(If you'd like to see this post in non-gallery form, just click here.)

Apple iPhone 3GS ($199) -> Motorola Droid ($199)
When the iPhone was released, it was a generation, at least, beyond the entire smartphone market. Now, many manufacturers have worked hard to catch up. And while the iPhone is still my personal favorite, I understand wanting a phone on the Verizon network rather than AT&T. Besides, the Droid hardware is fantastic, and its software, Android 2.0, feels far more like a full-featured OS than the original. Just as we said in our full review, "It's this simple: If you don't buy an iPhone, buy a Droid."

What you gain:
• Physical keyboard
• Fewer dropped calls
• Memory slot expansion

What you lose:
• iTunes integration
• Decent built-in media player

iPod Touch ($199, 8GB) -> Zune HD ($219, 16GB)
I know, I know. Why buy a Zune? If you're heavily invested in iTunes albums, the answer is, no reason. But for those who are willing to break from the Apple music infrastructure, the Zune HD is actually an awesome PMP. The aluminum case is very sharp, with an OLED screen that's richer than any iPod (though slightly worse in the sun). The Zune software, coupled with optional unlimited download subscription packages, is every bit as hip and convenient as Cover Flow and iTunes, provided you run Windows. Oh, also, you don't need to drop $300 to get a decent amount of storage and you get HD TV-Out and a not-so-bad TV interface to boot. So when you're sick of the little screen, you can go as big as you'd like.

What you gain:
• 8GB more storage (base model)
• HD Radio
• Unlimited music subscription with free MP3s
• HD TV-Out and an on-screen TV interface

What you lose:
• iTunes integration
• About a billion apps

iPod Nano ($180, 16GB) -> Flip Ultra HD ($150)
The obvious contender to the iPod Nano used to be the Zune 16. But now? You can't even get that model of Zune. And with a built-in camcorder, be it a bit on the crappy side, the Nano truly is a unique contender in its space. However, I ask you this: Don't you already have an MP3 player? Seriously, it's not possible that you don't. OK then, just buy the Flip Ultra HD, the best bang for your buck pocket camcorder on the market. And use your old iPod because it probably still works fine.

What you gain:
• HD video

What you lose:
• I mean, it's not an iPod, or any kind of media player, obviously

iPod Shuffle ($80, 4GB) -> Sansa Clip+ ($70, 8GB)
The new Shuffle is basically nonexistent, a device that, while remarkable in terms of minimalist design, may be a tad difficult to wield when you just want to play that one song you want to hear. Enter the Sansa Clip+, an chunky but still tiny MP3 player lauded by audiophiles (if such a thing is possible) that supports up to 16GB of MicroSD expansion. Save even more money by buying the 2GB version (just $40) and sticking in a spare MicroSD. And as we said in our review, the Clip+ is "the best low-end mp3 player on the market, without question."

What you gain:
• Sound quality
• MicroSD expansion
• An actual screen
• Voice recorder
• The freedom to choose any headphones

What you lose:
• iTunes
• Trash-talking Voice Over function

Apple TV ($229, 160GB) -> Asus O!Play ($99)
No matter what direction you go, you're pretty much always better off not buying an Apple TV. It's basically a closed box that hates supporting not only external codecs but external drives, too, and you can forget about navigating to files on your own network—even ones stored on your precious Time Capsule. The $99 Asus O!Play is our favorite budget way to play media in any codec under the sun, from files on a Mac or PC formatted drive or streamed from pretty much any NAS drive. As for watching movies on demand, chances are, your cable box already does that. Need more options? The LG BD390 is an excellent Wi-Fi-equipped Blu-ray player with Netflix and Vudu video, and DivX support. And heck, I'd even recommend the $199 Xbox 360 as a Netflix/DivX machine with Windows Media Center Extender capabilities. Basically, you can't go wrong here. Everything is better than Apple TV, unless you have a library full of purchased iTunes music and movies, and if you do, you probably have Apple TV already, so go enjoy it.

What you gain:
• Mega codec support
• Ability to stream your video files from computers and NAS drives
• Cash in your pocket

What you lose:
• The iTunes video ball and chain

MacBook ($999) -> Dell Studio 14z ($750)
As Mark Spoonauer said in our best Windows laptop roundup, "Think of it as the poor man's MacBook-with better specs." No, the Dell Studio 14z doesn't run OS X, but the Core 2 Duo laptop weighs .3lbs lighter than a MacBook while offering 1GB more RAM (base), 70GB more storage, a backlit keyboard and nicer built-in speakers.

