t be a huge problem unless you upload lots of your shows and like to be able to watch them.

All negatives aside, the 4th generation iPod Shuffle has many positive aspects to look forward to.  On is the small size of it, and I know that I listed this as a negative, but if you liked the convenience of it, it could be very good.  Next, it comes with a pair of headphones, while they aren’t stellar, the ‘phones contain decent sound quality and lasted me a fairly long time before breaking.  This saves you from spending an additional $30 for a pair of headphones.  Which brings me to another point, the price, I got mine for $49 bucks at the apple store, and this is around average price.  Which is a good price when you look at most of their products.  Next, this little guy is incredibly durable, ‘he’ survived being dropped in the toilet, falling over 10ft, chewed on by my cousin, and going through the dryer, twice.  It is admitted that it scratches fairly easily, but the music won’t stop unless you literally back over it with a truck.
 
But that isn’t all… This iPod has one of the best charge rates at being able to last up to 15 hours on battery and taking only 3 to recharge on the computer (by connecting it to the computer with a USB cord that also comes with it.)  Next are the buttons, it has a total of 6 to control it.  It has a ‘+’ button to increase volume; a ‘-‘ button to decrease volume, a >> button to fast forward, a << to go back, a ‘/>’
/ ‘ll’ button to start pause, and a button near the top where you can add a voice over to name your songs.  Then, second to last, it comes with a clip so you can attach your iPod to your jeans or shirt! Finally, it’s going to sound weird… but I totally adore the color choices of blue, green, pink, orange, and silver!

Final verdict?  Buy it, that is if you are a casual music listener, don’t mind having no screen, and are able to deal with small but durable items.