Come Back, iPod Shuffle!

Apple has discontinued iPod Shuffle and Nano and I'm pretty gutted by it. Since I gave up Sony entirely for Apple over 10 years ago, iPod Shuffle has been - and now is the only - MP3 player that's ideal for running. I'm a long term Mac user. Before iPhone was born I used to carry my iPod Classic everywhere I went. All my music is in my iTunes. Now this decision by Apple essentially tells me to move away from iTunes. Might as well give up all the Apple products completely? Just because I run daily? That'd be stupid and impossible. I've been thinking long & hard and can't come up with a solution.

Clickable Control Is Everything

I run seriously. I don't want my music gear messing around while running. Such as the headphone cable flapping around my neck, or the earbud falling off easily. What's most important for me is a clickable control. So that I can easily skip tracks and volume up/down blindly while my eyes are on the road traffic ahead of me at all times.

iPod Shuffle is also perfect for its size, and the fact that it clips to my shorts pocket..but these factors are just an icing on the cake. To me it's a matter of practicability. Using a computer without mouse. No matter how great a trackpad is, it cannot beat the speed of work that a mouse provides. Or using an Excel without number keypad - you cannot work on thousands of numbers without it (I'm an accountant, I tell you!)

It's Apple's only MP3 player with a clickable control after iPod Classic is now gone.

3rd Gen / 4th (Final) Gen Models

When the 3rd generation model of iPod Shuffle was released back in 2009, many of us were dismayed. The track/volume control was moved to the headphone cable, so it was no longer possible to use third party headphones. But one of Apple's all-time weaknesses is poor headphone sound quality, also the earbud that's not particularly designed to stay in the ear when exercising. I remember many complaints by gym users and personally, there was no way I would get this one.

The 4th generation model was released in the following year. The design was similar to the 2nd Gen model, and it was clearly what the users wanted. To me the model was perfect - there was nothing I'd want them to change to it. The model stayed for years and I always thought that was the exact reason - because it was perfect, nothing more needed to change!

If it hadn't discontinued, I could still think of a couple of things to improve;

• Longer battery life - though it's already long enough, in my opinion. I run 30+ minutes a day, and I sync some tracks with iTunes weekly. I've never needed to leave my Shuffle connected to my Mac just to recharge the battery.
• Make it super water resistance - I damaged my 2nd Gen model twice by running in the pouring rain. But the 4th Gen model seems reasonably waterproof. I still run in the rain and and it still works fine after 6 years or so. 

Give Up iTunes?

When my iPod Shuffle finally comes to the end of its life, I'll have to buy a non-Apple portable music player, and inevitably I'll have to have an alternative media management app installed in my Mac. I don't know which one yet, but I'm not thinking about keeping iTunes AND installing a new app just for my new MP3 player. No iTunes means no iPhone. For the first time in years, giving up iTunes and trying out an Android (which I've  never used before!) becomes an option for me. It would be a good opportunity to sort my terribly random selection of music; 30,000+ tracks, majority of which I'll probably never listen again for the rest of my life!

Unless... Return of iPod Shuffle

Just like 4th (final) Gen of iPod Shuffle was a "comeback version" of 2nd Gen... Apple might change its mind and come back with a new portable player with a clickable control. I hope that, and I hope many agree with me.