What you gain:
• More storage
• More RAM
• Backlit keyboard
• Less weight

What you lose:
• OS X
• Optical drive
• Flash card reader

MacBook Pro ($1200) -> HP Envy ($1700)
I'm not sure anyone should actually choose the 13-inch Envy (full review) over the 13-inch MacBook Pro (full review), but the Envy is the closest knock-off on the market. For the $500 Envy premium, you do shed .8lbs off the MacBook Pro, coming in at just 3.7lbs (which is crazy-light for a laptop of this size). And you'll score an extra GB of RAM along with a more powerful, discrete Radeon HD 4330 graphics. But we're still talking about $500 extra for a computer that, ultimately, doesn't feel as solid as a unibody Mac. Plus, if you really want to run Win 7, that plays just fine on the MBP, too. As for the MBP 15, there's really no ideal alternative. And if you were considering the 15-inch Envy, think again.

What you gain:
• More overall power
• Less weight
• Prettier screen

What you lose:
• OS X
• Optical drive
• Frame rigidity

iMac ($1200, 21.5-inch) -> HP TouchSmart 600 ($1,050, 23-inch)
The latest iMac (full review) is a beautiful machine, no doubt. But there are alternatives to this famed all-in-one. Our favorite is the HP TouchSmart 600 (full review), which is sort of the souped-up Civic to Apple's classic Porsche. Both will do a quarter mile in the same time—with Core 2 Duo processors—but the TouchSmart has the shiny detailing and LED underlighting of a street racer, while sprucing up the package with a decent touch display coupled with special Twitter, Facebook and even recipe box apps designed for the system. Especially as a kitchen computer, the HP TouchSmart is a valid alternative to the iMac.

What you gain:
• Larger, touchscreen
• Glitzy accents with customizable LED underlighting
• Clever apps
• HDMI input for home theater fun

What you lose:
• OS X
• Understated design

MacBook Air ($1500) -> Dell Adamo XPS ($2000)
There's only one laptop on the market that can confidently purge alongside the MacBook Air, and that's the Dell Adamo XPS. While the price premium seems absurd at first, keep in mind that the Adamo XPS, at about half the thickness of the Air, is loaded with a 128GB flash drive and 4GB of RAM stock (while the MacBook Air will run $1800 in a similar SSD configuration and maxed at 2GB of RAM). If you're considering an Air, you want a computer that says "I'm good at spending money." And the Adamo XPS will most certainly fulfill that need.

What you gain:
• 1 USB port
• Ethernet jack
• 2GB of RAM
• A clasp that opens from the heat of your finger

What you lose:
• OS X
• About $500

Mac Mini ($600) -> Acer AspireRevo R3610 ($330)
If I had the choice between a Mac Mini (full review) and the AspireRevo R3610—spending someone else's money—I would still choose the Revo for its HTPC prowess. The Mac Mini has always been a promising system falling just short of its potential in terms of both price and performance. Meanwhile, the absurdly cheap Revo, equipped with Ion tech that's more than happy to handle 1080p video outputted to your TV through HDMI (as opposed to Apple's need for funky wiring and/or hard-to-find specialized adapters), is kind enough to include 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, HDMI, eSATA, VGA, 6 USB ports, card reader, wireless-N and a wireless keyboard and mouse for roughly half the price of a Mini. The only thing the Revo isn't optimal for is browsing Flash pages, that is, until we finally see an update that makes Ions and Flash play well together.

What you gain:
• HDMI out
• 1 USB port
• eSATA port
• Wireless keyboard and mouse
• Like $300

What you lose:
• OS X
• FireWire

Time Capsule (1TB, $299) -> D-Link DIR-685 (Expandable, $215)
The convenience of a Time Capsule, a combination wireless router and NAS, is tough to beat because it's so unique. But I wouldn't call the task impossible. The D-Link DIR-685 (full review) is a wireless-N router with a range that's competitive with Apple's own AirPort Extreme. You choose your storage capacity by sticking in your own 2.5-inch drive. Oh, plus it's a photo frame, BitTorrent downloader, iTunes server, FTP server, network file sharing with user management and even a UPnP streamer to video players. The only thing it isn't? Time Machine compliant. I know, I know. If you're willing to part with the built-in router, however, then another excellent choice is the Iomega Ix2-200 NAS (full review)—and that is Time Machine capable.

