Apple today announced the new redesigned iPod shuffle which features both clickable “ring” buttons and Apple’s innovative VoiceOver technology, enabling users to easily navigate their music and playlists without ever looking at their iPod shuffle. The new wearable iPod shuffle has an all-aluminum enclosure with a built-in clip and comes in five brilliant colors—silver, blue, green, orange and pink. With nearly 50 percent more battery life, the new iPod shuffle features over 15 hours of music playback on a single battery charge* and offers 2GB of storage for just $49.
“We’re making the iPod shuffle even better by combining clickable buttons and VoiceOver technology, so users can find and enjoy their music without ever looking at their iPod shuffle,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “With its all-aluminum enclosure and built-in clip the new iPod shuffle is a great workout companion, and at just $49 it’s a great entry-level iPod that almost everyone can afford.”
iPod shuffle is based on Apple’s incredibly popular shuffle feature, which randomly selects songs from a user’s music library. The clickable buttons make the new iPod shuffle even easier to use. Press the center button to play and pause, press the outer buttons to skip forward and back or adjust the volume up and down.
The new VoiceOver button on top of iPod shuffle allows users to hear the name of the currently playing song and to switch between songs, playlists or Genius Mixes. VoiceOver speaks 25 different languages and even alerts users when their battery needs charging.
The new iPod shuffle now supports Genius Mixes, the popular iTunes® feature that automatically creates mixes from songs in a user’s music library that go great together. Genius Mixes provide the perfect way to rediscover music users already have, but may not have listened to recently.
iPod is the world’s most popular family of digital music players with over a quarter billion sold. Apple’s new holiday lineup includes a brand new iPod shuffle for just $49; the remarkable new iPod nano with Multi-Touch™ starting at $149; the incredible new iPod touch with Retina display, Apple’s A4 chip, FaceTime, HD video recording and Game Center starting at just $229; and iPod classic in a 160GB model for $249.
The fourth generation iPod shuffle will be available next week for a suggested price of $49 (US) for a 2GB model in silver, blue, green, orange and pink through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iPod shuffle comes with Apple Earphones and the iPod shuffle USB cable. iPod shuffle requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later and iTunes 10 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later.
More info about Apple’s new iPod shuffle here.
Source: Apple Inc.
Excellent! Great to see Apple listening to its customers, and returning to the second generation form factor.
Great, not 1gb or 4gb the simple 2nd generation
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> just like mine old one hehe
my old ipod is back – again – interesting and better for runners
This one is larger than last years, or it’s buttons are to small to be useful.
@ploogman
Yes, it is nice for runners. Wish it had the Nike+ thing. Think I’ll go for the nano.
When exercising, the Shuffle is my music player of choice. this update is impressive in two ways:
1- it offers improvements that the people want, especially in price and form factor
2- it offers none of the complicating “features” that most companies feel compelled to throw on their products
This little iPod looks like a big win.
One of the problems with the 3rd gen iPod is it’s a bit too small to be displayed at the store. I mean, the store display for it was a one-foot square. These will have a better visual impact for the “impulse” buy, especially at $49.
And it’s nice to have that round button panel back. I wonder if it still works with the remote control headphone buttons, if you have that type.
The prior generation was a stunning design but not real practical. Somebody at Apple decided that design was a mistake and the 2G was unbeatable.