if you're not interested in buying a ipod shuffle, don't bother reading this. i hope this can help people who are planning to get one.

for the second time in my life i have invested in an ipod. last time it was the 5gig, 1st generation ipod that was actually built only for the mac, but was working fine with PC's with a little help with a program called EphPod.

The other week I decided to buy an ipod shuffle, so that me & chesty could try it out and decide if we wanted to buy a second one, or if not, the "iPod killer" (mp-120) by jensofsweden.com would be an ok alternative.

The reviews that i had read were generally good of the ipod shuffle, i thought it would be just like the big ipods and be easy to dodge the file copy crap protection and use it like any other practical flash mp3 player.

hell no.

- you can only copy music to your ipod (not from, unless you go past itunes, but then you wont be able to listen to the songs while you're on the move, or from the ipod at all for that matter. )

- if you connect the ipod to a computer to recharge, using usb2, it won't work unless it's got iTunes installed.

- your playlist from your ipod will get scrapped if you want to add other songs from a different computer than the one you initially used to add the first songs (why steve, why!!)

- itunes itself wont work with any other portable mp3 players, other than ipod, leaving you no choice.. :-( too bad if you like itunes but not the shuffle for instance!)

- the usb port on the player itself is bulky, and you'll probably have to disconnect anything else connected to the surrounding ports while updating / recharging, unless you get a separate USB cable.

- if you decide to use the ipod as a memory stick, to store documents or other files, you won't be able to retrieve them if you connect it to a computer with itunes installed on it.

another item that was supposed to make my life easier, but naah..

don't get me wrong i love the design of the apple products nowadays. maybe it's because they are hiding horrible things on the inside..

i will post another article on the minimac once i get it.

please post alternatives to the itunes / ipod software / firmware, for the ipod shuffle

dreamlist

- work with more then two computers without deleting playlists/ music files.
- let you copy files onto AND off the player.
- recharging without itunes installed.
- drag drop tunes directly to player (and let you play them on the move), and let you store other items that can be retrieved on another computer running itunes.

oh.. forgot the good things..

- it looks beautiful
- it plays music when you push the play button (if you have put the songs on using itunes!!)
- you can sleep with it on all night and it still has battery power the next day. (at least after the first time you've recharged it ;-) )

Sony Network Walkman NW-E500
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/5837.html