Bwana.org » ipod

The New iPod Shuffle Seems Off

Bwana — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:15:55 +0000

Usually, Apple nails product designs, but today’s announcement of the new iPod Shuffle has revealed a few features that may deter some users from trying the new model. My first impression was that the thing was very, very small:

Bwana: Wow, the new shuffle is almost…too small.

about 33 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:38:26 +0000 2009

iCombine: yeah it is…donno if I should get one. Do u think its worth the money?

about 32 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:40:17 +0000 2009

jshwon: it looks cool but you can only use Apples ear buds w/controls. I guess 3rd party will have to step up.

about 31 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:40:35 +0000 2009

nixter: almost….funny…I would say is.

about 31 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:40:43 +0000 2009

timmontech: I have an Archos 605. 160GB, eats shuffles for breakfast.

about 28 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:43:26 +0000 2009

cirian75: yeah Bwana, memory stick size, my little 4G San Disk cruzer is the same size.

about 28 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:44:16 +0000 2009

mikenayyar: I lost one already. Don't ask where it went.

about 28 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:44:17 +0000 2009

Seshan: When I first saw the shuffle I thought it was a joke it looked like a battery for something! lol

about 27 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:44:41 +0000 2009

JordanPatterson: I agree but for some stange reason i want to try it.

about 24 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:47:32 +0000 2009

neverbloomagain: I'm not digging it at all. I like the current form factor. Seems it's trying to morph to much towards the nano.

about 23 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 16:49:00 +0000 2009

CharlesShane: Yea, I'm not a fan of devices with no screen

about 10 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 17:01:34 +0000 2009

Jahfer: I agree. I thought the last. Gen one was too. Although to be fair, I never liked the original one.

about 6 minutes ago

Wed Mar 11 17:06:16 +0000 2009

The other concern I have is moving the controls to the earphones. Normally this wouldn’t bother me, but these are the only controls, which means you must use Apple’s headphones. Not good. I’m sure these will sell, but I’m thinking this new model may not be for me. I had been considering a shuffle as an alternative to my iPhone for rugged tasks. (Yard work, home repair, and the like). Something tells me Apple may not be sure about it either since they are still offering the old model. A rarity with Apple and iPods.

On the plus side, the capacity increase to 4GB is welcomed. I use close to 4GB of space for music on my iPhone, so that would draw me in. The VoiceOver feature sounds clumsy, but I’ll reserve judgement for that until I can actually use it. With VoiceOver, the iPod Shuffle supports multiple playlists, but the process doesn’t sound easy.

If you get a new iPod Shuffle, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

iPhone 3.0: Let’s Get Real

The iPhone Price Drop Issue

Bwana — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 01:53:33 +0000

The iPhone price dropped from $599 to $399 after being on the market for about 60 days. There are many that are calling those of us who bought it at $599 “suckers” and we shouldn’t complain since that’s the price of early adopters. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to disagree for one reason, and one reason only:

It’s not the price drop itself that’s upsetting, it’s how quickly it was done.

Click To Play

Understand? It’s really that simple. If Apple doesn’t do a refund/credit, then I’ll eat the price difference, but I’ll never forget this. A price drop after only 2 months is a ridiculous.

apple new stuff reactions

Bwana — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:57:39 +0000

well overall i’m disappointed at apple’s new announcements:

new macminis – overpriced in my opinion, especially with only 512MB ram. even with the speed improvements, putting the 1.67 core duo @800 dollars base price is too much. they should have put a tv tuner in there. it makes absolutely no sense to keep the imac price the same and raise the macmini price. update: ok, it comes with standard bluetooth and wifi which makes it a bit better. i also saw a dual layer superdrive as standard on the high end model as well. But, it has 64MB of shared video memory which is God awful. the price doesn’t look completely terrible now, but the fact that it now has shared memory really really sucks. maybe this is a byproduct of using intel on the low end? who knows. such a disappointment here.
ipod speaker accessory – i already have one of these and it costed me $90. ~~what makes this one from apple worth $350? i have no idea. way overpriced.~~ just looked at the design and i can see why it costs so much. it’s not your ordinary 2 inch speaker setup, it looks to be pretty well engineered. i’m not in the market for this though. good for dorms and those lookin for a sleek lookin stereo in their bachelor pad. that’s not me.
$100 ipod case – who cares? i don’t.

well, i guess i can be happy that my pockets are safe. thanks apple for a lackluster announcement. my credit cards thank you even more.

i want one

Bwana — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 21:32:10 +0000

nano nano. ipod nano that is. yes please.

braytek, ipodnano

itunes 4.9 – podcasting made simple

Bwana — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:28:27 +0000

i just checked software update and itunes 4.9 popped out. the major feature in this release is itunes’ ability to manage podcasts.

so far i’m liking the podcast features. it’s really easy to subscribe to podcasts via the itunes music store. so far all the ones i’ve seen have been free. i immediately subscribed to engadget (one of my daily reads) and espn radio podcasts. itunes 4.9 allows uesrs to post their podcasts via the itunes music store.

i haven’t seen anything on apple’s site yet, but i’m sure it’ll be all over the place by the time the west coast wakes up. i wonder how the podcasting software makers will respond to this. i love competition with software because in the end, it only makes the software better.

killer feature: chapters. i’m not sure how people can make their podcasts all compatible with this, but they should. it’s pretty nice:

braytek, itunes, podcasting