What you gain:
• Swappable storage
• Tons of advanced networking features
• BitTorrent downloading
• Media flexibility
• Digital photo frame

What you lose:
• Time Machine support (if this is a problem, check out Iomega's alternative)

Mac Pro ($2,500) -> Hackintosh (far less $$$)
There is one reason you want to buy a Mac Pro, and that's for OS X. So I'm not going to waste time by pretending there's any suitable alternative by someone like Dell or HP. Your best bet is to build a Hackintosh, a custom PC with a bootlegged OS X. Just keep in mind, you won't be able to build this system like any old Windows PC—you'll need to follow a guide with pretested hardware to construct something you can be sure will work. Luckily, such a guide is available, built by our friends from Lifehacker (see it here).

What you gain:
• Literally, thousands of dollars
• Gaudy case mods

What you lose:
• Peace of mind (there's always the slight chance of Hackintosh deactivation)
• Easy component upgrades

The Special Edition version comes only in 4GB, and it being polished stainless steel, weights a bit more. Phil Schiller, in an interview with Brian, said that the process for doing the special edition in stainless steel was different than the aluminum models. It costs $20 more. The heft of the special edition makes it feel more special, said Brian. But I'm not sure if it's $20 more special.

Apple's iPod shuffle Now Starts at Just $59

World's Smallest Music Player Now in Five Great Colors

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today announced that iPod shuffle®, the world's smallest music player and the first music player to talk to you, is now available starting at just $59 in five great colors. iPod shuffle's intuitive controls are conveniently located on the headphone cord, letting you navigate and enjoy music without even looking. With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume and switch playlists, plus the VoiceOver feature lets iPod shuffle speak song titles, artists and playlist names. The iPod shuffle is available worldwide today in a new 2GB model for just $59 and a 4GB model for $79, and both models come in silver, black, pink, blue and green.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090909/SF72800)

"iPod shuffle is the world's smallest music player and now comes in five great colors starting at just $59," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "iPod shuffle is so small that you almost forget it's there, yet remarkably, it holds up to 1,000 songs and talks to you."

iPod shuffle is based on Apple's incredibly popular shuffle feature, which randomly selects songs from your music library. iPod shuffle features a sleek and ultra-wearable design with a built-in stainless steel clip. iPod shuffle users can easily clip it to almost anything and take it everywhere.

In addition to the Apple Earphones and Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote, third party manufacturers including Sony, V-MODA, Klipsch and Scosche are supporting built-in headphone controls and Belkin and Scosche offer built-in headphone adapters allowing users to enjoy iPod shuffle with their own headphones.

iPod® is the world's most popular family of digital music players with over 220 million sold. Apple's new holiday lineup includes iPod shuffle in five great colors starting at just $59; iPod classic® in a new 160GB model holding up to 40,000 songs for $249; the incredible new iPod nano® with a video camera available in nine brilliant polished aluminum colors starting at $149; and the revolutionary iPod touch® starting at the breakthrough price of just $199.

Pricing & Availability

The third generation iPod shuffle is available immediately for a suggested price of $59 (US) for the 2GB model and $79 (US) for the 4GB model in silver, black, pink, blue and green through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. A 4GB special edition polished stainless steel model is available in a 4GB model for $99 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and Apple's retail stores. iPod shuffle comes with the Apple Earphones with Remote and the iPod shuffle USB cable. iPod shuffle requires a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.11 or later and iTunes® 9 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista, Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later.

The TapStick is a case that moves the awkward headphone-based controls onto the front of the gadget where they belong, which in turn frees up the headphone jack to use any pair of 'phones you choose, not just the ones Apple packages in. In effect, while these features make the shuffle easier to use, they also remove everything that separates it from previous-gen shuffles.

