November 23, 2010, 11:57 AM — Signs of the holiday season: Shiny wrapping paper, trees propped in convenient corners, Muzak laden with sleigh bells, the nog of an egg, and, of course, recently released iPods on offer. In a tradition as predictable as the holiday season itself, we turn once again to the season's most pressing question: Which iPod (or iPhone or iPad) is right for you or the object of your affection?
It depends a lot on the money you have to spend and what you'd like that iPod to do. Do you want an iPod that plays music only--no video? You have exactly two choices (and only one of them has a display). Need an iPod that stores a large chunk of a massive iTunes library? Apple offers one perfect iPod. How about an iPod that's equally at home playing games and sending e-mail as it is playing music, podcasts, and movies? You have up to three choices (depending on how particular you are about the device actually bearing the "iPod" name). To help make those choices more clear, let's look at this year's lineup of Apple's portable media players.
iPod shuffle
It's not often that Apple asks for a do-over, but it did when it introduced the $49 fourth-generation (4G) iPod shuffle ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ). The previous year's 3G iPod shuffle was notorious for its complete lack of buttons--the diminutive music player was operated entirely from a small headphone controller. Although Apple doesn't cite sales figures for specific iPod models, we're fairly confident that the 3G iPod shuffle was anything but a hit. And so back to the drawing board went Apple.
As it turns out, someone left the plans for the 2G iPod shuffle on that drawing board and rather than shift them aside, Apple's designers went to work incorporating the best parts of those plans with the most compelling feature of the 3G iPod shuffle--VoiceOver. Today's iPod shuffle looks very similar to the 2G shuffle but, unlike that earlier iPod model, if you care to you can navigate the device by holding down a VoiceOver button (or pressing the controller on the optional $29 Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic). Doing so causes the iPod to announce the name and artist of the currently playing track. Press and hold the VoiceOver or headphone controller button and the iPod lists all of its playlists.
The nearly square 4G iPod shuffle is offered in a single 2GB capacity. You can fit approximately 500 4-minute songs encoded as 128-kbps AAC in that 2GB of flash storage. It's available in five colors--silver, blue, green, orange, and pink. Like shuffles before it, this one bears a clip, allowing you to securely attach the thing to your clothing, backpack, or purse. And, like the 2G iPod shuffle, it has no display but rather, on its face, Volume Up, Volume Down, Next/Fast-forward, Previous/Rewind, and Play/Pause buttons.
The mission of the iPod shuffle remains the same. It's Apple's least expensive iPod and holds over a day's-worth of music (again, with music encoded as 128-kbps AAC), making it a solid choice as a workout companion or a careless kid's first iPod. Although navigable through VoiceOver, there are far easier iPods to operate. And, of course, no display means no videos or extra features that require a display (contacts and calendars, for example).
Best for: Athletes (and wanna-be athletes); kids; those who like to press play and go about their business; anyone seeking a spare, kick-around iPod.
Not for: People looking for easy navigation of their music library; those wanting to carry lots of music; individuals desiring an iPod on which to watch videos.
iPod nano
