New iPod Shuffle: What Could Have Been

Nicole Martinelli ()

New iPod Shuffle: What Could Have Been

The new iPod Shuffle may talk, but a lot of what people have to say about it concern the placement of controls on the headphones. No third-party headphones are available yet and the rumors are flying about “authentication chips” contained in the headphones that Apple may require on those made by other companies, too.

Sean Mulvihill, who recently shared with CoM his MacBook Touch mock-up, sent in a prototype for a redesigned Shuffle, with the controls on the side of the device. The resulting Shuffle isn’t bulked up and would be easy to use on-the-go. Plus no headphone kerfluffle.

What prompted him to try a redesign?

“With the new release of the revamped iPod Shuffle me and a lot of  people were disappointed with the controls now on the headphones, therefore you cannot use your (own) headphones.  I decided to make a little mock-up of what I think the new iPod Shuffle should have looked like. ”

Though the small size and storage capacity of the actual Shuffle are interesting, I’d be hard pressed to replace my dead pod with it. Each iPod I’ve had averaged about three to five pairs of headphones (that’s a conservative estimate), if forced to replace the busted ones with Apple earbuds or pricey headsets (leaving the mystery chip issue aside for the moment)  it wouldn’t be worth it.

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What do you think?

18 comments »

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

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  • Roy

    I love the new design, but I would like to see the new iPod shuffle with a volume controller on the side. I like the iPod headphones, but some people don’t want to use them.

  • mmnw

    Can’t understand all that earbud problems. I had to iPods in my life (one of which is in current use). A first gen. iPod Mini and a second gen. iPod Nano. I’m using my iPod every day, usually 2-3 hours. I never, never, never had to replace the original earbuds. My current Nano earbuds don’t look good anymore, but they are still useable and I’m still satisfied with sound and fit.

  • http://forgetit.com Yes Thanks

    Well, who knew that all engineering problems could be solved just by drawing it the way you want it to look? I am currently drawing a new MacBook Pro with a 100GHz 128-Core CPU, 2TB of RAM, 1TB of video RAM and a 300TB SSD in it with a price tag of $15. Wow. I must be the best engineer in the universe. I’m going to send it to Apple so they can make it and they will probably give me a job as Vice President of drawing cool stuff.

    Well done for showing those hopeless techno-weenies at Apple how it should be done.

  • http://www.intellectdesign.co.uk Wagner

    I think this whole thing going around the controls on the headphone is going wayyy too far. I’ve had about 4 or 5 iPods and never, repeat, never bought an additional headphone because like huge majority of users, I don’t use my pods (iPods, iPhones) 24/7 and honestly speaking other headphone won’t make such a difference. If you ask to the John Does around I’m sure most of them will agree with me. There’s a lot complaint about the new shuffle but I believe most people who are complaining are not the actual target for the product. People tend to forget that a product is designed and developed for a particular segment of the market and no matter how cool and good the product is, you’ll never please everyone. I might be wrong, but for most folks, this new shuffle will be everything they’re looking for. If you’re not among those, get another iPod or another MP3 for that matter.

  • Rik

    I agree. Controls on the side, or that expanse of real estate opposite the clip (the front?). I like the remote on the cord of the headphones of my iPhone, but the iPhone still works with other headsets. I know my wife, who has a last generation shuffle, hates the Apple earbuds and would probably not use the new shuffle with the included earbuds.

  • angusshangus

    3 to 5 pairs of headphones??? What is this guy doing to his headphones? I still have the original pair of headphones on my gen 3 and Touch and am on my second pair for my iPhone (stepped on the orig. headphones)!

  • Martijn

    I think all the nay-sayers are hopeless nerds who fuss about something that is unimportant to the rest of the world, like not being able to upgrade the processor of your iMac (who cares?)

