Pros: size, ease of use
Cons: none

I was looking for something to replace my portable CD player that I use at the gym and this is perfect. I am not an audiophile and this is my first MP3 type player so I have no means of comparison to other iPods or MP3 players.

I had a specific need and the iPod Shuffle is great. It has the same functions as my portable CD player: play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward and volume control. BUT, it is smaller (about the size of a 5 piece pack of gum) and holds 200+ songs.

If you are looking for something small and portable that is easy to use (loading songs from my CD's to the iPod averaged about 90 seconds per song) this is it.

Pros: Lightweight, tiny, great for workouts, can be worn around the neck
Cons: Limited song capacity, limited features

We have the iPod Shuffle 1G and an iPod Mini. Although the Mini has a lot more features, the Shuffle has some advantages. As a matter of fact, our dog chewed up our Shuffle recently, and my husband wants to get another one rather than a more advanced iPod. The Shuffle is ideal for him because his music collection isn't huge -- the 1G holds around 250 songs -- and he likes to work out a lot. The Shuffle can be worn around the neck, is really lightweight, and it can bounce around all over the place during a workout and never compromise the music quality. Transferring music is a snap. We didn't even buy the dock -- just plug it into a spare USB port and the music transfers. I do recommend buying a more comfortable pair of headphones, though. The earbuds that come with iPods aren't comfortable and actually hurt if worn for an extended period of time.

Pros: Recharges through USB port! Compact, sleek design.
Cons: No LCD, no folder structure, must use Apple software, not easy to use as memorykey.

The iPod Shuffle would be great if it didn't require the user to use Apple's iTunes which places music files on the iPod in an encoded manner. The files (regardless of whether you use Apple's ACC format or MP3 format) show up with funny names like FHP3M.mp3 instead of the actual track name - and it also doesn't show the artist info, etc. To get all this info you have to have iTunes installed on every computer you use it on, a problem if you work IT nerd patrol doesn't allow this. The lack of an LCD means you can't browse quickly. Also, you can't use any folders to sort your music. Although you can use it as a memory key for non-music files, you have to decide how much data you want to store on it in advance and then partition the memory up, again using the iTunes software. I bought a Creative MuVo TX FM, which is infinitely better and easier to use.

Pros: small size, good sound quality
Cons: HORRIBLE reliability, Apple's uber-crappy customer service and awful website

Used it while working out and jogging. Despite being careful to keep it as dry as possible in an Apple sports case it continually shorted out. Had to replace it under warranty (a nearly impossible task) when it locked up and would never respond again. Apple takes a looooooooooong time to replace a broken mp3 player, and NEVER answers their customer service phones. Player broke, headphones broke, case broke all within a few months. Have to press the controls repeatedly to get the player to respond sometimes. Not worth paying the premium price over the competitors just to get the Apple name, as the rest of the world has caught up in styling, and is way ahead on reliability and features.

Pros: I can't think of any pros for a product that lasts only 7 months.
Cons: USB hardware issues!

Before purchasing an iPod, I highly recommend you go here: http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=152. The iPod shuffle has USB issues. Our iPod is only 7 months old and is no longer recognized by any PC. It is completely useless. And Apple does not offer any support. You get 1 free online chat session within the first 3 months. That is clearly not much help to us and as you will see from the above link not much help to a lot of other people in the same situation. We have wasted countless hours trying different solutions all to no avail. I highly recommend you do not buy this product!

Pros: Shuffles songs so you are never listening to the two songs in the same order
Cons: No LSD screen, but can do without it

I really am happy that I decided to buy it. The other reviews on eopinions.com influenced my decision. Some were saying that it was bad and others were really happy with it. I am personally very happy with my choice. It is the right choice if you are going to be using it mainly while you are working out. While doing this you are not really concerned what you are listening to. It holds just the right amount of music for my needs. I bought mine on Saturday and it is Monday now and I only have 90 songs on it. I probably could have done with the 512 MB instead, but I am going off to college next year so I don't know what I will need then. Really recommend it to anyone who does not mind having the LSD screen.

Pros: iTunes.... thats it the unit SUCKS!!!!
Cons: so-so battery life. NO LCD!!!. everything else on the market is better.

Well if iTunes wasn't so easy to use this would make a decent paperweight.... nothing more. I still can't figure out the appeal of the iPod... mini, regular OR shuffle. But there was a sale at The Source so I tired one. LAME!!!! There is no other word for it. No WMA support, no WAV support and once you try to do more advanced things with iTunes you find out there is NO real advanced features.

I HAVE to admit that if I had no knowledge of what a REAL MP3/WMA player could DO I would probably love this thing but in all reality technology has allready far surpassed the Shuffle. Get an Iriver if you know what you are doing and want to do more than listen to the same songs in an endless loop.