The TapStick also costs $29, nearly half the price of the $79 shuffle itself, and for that combined $110 you've got yourself a player with no screen, incredibly basic controls, the worst sound quality in the iPod family, and you've lost the slick look of the uncased shuffle. You could double your memory and get a far more feature-packed player in the 8GB iPod nano for only $40 more! This might just be a lipstick-on-a-pig situation. [CNET]

Although the 1-inch adapter's shiny black exterior doesn't exactly match the slick Shuffle's casing, it was designed so that the volume, play, pause and shuffle controls are on the side, keeping the MP3 player looking clean and simple. There's no word on pricing or availability yet, but as Apple is supposedly coming out with their own Shuffle adapter, I'd imagine that Ozaki's iCommand should be slightly cheaper. [iLounge via Engadget]

If you have a last generation iPod shuffle (you know, the version that doesn't judge your taste in music), then one Etsy seller will provide you with a coordinating handmade bacon case for just $19. Just keep in mind, as tasty as that case might look, you should never attempt to swallow your iPod shuffle.
[Etsy via Walyou]

As you'd expect, not all that well. However, we'd give the Kindle 2 an enthusiastic one-clap for its moments of natural-sounding cadence. The Shuffle, on the other hand, was streamlined-mediocre. [DVICE]

Heather is a professional sword swallower. Someone with no gag reflex—or better said, trained to suppress it while swallowing 36-inch long solid steel swords down her throat. No tricks, no smoke and mirrors. She's the real deal. I saw her swallow an entire—and very large—soup spoon with my own eyes in a second. She didn't even blinked. She gobbled it down like I eat maple-syrup-bathed buttermilk pancakes.

Needless to say, she had the right credentials to try our test: Swallow the tiny, 1.8 x 0.7 x 0.3-inch iPod shuffle and then take it out again, after we have listened to a couple of songs thanks to the in-cable remote control—which is a bad idea for regular use, but it's great to play songs when someone has the iPod down the esophagus.

Unfortunately, as you will see in the video, she wasn't able to do it for a number of reasons. First, the iPod shuffle is way too light. Apart from controlling your gag reflex, her technique for swallowing swords use the force of gravity to pull them down. She also uses her esophagus muscles to control how fast it gets in her body, but the gravity is what pull downs the sword. With the iPod shuffle—which is only 0.38 ounces or 10.7 grams—this was impossible. The iPod just hanged there and had to be pushed with her hand or a large object—like a spoon—to get into the entry of her throat. However, from there it was not possible to make it go down.

Heather thinks she can do it with more training—or maybe pushing it with something larger—so she took the iPod with her and will be back when she can do it. Until then, here's the answer to the question: No, you can't swallow the iPod shuffle, even if it's small enough to get it in. If the iPod shuffle is sword-swallower proof, it's certainly child- and moron-proof.

Heather Holiday photo by Roma Steel

[Check Heather Holiday's page here]

It could happen on a deserted island, or it could happen on a particularly long wait in the subway. Either way, it's only a matter of time before, in a moment of extreme hunger, you eye your MP3 player for snacking. As your teeth penetrate the tasteless silicon shell, you'll find the aluminum center to be ever so harder on tooth enamel than nougat—a point to which your dentist will concur.

Plus you'll still be hungry. [SwitchEasy]

Main Processing Chip (Samsung)
$5.98

4GB Flash Memory (Samsung)
$6

Lithium Ion Battery (Smallest iSuppli had ever seen)
$1.20

Various Capacitors and Resistors (Smallest iSupply had ever seen, a grain of salt a pop)
Less than a penny each

The prices of the headphones, body and case were unspecified, but apparently those components make up the other half of the shuffle's component cost to Apple. And with the build price at just 28% of the sale price, the shuffle should be Apple's most profitable iPod ever, even if iSuppli's report doesn't account for expenses like R&D. [BusinessWeek and image]

Apple forums are lit up with complaints about how iTunes 8.1 smacks around the older iPod shuffles: It dupes existing files on the iPod, it copies podcasts out-of-order, doesn't remove deleted podcasts, and won't play when connected to the computer are what's documented (and seconded and thirded) by one user. It seems to have issues with Smart playlists too.

Right now the only solution seems to be downgrading back to iTunes 8.0 until there's a fix. Oh, and isn't that photo Charlie found the best? [Apple Forums via Gadget Lab, Image: bfshadow/Flickr]

We teamed up with our friends over at UCBComedy.com to create this, our first original comedic video. It was written by myself and Mark Wilson, directed by Will Hines, edited by Nate Dern, and stars me.

Let us know what you think! Unless you don't like it, in which case keep your opinions to your damn self. We're sensitive. [UCBComedy]

Any model in the pictured spectrum can be yours for $129, or a $50 premium over the stock iPod shuffle. But there are other options as well, such as copper, rose gold and platinum, that can push the price up to $200.