    The controls on the headphones are brilliant. I bet 99 out of 100 Shuffles are used while doing some sports related activities. This means you can tuck away the very small lightweight shuffle somewhere on your clothing, without a need for pockets and control the volume and skip songs while being busy. Talk about functional design.

    It is not like the shuffle has the most fabulous DA converter anyway, so anywone willing to invest in a better pair of headphones buys one of the larger iPods anyway, just becasue of the sound quality.

    As far as warranty goes: any brand of headphone has got the same kind of warranty. If you feel your Apple headphones are giving out too soon and are too expensive to be replaced, buy another MP3 player — there are a zillion of choices out there. No one forces you to buy a Shuffle.

  • http://www.superturbodiesel.com Lance N.

    It was a Big mistake to take the controls off the pod itself. 4gb is a decent bump, but not when I have to use Morse code for basic functions or spend $20+ for a set of earbuds.

    Gaining 0.1″ of thickness would have been worth the style sacrifice for surface mounted buttons.

  • Fats Vernon

    Sooooo Much BETTER!! I Wish Apple/Steve would see this and think: “Ok, we missed the mark on this one. Lets hire this guy, or at least pay him off, and use this design. We’ll market it as: Apple listens to it’s customers”

    Of course, if that were the case, they would have made a Matte screen Macbook Pro!

    Oh well, if this were the design, I would have one in my hands right now. As it stands, buying a shuffle now, is just buying an ongoing bill for headphones.

    FAIL

  • http://richarddas.com rdas7

    I think that this design mockup overlooks two very important industrial design issues that are resolved quite elegantly with the version Apple released: firstly, buttons on the body would increase the cost of manufacturing; secondly, as the buttons are the only movable parts, a problem developed in the mechanics would result in having to discard the entire unit, particularly the NAND storage chip, which is also the most expensive component in the unit, also increasing overall costs.

    Rather, this way Apple manages to leverage the highest returns without extra investment (they make and ship these headphones with every iPod now), addressing the majority of the market who do not change use different headphones. Third party headphones are already on the way for those who do.

    That the third-party headphones weren’t already available at launch is only news because of unreasonable expectations (how could a company develop and manufacture accessories for a product they didn’t know existed??)

    In my opinion, this new shuffle design is a home run. It is only a matter of time before we see VoiceOver (and other OS X technologies) throughout the iPod line.

    Let me qualify that. Apple have raised the bar for small and useful in a portable mp3 player by leveraging their assets (software technology, specifically VoiceOver, but also iTunes synching). No one else in the market is capable of matching this feature set, price and small-size trifecta.

  • HoM

    Well, this would solve part of the problem: you can use any pair of headphones you’ve got. But it doesn’t address the ‘click-the-centre-button-for-nearly-damn-function’ problem. I want no part of that either, thank you.

  • http://crosswiredmind.com crosswiredmind

    I would definitely buy that. As it is I will be giving the current shuffle a pass.

  • http://chainsmokingbluemonkey.com csbmonkney

    Have you ever tried to run with included Apple ear buds? That right there is the single reason that makes the new Shuffle almost useless for exercise. God forbid you sweat when you exercise.

    As a theoretical experiment of small design, the new Shuffle is fine, but as a useful exercise MP3 player it just because useless.

    The last paragraph you have also makes an emphatic and excellent point: this adds extra cost to something that I generally think of as disposable. Because how much is Apple going to charge for a replacement pair? At least $19.95.

    My favorite headset is the $10 Sony MDR-W08. It is a super lightweight over the head style. You can easily pull them down around your neck when you want to take them off to listen to something (such as paying for a transaction in the store, etc). They also wear easily when exercising and do not come loose. Moreover, they sounds significantly better than Apple’s included ear buds. I also like that they don’t direct the sound directly at your eardrums and instead divert it forward and backward and just use your ear’s natural shape to then direct the sound to your ears.

    But the best part about the Sony MDR-W08: THEY DON’T FALL OUT OF MY EARS LIKE EVERY PAIR OF APPLE EAR BUDS DO.