Pros: battery life, sound quality, itunes podcast support
Cons: lack of display or at least playlists, slow cue and rewind, poor navigation controls

I see all the reviews that this product is getting and am amazed that most people don't care for a very important feature (in my opinion), which being able to easily choose what you would like to listen to. I listen to podcasts a lot and would like to listen to some audio books and some music occasionally. Since there is no display, you can't really see what order things are stored in the darn iPod.
It would have helped so much if it at least supported playlists so that I could have organized the ebook, podcasts and songs in separate play lists and move between them based on my mood. I got this as a gift from a close family member, so I can't get rid of it easily.

Oh, and the flat switch is a pain too.

Pros: Tiny!
Cons: No screen.

The i-pod shuffle is the smallest possible unit for carrying around a gigabyte of music. It can fit in your breast-coat pocket, your jeans' change pocket, almost anywhere and it is virtually weightless. There is no screen, so users of the traditional i-pod might miss the user-friendliness of the navigable LCD. I would say, if you just want a dozen or so albums to bring to the gym or to walk your dog, this little player is where it's at. You won't be disappointed. You can put the songs in order (in i-tunes) and listen to them that way, or put them on shuffle and listen to whatever comes on but those are basically the only options you have. Of course you can still skip tracks and change volume. Again, the dimensions of the player are miniscule, so if you're looking for portability, this is it.

Pros: Neat design
Cons: Too unstable and keeps crashing, eventually fatally

I like the idea of the shuffle, and the convenience of plugging it into my computer then listening to a random selection of music in the car is great. Unfortunately they are not well built, and very unstable. I am on my second shuffle, the first had to be returned after a month as it froze and wouldn't be reset by the computer as Apple recommend. My second one has done the same thing, and both times it has happened out of the blue during normal operation in the car.
Seems to be an Apple problem as my wife's 30gb iPod was dead out of the box, and had to be replaced.
Definitey not worth the aggravation.

Pros: works with iTunes, pretty fast USB2.0
Cons: no screen, annoying interface, unreliable

I got my first shuffle about a year ago and it worked great until it went in the washer. Apple were nice enough to give me a brand new shuffle which I have had ever since (about 8 months). However, now it has the flashing-lights-of-death syndrome (Google "amber green flashing lights shuffle iPod") and you will see what I am talking about. Basically the shuffle will not mount on any of my computers and usually crashes iTunes if I have iTunes open. The podcasts that I had on the shuffle appear to be gone because when I press play there is nothing but green and amber flashing lights.

This is where the frustrating controls become infuriating. If there had been a little screen it may have been able to communicate the problem but a couple of flashing lights and no chance of doing a hard reset makes this little thing more worthless than the stick of chewing gum that they usually compare this device to.

While it worked it was a good little mp3 player but the lack of a screen was always annoying.

Pros: Pros: portability, SQ for size, and again, portability
Cons: Cons: primitively flat buttons, no LCD screen, battery life...

I think this would be for people who just like a portable song player that's easy and simple to use.

Pros: Excellent design, east to use, inexpensive and small
Cons: Battery life not great, cannot copy songs to computer, no features.

Received my Apple iPod (1GB) shuffle yesterday and I am impressed. Its small, easy to use and very affordable.
I bought this product, as I had waited for the prices of good quality MP3 players to drop slightly and this is exactly what I was looking for.
I was a little disappointed with the lack of features, but I guess you get what you pay for!
All in all a good buy though.

Pros: VERY Portable
Cons: Charging can be tricky

I have had my G2 for about 2 months now. I have never owned and iPod before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I have read alot of good and not so good things about them...so here is my pro's and con's

PRO'S

VERY Portable- You can take this thing anywhere..you dont even know its there.

Great Sound- Alot of people were complaining about the earbuds, I think they sound great...I can hear great base, and sharp highs...no problem.

Easy to Use- It doesn't get any easier, you pull up iTunes and pick your songs..eject and go.

Con's

Dont have too many

Charging was a little tricky to figure out. If you are using a pc, and just plug in your G2, it blinks orange...still charging but blinking..wont turn green when done.... When you pull up iTunes then eject your pod, then it goes to a solid orange, and then green when charge is complete. No big deal though



All in all I love the iPod...great buy for the $$$ and quality is 2nd to none....you wont regret this purchase.

Pros: Ease of use, wonderful iTunes interface. SMALL and oh so cool.
Cons: Same old crummy earbuds that won't stay in. Can only charge via PC/Mac

I know there are other flash memory devices on the market, but it wasn't until I saw Steve Jobs with a sleek iPod Shuffle around his neck, that I wanted one.
As the owner of a 20 GB iPod, there are times when I wanted something else. Snow shoveling, jogging, etc.
This fits the bill. It is tiny, has a long lasting battery and Apple's ease of use.
Just plug it in to a USB port and it shows up in iTunes. You can then easily have it "autofill" from any of your playlist.
Tell it to fill up from My Top Rated. You can tell it to use higher rated songs more often. Of course, you can also drag songs over manually.
You can also enable it for disk usage and then reserve as much, or little as you want as a USB drive.
The design is nothing short of awesome. Listen to songs randomly or in order. There is a button you can push to get a visual indication of the battery's current state of charge.