Silly Technology: New iPod Shuffle

Because the technology world moves so fast, especially when it comes to gadgets, we often miss the silly things manufacturers, designers, and marketers do to us in the name of progress.

I would like to draw your attention to the new iPod shuffle.  Gizmodo did a interesting piece on the coolness of a device with no real buttons, just a switch and a set of headphones.  "Genius!" you might say.  The addition of the VoiceOver is also really cool, but all this coolness comes at a price.  Unfortunately, you are going to be stuck with the notoriously bad stock ear bud headphones, until the third party accessory manufacturers get their act together.

Apples defence:

The new Shuffle looks good.  The market that the shuffle is pitched at is probably not going to be overly concerned with the headphones. I've always seen the Shuffle as a cheap way to get entry into the iPod world.  So I guess they are allowed to test out the odd new feature.  And just because they are the market leaders doesn't mean they have to sit around waiting for the next guy to catch up.

The silly part:

The problem is that this is an example of how technology/computers/gadgets seem happy to push the limits without considering the user.  Apple have made a good living out of "refreshing" their lines almost to the point of perfection, then instead of finishing it, they make something else out of left field.

Sometimes you have to say "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Jason Remnant

If it is Broken, refresh it...