  • Church of Apple

    “Each iPod I’ve had averaged about three to five pairs of headphones (that’s a conservative estimate)”

    That’s crazy. Then again, it was really frustrating for me to find some damn decent headphones for my ipods. Most of them would end up breaking way to early or just get shredded. So I’ll share my experience for anyone who prefers the behind-the-head type:

    Sony sucks
    Samsung sucks way worse
    Sennheiser is where it’s at. (PMX 60′s to be precise)

    Just FYI

  • http://chainsmokingbluemonkey.com csbmonkney

    “As far as warranty goes: any brand of headphone has got the same kind of warranty. If you feel your Apple headphones are giving out too soon and are too expensive to be replaced, buy another MP3 player — there are a zillion of choices out there. No one forces you to buy a Shuffle.”

    Actually, if you want to also be a Mac user AND have a good exercise MP3 player this is kind of your only choice. Remember, iTunes isn’t exactly designed to sync with other players.
    —–

    “The controls on the headphones are brilliant. I bet 99 out of 100 Shuffles are used while doing some sports related activities.”

    Yes, which is why the included buds suck. They fall out. If you’re running, they fall out. If you sweat even a little, they fall out.
    —–

    “I think that this design mockup overlooks two very important industrial design issues that are resolved quite elegantly with the version Apple released: firstly, buttons on the body would increase the cost of manufacturing; secondly, as the buttons are the only movable parts, a problem developed in the mechanics would result in having to discard the entire unit, particularly the NAND storage chip, which is also the most expensive component in the unit, also increasing overall costs.”

    That’s great… if I happen to be, you know, Apple. Which I’m not. Products designs for the convenience of the producers and not for the use of the person buying the product tend to gather dust on the shelves. Certainly the two coincide every now and then, but usually when the manufacturer decides that doing it X way will save them money and “Pft, the customers will never notice the difference.” they forget that the customers always notice the difference.
    —–

    “I know my wife, who has a last generation shuffle, hates the Apple earbuds and would probably not use the new shuffle with the included earbuds.”

    My wife also is unable to really use the Apple ear buds. She is a small person and the ear buds really are just too large to comfortably fit in her ears.
    —–

    My guess is that rdas7 is right and that third party products will address this by offering what Apple offered with the iPod 2G: http://lowendmac.com/inews/08inews/inews0718/ipod_iphone_wired_remote_4.jpg

  • TG

    When I saw this design I thought ooooo… pretty. Then I thought about the numerous headphones I’ve gone through due to life’s little accidents. If I bought this I’d have to find special headphones with the special controller instead of picking up whatever I want whenever I need to. It’s much to complicated. I’ll pass. BTW, Apple could have designed the device with on board controls but that might have made it a little bit bigger than a stick of gum, God forbid.

  • David

    Obviously Apple earbuds work for a lot of people, but my wife simply cannot use them. They won’t stay in her ears at all. Apple earbuds will sit in my ear, but they sound so tinny that I can’t stand the noise. If I press them against my ears the sound is quite decent, but that’s totally impractical.

    I have a first generation Shuffle (the one that’s widely regarded as having the best sound quality of any iPod ever made) and a pair of Sennheiser earbuds.

    Spending as much money on speakers as you do on your amplifier is standard practice in home audio so I don’t see why people have such a problem doing that with mobile audio. Given how much external noise is present in most mobile listening environments I’d argue it’s more important to have good noise blocking headphones for your iPod than good speakers at home.

  • dw152

    For some of us, it’s not a question of liking nor not liking the earbuds. For some (many) of us, the earbuds do not stay in our ears, period. I’ve tried many times to get the earbuds to stay in my ear, but they pop out within a minute even if I’m almost perfectly still, and even sooner if I accidently bump them or pull on the wire even slightly. In fact, putting the controls on the wire will make this even worse, since every time I would touch the control I’d pull the earbud out.