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Thursday, March 12, 2009

New iPod Shuffle moves controls to headphone cord


Available at 4GB, the fresh model is long, thin and sleek--somewhat like the original first-gen model, but with a clip. It's available in light gray and dark gray, and the controls are moved to a bulbous clicker on the cord.

My problem with this is going to be being stuck with Apple's headphones, or having to buy some fancy new officially licensed headphones that also have the new control block built-in. This isn't new, as far as little audio players go, but is still a shame: for today's show, the part of Sony will be played by Apple.

It also has a new feature called Voiceover: press it, and the Shuffle tells you what's playing.

overview-sideview.jpg

They're up at the Apple Store for $80.

Update: Mute Kaiza points out that it might be easy to splice better headphones onto the control unit, so long as you're O.K. ruining your beautiful Appley lines.

As an aside, I imagine Belkin will announce an adapter within minutes. I still don't want to pay for one, even if it's just $10.

Great comment from reader Cyklo: "I'm amused that if you swap out the inline-control bundled earphones for your own, you reach Apple Zen: an iPod with zero buttons."

Original here

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