They Did The Shuffle

Goshdarnit, they dunnit again.

Today's keynote speech from Steve has unleashed the latest iPod Shuffle, which is a flash-based (literally skip-free and low-power-consuming) MP3 player that offers 512MB or 1GB on the slim white stick. It's got the signature clean white design, the little circular control buttons reminiscent of the first iPods back in the day, and a switch in the back that changes the shuffling mode (you know, in order / repeat / random). Even comes with a lanyard so you can hang it and show the world that you're an iPod lover (as well as advertise what a casual snatcher should steal from you).

This concept isn't anything new. In fact, it's even kind of overdone already. What's worse, there's something seriously missing from the iPod Shuffle -- a traditional display! Of course, Apple being who they are, they've carefully worked around the need for a display (as opposed to the "want" for one) by making all the controls simple and primitive. Apple is playing up the "feature" of just being random about your music and not worrying about seeing the song name displayed at all. "Enjoy uncertainty." Clever. And with only 1GB on it, there aren't that many songs on there anyhow -- definitely fewer than the 240 they say you can put on it, even you collect today's popular 192kbps MP3 files. Plus, why do you want to know what song you're playing? Heck, you're the one who put it on the iPod in the first place!

I have to say that I'm not completely impressed; this product doesn't hit me as the target market at all, but it's not meant to. That said, I think it will stillbe successful.

Why? Because when you buy Apple, you're already forgoing finding the absolute best features-for-price fundamental -- and they know it. It's not about what you need, but what you want -- there are cheaper players that do the same thing (play MP3s) and even have displays on them. But what Apple brings to the "whole package" is the simplicity of its functions, and a fantastic dose of Cool^TM. It's slick: it's got that aire of Mac and Apple that makes the Apple Store such a magnet for me everytime I'm in the mall. It's simple: they've broken down the "needs" of a music player even further so that, along with iTunes as a duo, even computer illiterate grandparents can bop to the latest Limp Bizkit tracks. (If they wanted to.) It really has everything you need, and nothing you don't. And finally, it's cleverly priced to bring all the other people into the iPod family. Now that we have the $99 (512MB) and $149 (1GB) options, more people can afford the admission ticket into the open arms of the Mac community.

And that's just where it starts. It's like the mob family: once you're in, you're in for life.