IPod Shuffle - a Little Flaky, a Little Pricey, but Kind of Cool

The iPod Shuffle runs about $80 new. I bought one because it is so much cheaper than buying any of the other iPods. I use a Mac, so I figured I should stick to the iPod, and I wanted an mp3 player.
The most notable difference between the Shuffle and other iPods is that you can't select a song. It is possible to skip the track you're on and change the volume, but those are really the only controls. At first I thought this randomness wouldn't bother me. However, I notice that more and more often I'm simply not in the mood for songs that come up, and I have to keep skipping, or a I really want to hear a particular song, and I find it very annoying.
Another thing I've noticed about my iPod Shuffle is that it has a very flaky on/off switch - I find that if I clip it to my belt and walk around, something will bump it and turn it off. It also has a tendency to turn on in my backpack or my pocket and drain its battery, which is quite aggravating.
Despite these flaws, it does have some useful applications. I find that when I'm studying, and simply want to drown out noise with random background music, the Shuffle is great - it doesn't distract me from studying because there are no playlists to browse through or podcasts to check on, it just chugs away. It is also by far the smallest, lightest, and cheapest iPod. The Apple Earbud headphones that it comes with sound truly excellent, which was a pleasant surprise, but they make my ears ache a little bit after 45 minutes of use or so. Also, the Shuffle has a disappointingly short battery life. In my experience, the battery only lasts about 2 or 3 hours. I thought that since it has no hard drive to spin, and no screen to light, the battery would last quite a while, but I was wrong.
Overall, I'd say the Shuffle is a neat little device, but it's flawed. If it was $40, I'd say get one by all means, or if I could select songs with a screen, but as it stands, I really wish I'd saved up another couple of weeks and bought a small Nano.