The Next iPod Shuffle
The iPod Shuffle has been in the wild for almost a year and is still selling well in the top 3 of Amazon�s top selling electronics list. Apple has issued software updates, dropped the price and the little flash based player is selling well in all age groups. First time buyers, long time iPod owners and those that are just uncomfortable with digital music can justify a 100 dollar investment and not feel bad while taking their delve in the iPod generation. The iPod shuffle has broken the record for being the first player to go this long without a refresh and I have a feeling Apple is working on something great that will wow those of us that own iPods and just don�t see a need for a shuffle.
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Everyone thinks it needs a screen and I could not agree more. All iPods have color screens and a grayscale OLED display with the ability to display smooth text in a one-line format would be great. You can have a �mode� button or keep the text on rotate and you will see song, artist, album and time remaining or you can choose one of those. The shuffle would be nice to have with an equalizer and sound check capabilities but is not a requirement but if Apple did, they would need a two line display instead of a one.
Capacity could be better but would then be entering iPod nano territory. I feel Apple could keep the 512mb player unchanged with the addition of better battery life with a price drop to $50 and a 1GB player with a screen and more features at $99 so they won�t be hurting the iPod nano or confusing the consumer. Another addition would be a touch sensitive controller and one that does not protrude outside of the shuffle casing. They did this due to the size of the shuffle and a flat surface would mean the clicker would have to go somewhere and deeper into the shuffle it would be causing issues for designers. Apple could reengineer to make the shuffle a smooth surface.
Everyone loses the bottom shuffle cap so making a flip cap for docking its USB port would make things easier and moving the on, off and shuffle button (currently located on the rear) to above the clicker to make things easier for consumers. The shuffles size should remain unchanged because it�s a perfect size but if Apple did make it smaller and possibly thinner, consumers would applaud the player and companies like Sony and Samsung will be royally pissed at the latest rendition.
Apple will make a shuffle related announcement at next year�s Macworld San Francisco and their delay up to now has allowed competitors to finally catch up with at least one of the iPod models and giving consumers a choice when it comes to tiny flash based players but no matter what Apple does, the 2nd generation shuffle will be something worth buying.
