Apple intros 2GB iPod shuffle, drops 1GB to $49

It looks like the store is down. maybe other updates?

I think greater capacity would be a better selling point than price. Upping the capacity to 2GB (if physically possible) would have been sweet! P.S. - I'm not being negative for the sake of it. I have an earlier generation Shuffle and would like a bit more capacity, that's all!

...to the wishlist for me...

Okay! When I originally posted to this story, it made no mention of a 2GB Shuffle! It would be nice if MacNN noted that the story has been updated! It sets a dubious precedent where posters may post and then discover their comments reattached to a different story! In this case, I only appear a tiny bit stupid, but that's not the point!

The 2-gig model merely accentuates the problem with the Shuffle. Yet more music, podcasts or whatever will be lost in a still-larger sea of files.

The Shuffle doesn't need a screen, but it does need folders where users could sort out their music and podcasts, one for lively music, one for something more sedate, another for podcasts. A past-on position for the power switch would move between folders that'd announce their name in the earphones. A few seconds after that announcement, if the switch was activated, that folder would begin to play. Simple but effective. It'd add only a few cents to the cost and beat the socks off any competition in this price range.

I don't care if they made the new shuffle 100GB. As long as it uses the current DAC then it will continue to sound horrible in comparison to the original shuffle.

If only Apple had kept the DAC of the original shuffle and added to the new design. As it is I refuse to use my wife's silver shuffle when she offers.

I can understand updating hardware, but does anyone at Apple actually test the sound quality? This also includes the new Classic and the horrible white noise in the Touch.

I guess I will continue to use my minidisc player and iPod photo. :(

I like the other iPods but the shuffle is a pathetic offering.

By contrast a 2GB Sansa Clip is barely bigger and it has a display so that my kids can know the names of the artists and songs they are playing. They can choose classical or rock or a story and know what they are choosing. It has a radio and has very highly rated audio quality. People are picking this player to run their $200 headphones. I got mine for about $35 on a black friday sale at Best Buy, normally $60 still beats the shuffle. Loads up mp3 files like a USB drive.

The downsides of the clip are no gapless and no AAC.

I can understand updating hardware, but does anyone at Apple actually test the sound quality? This also includes the new Classic and the horrible white noise in the Touch.

I think you answered your own question with a resounding NO!

But that interface looks gorgeous, doesn't it? Who needs good sound when you can just wow at the beauty of the design.

I lost my silver shuffle, so I bought another this morning, and I do consider myself an audiophile. Except for the ultra high end systems, digital does not cut it. When I use my shuffle, it is when I am on my mountain bike grinding up hills, and so things like transparency and 3D soundstage is not an issue for me. I just want the pain in my legs to stop.

enough stock?