One of Apple's best products

Author's Rating:

Pros: Durable, takes anyone's headphones, plenty of storage space.

Cons: Supplied earbuds not so hot, software could be better.

The Bottom Line: 
Everyone who works out at the gym or runs would love one of these.

Author's Review
Like someone else here, I got my 2 gig Shuffle free with my bank's bonus points. I got it the same week that Apple introduced the new, smaller 4 gig Shuffle.

Two major advantages that my 2 gig Shuffle has over the 4 gig Shuffle:
It's small without being small enough to lose (The new Shuffle is about half the size of mine). And you can use any headphones you want with the "old" Shuffle. The new Shuffle has its controls built into the earbuds cable, so you can't use "ordinary" headphones with it.

The provided earbuds from Apple for my 2 gig Shuffle are pretty ordinary. My V-Moda earphones are superb for use at the gym and work great with the Shuffle. I wouldn't be able to use the V-Moda phones with the new Shuffle.

I use my Shuffle for listening to Podcasts. By my estimation, it holds up to about 24 hours of Podcasts. How much more do you need?

The Apple software allows me to subscribe to weekly free podcasts. The software isn't particularly intuitive, but I eventually got the hang of it. Folks who aren't computer-savvy would definitely get frustrated at trying to move the downloaded podcasts from the computer over to the iPod.

The design of the Shuffle is elegant. The clip works well. The charging cradle, with its inset rubber bottom, is almost a work of art.

There's practically nothing on the Shuffle to break, and I have dropped mine many times. With no screen, there's no delicate glass that can crack. Has there ever been a more durable mp3 made by anyone?

One downside: It doesn't offer as much sound volume as my other mp3 players, so truly good earphones are a necessity in a noisy environment. I would certainly recommend V-Moda Vibe phones for such conditions.