Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: ipod, shuffle, 3g, teardown, internals | Themes: Audio/Video Players
Apple without warning on Wednesday released a new iPod Shuffle, and just two days later it’s already been taken apart.
There aren’t any buttons on the iPod Shuffle (which could lead to some confusing and inconvenient problems), so the internals of Apple’s latest music player shouldn’t that much more complicated than one of the USB thumb drive, right? Exactly.
iFixit dissects the new iPod Shuffle and finds exactly what you’d expect -- circuitry to manage the music, a large flash memory chip and a lithium polymer battery. Without any buttons on the device itself it’s hard to see how much more simple things could get. Some would even say that Apple’s gone too far, now sacrificing function for the sake of form.
At any rate, it’s fascinating look at Apple’s continued minimalist design. Check it our the complete picture guide here.
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""Some would even say that Apple’s gone too far, now sacrificing function for the sake of form.""
Can you say MacBook Air?
Yes, I just did. Any particular reason you're asking?
wow, impressive. the biggest thing is the battery and the plasic cover.
can you imagine when nano technologies kick in and this thing gets the size of a human hair. or even better when all the knowledge of the human race fits in a single human hair.
Hmm, sure looks like 100 dollars worth of hardware...
/sarcasm
I hate the new shuffle. Its going to get alot of bad reviews for the buttonless design. Carying a adapter around? no thanks.
The white lego brick shuffle was ballin. Wish they'd backtrack.
Slightly off topic but I wonder how many people are gonna ditch this thing for the other guy. I love the way mac has (I am sure they didn't mean to lmao) forced you into using there head phones with this thing. So its either upgrade to the a bigger ipod or go to the other guy if you want to use your own headphones (which must people do or at least most people I know). I also gotta wonder how much a replacement pair of headphones will be for it since the control is integrated they can charge a lot more for replacement. This truly is marketing Genius also the author is slightly off its sacrificing function for the sake of money but if they can bolster there bottom line with these things more power to them just be happy when people finally wake up and figure out that there are better cheaper products out there.
"Some would even say that Apple’s gone too far, now sacrificing function for the sake of form."
New to Apple are we?
Apple says I don't need controls on the device. I will comply. I am a good slave.
Because Jobs, our lord, knows what's best for us.
That's why we're still waiting for video capture on the iPhone.
""Some would even say that Apple’s gone too far, now sacrificing function for the sake of form.""Can you say MacBook Air?
The MacBook Air can actually be useful because you can find them cheap on craigslist or ebay. I treat the Air like an overpriced netbook. My girlfriend bought one that was 11 months old on craigslist for $700. Put AppleCare on it and it is now her "mobile" laptop. I wouldn't mind having one for $500-600 to be perfectly honest but any more than that is just plain stupid.
I have not had a hand on experience on the new shuffle, so I can not say I like it or not. I agree that it is a turn off when I know I will not be able to play my music in my car w/ this shuffle unless I get an adaptor (which is not yet released).
By the way, talking about ""Some would even say that Apple’s gone too far, now sacrificing function for the sake of form.""
Have we already had the similar complains @ 2005 when Apple released their first screenless shuffle?
I am not a fan of apple.
Overpriced. All apple products are rip-off.
mediocre song quality.
Unfortunately, i bought 2 ipod touch for my brother and gf. I still can not figure out why some people are so crazy about apple products.
Apple should have put at least some thing like accelerometers to replace the buttons.
People, do some reading before bagging the thing out.
1) It still has controls, they are now in the earphone cord, just not on the player. Sure that means for the moment you have to use the headphones that come with it if you want to skip to next song or control the volume, but for me when skating, the cord control would be more convenient.
2) It has the spoken function to navigate, I'm not going to judge this until I try it, but it sounds good, once again when on the move I can't see a screen anyway. When not on the move, I'll carry a bigger device with a screen. This could potentially be great for the blind as well.
3) If you don't like it, don't buy it. If it doesn't suit your needs, don't buy it. For me it suits, no screen to break, tiny, nice solid clip, small enough that if I fall while skating I won't break it or me, and I rarely navigate when on the move, switching playlists is the most I'd do. This thing looks like a good fit for me.
I LIKE iPods... I've got 2 myself (touch and last gen shuffle), and there are another 3 floating around our house (wife, kids). I think the last gen Shuffle was a wonderful minimalist design... you gave up a bit (asynchronous access) but the thing is so small that I leave it clipped to my work badge strap all the time.
This new design however is WAY too far, and it smacks of a move to control the headset market. Since I got my first iPod i've gone through 4 sets of headphones (including Apple's - which are so bad that I gave them away) at an average price of at least $30 (though I'm buying cheaper buds these days since I break them so often)... pretty good consumable market there if Apple can get it cornered.
Apple's headphones are truly the most garbage piece of audio equipment that you can buy. I threw out the headphones that came with my ipod touch, to be replaced by some higher quality Sony headphones. My ears will forever thank me.
Apple's headphones are truly the most garbage piece of audio equipment that you can buy. I threw out the headphones that came with my ipod touch, to be replaced by some higher quality Sony headphones. My ears will forever thank me.
"Apple without warning on Wednesday released a new iPod Shuffle, and just two days later it’s already been taken apart."
It took 2 days to take it a apart? I could have done that in 2 minutes =)
Actually its $79.