Did you hear that?
Another Apple has just fallen from the tree…
Gen-Techies everywhere are raving over the much anticipated release of the inexpensive 3rd generation iPod Shuffle by Apple. It’s true; Apple has set the standard for portable media players. Multitudes of neophytes cannot live without them. I myself can relate; I’d be an absolute wreck if I had to live without my tunes… – You can get yours here.
So, is the latest rendition going to be all it’s expected to be? Time will tell. It is sleek and stylish; and small; I’m thinking that will be a nice feature. Much easier on the budget too… Here's a video overview...
Main Features
Price: $79
Size: 1.8" tall x 0.3" thin
Controls: Relocated to the right earbud cord
Storage: 4GB; up to 1000 songs - based on 4 minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding; in 256-Kbps AAC format, song capacity is up to 500 songs
Voice Over: With the touch of a button the unit announces the song, artist and even play list.
Interesting thing though; there’s already been a stirring over the accusation of Apple designing a limitation into the new gadget. It seems that the new iPod Shuffle cannot use just any old headphones. The accusation made over the weekend suggested that Apple employed an authentication chip in the design and manufacturing of the new Shuffle to be used with the headphones. It was further cited that this was a strategic marketing strategy by Apple to force people to buy their headphones from them.
Apple responded by stating that this was not a marketing strategy but simply a necessity due to the playback controls being relocated to the headphones. They further commented that several manufacturers are in production with compatible headphones incorporating the integrated playback controls as well as an adapter becoming available making it work with standard headphones.
This issue caused a lot of heat over the weekend but I doubt it will hurt Apple’s position in the market any. Frankly, I’m looking forward to my new toy. We’ll keep you posted on future developments.
Keeping the beat… Tia T. for SBR
