March 11th, 2009 at 10:22 AM

I agree. Persona;;y I HATE things in my ears. I never use Apple earbuds so I guess this one is not for me. I do wonder about those that use their iPod with speaker systems. One place I work uses an older iPod to drive the music in the showroom. At home we use our iPod with a boom-box. This is a cool design but IMO they have reached the point where they may be limiting its appeal.

March 11th, 2009 at 11:26 AM

There are some controls on top, but not for volume.

This may be a test device to see how users react to VoiceOver

March 11th, 2009 at 12:30 PM

burrito said:
why couldn?t they keep those same controls on the device itself?

Because Apple actually cares about things like ergonomics and the user experience. Controls on the cord are:
- easier to access
- always consistently oriented
- never hidden underneath a jacket or sweater

the ?squeeze the button when you hear your playlist announced? is unintuitive as well.

In what way is pushing the button when your target is announced “unintuitive?”

not to mention the thing is ugly.. heh.. the only cool part about it is that you get a crappier voice if you sync with a pc.. lol

lol indeed. Lots of things are crappier on a “pc,” burrito. Are you surprised?

BTW, this new iPod shuffle is anything but ugly.

March 11th, 2009 at 5:43 PM

“Because Apple actually cares about things like ergonomics and the user experience. “

Those earbuds are about the least ergonomic thing I’ve ever used. A perfectly round 3/4 inch nugget of hard plastic does NOT fit into my ear holes, nor those of most other people I know who have tried them.

I was really excited about the larger capacity and smaller form factor until I learned that the volume controls were in the earbud cord. I’ll pass on this one.

March 11th, 2009 at 7:50 PM

@Rex “Those earbuds are about the least ergonomic thing I?ve ever used. A perfectly round 3/4 inch nugget of hard plastic does NOT fit into my ear holes, nor those of most other people I know who have tried them.”

My vote for the worst ergonomic thing I ever used was the Apple hockey puck mouse, but I get your point.

The Shuffle is marketed in large part to joggers and such where the problem if ear buds falling out is common.  I wonder why Apple didn’t use their new in-ear model

Anyway, for all our complaints about this thing we need to understand that the older model Shuffle is still for sale by Apple. Of course they may discontinue it at sometime in the near future, but in the meantime you can still do The Curly Shuffle

March 12th, 2009 at 7:45 AM

Gizmodo is not impressed with the new controls on the headphone cord either.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5167997/bad-idea-moving-ipod-shuffles-controls-exclusively-to-the-headphones
They did get word from Apple that there will be an adaptor for third party headphones… someday.