New Apple IPod Shuffle is Half as Small but Twice as Good

As if the second version of the Apple iPod Shuffle wasn't small enough. Now Apple has come out with its third generation iPod that is half as small but twice as good. The new iPod Shuffle will have more features than ever and you will also be able to talk to your Shuffle and this time it will understand what you want.

The new iPod Shuffle can now hold up to 1,000 songs, thanks to its 4-gigabytes of storage, a marked improvement over the last two versions. With all this storage capacity, it is still only a miniscule little rectangle that is less than two inches long. When compared to the second generation version it is only about half as big. To compensate for the loss of space, Apple had to get strategic and remove all the buttons that would normally be on a Shuffle and build them into the chords of the headphones. By doing so Apple has created an ultra-small device that can store as many songs as the big boys (source: tech.yahoo.com).

The best feature though is that you can now "speak" to your Shuffle and it will understand what you want. No, it won't order a pizza for you but it will recognize your voice when you say a song title, artist or even a specific playlist you have programmed into it and will then play it accordingly. This is accomplished by downloading an updated version of iTunes that allows the Shuffle to imbed a "voice file" onto each track you put into your Shuffle. The best part is that the Shuffle can speak 14 different languages so if you want to hear one song in Spanish and one in English, you can accomplish both with one device (source: tech.yahoo.com).

All these awesome features will only set you back a scant $79.00 which is not bad considering the cost of Apples bigger iPods. While the trade-off for value still lies in no screen for you to view while you navigate, the new voice navigation system makes the trade-off a bit easier to swallow.

Once again, Apple proves smaller really is better. With each new addition, the iPod Shuffle gets shrunken considerably. But now that the device is only about two inches long, it will be tough to make the device any smaller unless Apple can come up with a way to just beam the songs directly to your head; and more than likely Steve Jobs and the rest of the Apple bunch are trying to figure that out as we speak.