FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
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Mon, 1st Jun 2009
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Apple’s third-generation, screen-free iPod Shuffle features ‘VoiceOver’ spoken track names, 4GB of storage and an even smaller, AA battery-sized enclosure, with all the controls residing in the headphones.

Pros: VoiceOver does away with the problem of not identifying a track or playlist easily, and at this size, you certainly can’t claim it’s not portable.

Cons: Having the controls in the headphones locks you solidly into using only those headphones, which is annoying. It’s also oddly priced at $155 – for $94 more you could buy an 8GB iPod nano with full screen, video and your choice of headphones.

Verdict: Cute design, but full of practical limitations.