So daddy got a new toy

Now I are a Pod People! Granted I'm in there only just barely, not with any high end version anything, but I'm still loving it.

On Thursday night I went to a store called Wild Oats to pick up some hair spray (Wild Oats is a health food and natural products store---my wife is allergic and can't used standard store brand stuff) and there was a Best Buy next door. So of course, me being male, it was impossible for me to avoid the sirens call.

Actually, I had been thinking about a Shuffle for a while, and the tax refund had just arrived, so I was on the prowl. Even though I've read the headlines of the scant availability of the things, I thought, "Hmmm, I wonder".

I went in and asked a clerk to see if there were any available because the case was empty (including not even having a display model on the floor---only pricing signage with a handwritten note "limit 3 per customer". The other flash MP3 players were all abundantly available). He asked a guy, who asked another guy, who asked a third --- and it was this third guy who noticed a skid of boxes in the isle. He opened one, and lo and behold, there was that beautiful green box.

Now you have to understand something, ever since the iPod premiered I've had the deepest desire to see this "music catalog in your pocket" come into my house. But it's price kept it out of reach. Then that summer I went looking for flash MP3 players, and they were always too expensive (in my estimation) for the amount of storage they offered. I didn't care about all the voice recorder and other stuff that it did--I just wanted something that played my music. So I tried burning an MP3 CD and buying a inexpensive MP3/CD player---but they proved to always be to fumbly when I was on the run.

Then I got a USB flash drive and was sold on that whole concept. Plug it in, get lots of storage, drag and drop---no fuss, it just works. And one afternoon in summer while I was mowing the lawn and trying to keep reception for my little FM radio I was trying to listen to, I called out to the heavens---"Please, all I want is for somebody to put a headphone jack and a play button on a flash drive. Just let me put music on it and then play it back. Why is that such a hard concept. Please, somebody---Anybody!"

I wasn't even thinking Apple. In fact, I was sure at that point that Apple never would. They had said that they had no interest in the flash players. I was perfectly content to use another company's unit until I could get the big dog. I tell you that I've never been happier that someone went back on their word. When the iPod Shuffle showed up, it was everything that I asked for because it's not loaded down with extra junk. It plays my music and does it wonderfully.

The sound quality is great. It sounds just as good as when I listen to music on iTunes through the computer. And the button layout is a bit of hidden beauty that I don't hear any of the reviewers talking about. If you're like me and want to be able to control your players (tape, CD, whatever) without looking at the buttons and have ever accidentally hit a forward when you just wanted to pause, or blasted your ears out when were trying to find the volume to turn it down, then you'll love these controls.

Play and pause are the same button in the center of the circular control (no stop button, becasue for all intents an purposes, play and stop are the same thing). Then the volume and forward/reverse functions are not on separate buttons as much as they are on a solid ring going around the play button. And the ring and center button aren't flush with each other, they are contoured so that you know just where you are by feel. All you have to do is press the correct edge of the ring to make it do what you want it to do. It's so slick that poking around blindly is a thing of the past.

Another thing I've never heard mentioned is that when you first plug in your new Shuffle, an iTunes music store page pops up that give you access to a free new music album to download. I'm front and center every Tuesday at the iTunes music store for the weekly "free download of the week", and now here is a extra 16 tracks just thrown in out of no where. Bonus! It just keeps getting better.

I did have an odd experience when I first plugged it in. I put it into a USB hub that I have and it didn't show up on iTunes. I couldn't figure that out, so I decided to restart the computer so it could find the player from scratch. After the computer started back up, suddenly I couldn't get any of the peripherals to work. The monitor wouldn't wake up from sleep mode. The keyboard and mouse weren't sending signal. I couldn't figure out what was happening.

Then I unplugged the hub and everything sprung to life. I looked in the manual and it had a note which said that if the operating system is previous to 10.3.8, you would need a powered USB port. The hub is powered so I though that would count, but apparently not. I plugged the Shuffle directly into the tower and it worked like a dream. I may have to invest in a PCI card to put some more USB ports on my tower.

Anyway, so now I'm off to the races. My next suggestion, in case someone on the inside is listening, would be to put Bluetooth in these things----so we can have a wireless headphone connection. How cool would that be! I'd never take it off at that point!

Next thing to figure out: how to get Podcasts into my computer.