No matter how great the next gadget is, there is always a better one right around the corner. Thats exactly what Apple keeps doing with the iPods.
The iPod Shuffle is the smallest of the iPods. It is a little more simplistic, making it less confusing to use for some people. It is basically just for music, but can also be used for storage. With this model it is more affordable than many of the other iPods. Starting at $69 this little iPod has a lot to offer.
The iPod shuffle is also more compatible with MACs or PCs than many of the other iPods available. It is so compact, weighing maybe as much as a car key. Or, it is about the size of a pack of gum. But, this little device has a capacity to hold from 120 to 240 songs and can play for 12 hours straight. It can charge in as little as four hours. Do not worry about having another charger in the house because with the iPod shuffle it uses a USB port as its charger.
Do not let the iPod shuffle fool you. The shuffle can be set to play playlists in the order that they appear. Or it can be set to shuffle. Shuffle is not its only feature. You will love its simplicity and its cool and relaxed style. The autofill feature will help save time and keep your shuffle full of your favorite songs. There is also a dock for the shuffle. This can be purchased and will also autofill, or it can be used as a charger for your iPod shuffle.
The iPod Shuffle is great for walking, running or any other physical activity because of its size. Also, it is very popular to take along on activities because it is skip free and can have 12 hours of continues play.
One of the neat features of this device is that it has a navigational wheel. The center is the play/pause button. This same button can also be used to put iPod into Hold mode. Just hold the play/pause button about three to four seconds and Hold should be set. To adjust volumes press the top or bottom of the wheel. For previous or go to next song press left or right. To fast-forward or rewind press left or right on the wheel and hold for a few seconds.
There is also a LED green light that indicates that the iPod is receiving and performing all the given commands. An orange light will be seen if there is any sort of errors. There is a battery indicator located on the shuffle. Green light means good, orange means running low and the red means that it is running very low. If it does not respond at all, that means it is dead and needs to be recharged.
It seems like any other iPod when you use it with iTunes, but there are a few features that only the shuffle has. It is much more convenient to put songs on the shuffle than other iPods. An autofill box will appear at the bottom of the iTunes window. This is where you can choose your source of music. You can pick iTunes library or a playlist. Otherwise, you can just choose songs at random. This can replace all your songs on the shuffle each time you choose autofill.
To get the most out of your iPod shuffle you will want to go into your preferences and you will want to choose the option - Convert Higher Bit Rate Songs to 128kbsp AAC for this iPod.
With the shuffle only able to hold one gigabyte of songs and this feature can be very important to use with the shuffle. The shuffle will not allow songs that are AIFF or Apple Lossless files. These types of song files can really weigh your iPod shuffle down. But thats what is so nice about that built in feature.
Once this option is set and iTunes is used it will turn that once fat file in to 128 kbps AAC as it syncs with the shuffle. But the original size of the song file will be kept the same in iTunes. Using this type of sync can be a bit slow, but it will benefit you on the many songs you will be able to keep on your iPod shuffle.
Unfortunately this is a feature that is only available on the shuffle. Maybe with the iPods growing popularity it will also be an option put into other iPod models.
http://www.articleco.com/Article/Shuffling-Along-With-Your-iPod/46914
