Shuffle Me This

Apple is having a nice little sale on refurbished 1GB shuffles, so I got myself one. Funny thing is, when they came out last year I thought, "How lame - no screen, only hold 240 songs," and now I have one. Well, the reason is: It's the PERFECT size for working out - light-weight, comes with a lanyard and you don't have to think while using it (have you tried navigating a regular iPod - wtf?!?). You can set up a play list in your iTunes and just use that to load up the shuffle - otherwise iTunes will do the thinking for you.

My friend, MacGeekette got me a Juicy Tunes skin for Xmas, and was so turned on by the shuffle that she ended up getting one too. So, now PeeCee Girl and MacGeekette have matching shuffles (awwwww). The funny thing is, after I bought mine, the 1GBs went MIA on the apple site, and then were back (and then gone again and back again - they seem to be WAY more popular than the 512mbs). So, MG was freaking out cos she wanted one too. I called her while she was getting her hair done to let her know they were back on the Apple site, and her hubby took care of ordering it for her (he's so lovely).

Inspired by the fact that we now have twin shuffles, we took a look at the shuffle boards at apple.com. Wow. Nothing puts the fear of shuffle in you like reading that. "My iPod won't work" was the most common complaint. There were some truly sad/funny after Xmas posts. The problem is, the way the iPods are set up, Apple expects you to know nothing and to not care about knowing anything about how they work. Therefore, if it doesn't go smoothly, you're fcuked. Granted, there are some duds out there, but most of this could be solved if Apple provided a step by step list of how to connect your iPod for the first time. For starters - you're probably going to have to update your software - this is different from iTunes. And, since it's the first time using the iPod, you have to let it charge fully (like your cell phone) before using it. So, when you plug in the shuffle, iTunes will ask if you want to download the latest software, you say yes, it downloads and then you have to RUN it. Then, it will tell you it's ok to disconnect your iPod. Well, it's ok because the update has been done, but it's NOT ok because you're still charging it, so basically, until you see the green light on the shuffle (or the full battery icon on iPods with screens), do not disconnect until it's done charging. That's very confusing, which no doubt added to the numerous post-Xmas posts.

I don't want to bring any bad karma on myself, so I won't comment on some of the *funnier* ones, that just wouldn't be right... But, if you have some time to kill, go check out the comment boards on the apple site and you'll see what I mean. Mmm-hmm.