Seeing as how this blog has slowly evolved into being entirely focused on gadget hardware analysis, it seems only fitting that I cover today’s Apple news.
That’s right folks: we have another iPod to drool over - the new and “improved” iPod Shuffle, seen here:
The new iPod has the following features:
- It’s tiny, about the size of a AA battery.
- Comes in fancy matte black or lame-o silver
- Holds 4gb of music
- Costs more than the old one
- Has Text to Speech technology that reads you what song you’re listening to (this one is so ridiculous that I don’t even know where to begin)
- Has NO buttons.
Ugh. No buttons.
Ok, so there are buttons… they’re just on the headphones - meaning that there are no buttons on the device. What’s so wrong with buttons!? Nothing. Buttons are great - especially for something small like this. But I know what you’re thinking: buttons on the headphones - that’s ok! Well you’re wrong.
Having buttons on the headphones means that you’ll either have to use Apple’s headphones or buy an adapter to use any others (including any old iPhone earbuds you might have around). It also means that when your Apple headphones break (and they will, I mean - those things will never stay in your ears and the cord will get tangled and frayed in a few months) you’re going to have to buy the expensive Apple-branded ones just so that you can change the song on your mp3 player. Are you serious?!
And let’s look at the price: first, it’s $70 - which is more expensive than Apple’s previous shuffle. Sure, it holds a bit more, but in this economy more expensive is almost unheard of. But what if you want to use other headphones? Or what if your pod-controlling headphones break? Well you’ll need that adapter… and that’ll probably cost you an Apple-tax of $20-30 (just a guess). Ultimately this thing will set you back MORE than almost any comparably spec’d mp3 players.
Look, I want to rationalize Apple’s decision saying that the lack of buttons is to support the tiny size - but watching Apple design gadgets with fewer and fewer buttons - I really see this as a continued push to over-simplify, which in turn continues to complicate user experience.
Simply put: fewer buttons is NOT better. Take it away, The Onion:
Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
March 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am
You already know I’m a big fan of buttons, but in this case I’m actually indifferent. Maybe I’m just blinded by the fact that the thing is so freaking small, yet holds as many songs as the original iPod (remember that massive brick of a device?).
But what I most amazing about this device is one of it’s less-touted features. Everyone knows it can speak to you to tell you what song or playlist you’re listening to. But not many people caught that it actually speaks to you in a different voice based on whether you’ve synced it with a Mac or PC. The Mac voice sounds smooth and almost human, while the PC voice sounds like the original electronic text-to-speech synthesizer from 1968. There was absolutely no technological reason to do this — Apple just decided to have a laugh at Windows users’ expense. Too funny.
Check it out yourself in the guided tour:
http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/
March 13th, 2009 at 9:20 am
First off- that link just froze my computer trying to load quicktime, so I don’t know what your talking about but am even angrier about it because of quicktime.
Secondly- did you know that Windows Mobile devices can already do all this?
http://www.fuzemobility.com/the-future-ipod%E2%80%A6today-no-ipod-needed/
March 13th, 2009 at 10:26 am
@Jamie
Wow… so after an hour, the Apple video still hadn’t full loaded (I’m not kidding), so I found it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y5z0zv8QbY
YOU WEREN’T KIDDING!? There really is a different voice, for absolutely no reason, if you sync via Mac vs PC. Wow, what an amazingly strange feature to build in. And seriously- it sounds ridiculously complicated. “Click and hold, wait, hold again, click, tap up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right…”
Let’s just leave it at this: I’m not going to buy one.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I loved this post - so much that I responded with one of my own at http://thedailymuddle.com
And Zach, I’m with you - I won’t be buying one…you know why…because I love my Zune. You know one of the reasons I love my Zune. It has buttons.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
I’ll always applaud the elegance that results from making complex things simple– but in this case, simplicity may have gone too far at the expense of usability (or extensibility). Your point about the headphones is right on, Zach – I’ve yet to own a pair that have lasted more than a year.
This reminded me of the 2005 SNL skit when a parodied Steve Jobs proclaims that every 30 seconds a new iPod would be launched that would be smaller than its predecessor – and he then announced the iPod “invisa” (as he pinched his two fingers together). I wish I could find a video clip of this…but until then, here’s an old post from Engadget:
http://tinyurl.com/5m5wfz
March 15th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Thank god they’ve made the shuffle smaller….I was just thinking the other day how cumbersome my 2″ x 2″ x 1″ clip on square is! ;)
In all seriousness, I was thinking last night about how brilliant this actually is. Not from a usability perspective (your post is spot on in every way), but from Apple’s perspective. They’ve just taken a product with basically no competitive advantage and no real way to make it better and managed to a) build buzz around b) make it look cooler c) increased the price of peripherals and accessories and d) decreased the cost of making it (i’m assuming that no buttons = no cost of making buttons = cheaper manufacturing costs, no?).
So people in the market for a shuffle will just get this one and deal with it. And plenty of apple fanbois (and fangirls) will rush out to ‘upgrade’. And if sales fall, they’ll “listen to our fans” and “bring back the buttons”.
So my question is, did Apple just prove how smart they really are by coming out with the dumbest product ever? Or are they just really dumb and due for a flop?
March 16th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Well it turns out that the story gets considerably worse:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/16/new-ipod-shuffle-requires-headphones-with-authentication-chip/
Ridiculous.
Also, I read a few “hands on” reviews - you know, the kind that are better than mine because the people actually get to touch the products they’re talking about…
Well in one review, the guy took the new shuffle out for a run - and was completely shocked at how impossible it was to change the song while running.
I mean think about it - the controls are right below your right ear. You’ve got to have your arm up in the air like that doing morse code to change the song? Half the time you’ll rip the thing out of your ear, the other half your arm will get tired and you’ll be running around looking like an idiot.
All I’m saying: wouldn’t you think that they’d realize that flaw during some sort of testing phase? Wouldn’t “change song while running” be a critical part of the QC for a product like this?
I just don’t get it.