Of course, Apple will probably get around to releasing the shuffle in a wide array of colors. But you know the drill—they generally wait until you've already bought one. [Computer Choppers via technabob]

iLounge was apparently first mention the presence of a possible authentication scheme, and Boing Boing Gadgets was the first to find some kind of chip inside the headphones—whether or not it was an authentication chip was unknown.

V-Moda, one of the manufacturers who announced shuffle-compatible headphones last week, just confirmed to us that yes, an "authentication chip IS required to enable to volume control functionality with the new shuffle (as well as the latest gen of iPod and MacBooks)." The difference here is that iPods and MacBooks worked with headphones that didn't have the authentication chip. The shuffle does not. Update: This statement was retracted by V-Moda. See bottom of post for details.

V-Moda also says that they've collaborated with Apple for the past few months developing the technology. It seems safe to conclude two things. One, manufacturers who want their headphones to work with the shuffle need to work with Apple in order to get access to the tech inside the authentication chip. Two, only people who Apple "like" are going to get this tech and make compatible headphones—but it's likely that Apple likes almost anybody with the money to pay for licensing.

Whatever the consequences, it does look like Apple is going down the path of locking down headphones, hoping to crunch out another revenue stream from all the manufacturers offering ways of getting sound from your iPod to your ears, whether it be through earbuds or through car adapters.

Image courtesy Boing Boing Gadgets

Update: Another source, plus the original contact at V-Moda, are telling me something different about the chip. V-Moda is retracting their original statement and saying "it is NOT an authentication nor a DRM chip", which I am trying to get clarification on now. The other source says it's supposedly closer to a proprietary control chip that houses the new control scheme, and is an "additional component for the 'made for iPod' program". Again, the phrase "authentication chip" was their language, which they are retracting now. Further updates to come.

Update 2: Joel @ BBG says he spoke to Apple, and they denied the fact that there's any encryption or authentication in the chip. What's also interesting is that another tipster says the chip is relatively easy to clone (a fact Apple strangely corroborates), meaning the reason why the manufacturers are licensing and using Apple's version is most likely to get to market as fast as possible to beat their competitors. And, because they like the fact that they have a made for iPod certification.

Update 3: Spoke to someone else at V-Moda, and they assured me that it was not an authentication chip, but a control chip as part of the "made for iPod" program that they receive from Apple. They've also got no plans to go and duplicate the functionality without the "made for iPod" label, as is probably the case with all other major manufacturers.

For this week's Photoshop Contest, I want you to create an even more ridiculous and impractical control scheme for Apple's next round of portable music players. No buttons? Way more buttons? Who knows! It's up to you to figure that out.

Send your entries to me at contests@gizmodo.com with "Apple Controls" in the subject line by next Tuesday morning. Save your files as JPGs, GIFs or PNGs with a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention. Now get to it!

Ditching the dock cord, the Shu-Lip mates directly to the headphone jack on one end for immediate USB insertion. Adding yet another accesory to the the already ridiculously accesory-prone new $80 Shuffle. [Product Page via iLounge]

Removing all buttons—or to clarify, moving them to the headset—shrinks down the size of the new iPod Shuffle dramatically, but it also creates control problems when running, snowboarding or doing anything other than sitting.

Design
This new iPod shuffle is about half the volume of the previous iPod shuffle. HALF. By moving all the controls from the face onto the headphone cable, Apple was able to reduce the width and thickness to almost 50%, even if the length grew slightly. This wasn't totally sensible: Although the headphones do offer a comprehensive control scheme, the button position on the headphone cord becomes really difficult to use unless you're sitting still. It also limits your choice of headphones to the ones Apple gives you, or new shuffle-specific ones made by other manufacturers.

But there's one point where this shuffle beats the hell out of the previous shuffle, and that's the audio feedback interface. Apple calls this UI, which speaks to you, VoiceOver. It's a set of text-to-speech files transparently associated to each track on your iPod that will speak the title and artist of your current song. Hold the button down long enough, and the voice will cycle through all your playlists, one by one, reading the names. Hit it again to jump directly to that playlist.

The player itself is also fine, even if the blank, monolithic face takes a while to get used to (and stop reaching for when you want to change tracks). Yes, it only comes in black and silver, instead of the whimsical shuffle/nano palette we're used to.

Its front and back are made of aluminum. And just like the nano (and the previous generation shuffle), the edges are a little too sharp. The clip is made out of stainless steel, like the back of the iPod touch and older generation nanos, so it attracts fingerprints and gets scratched up incredibly easily. The front, luckily, does not have this problem.

The package comes with headphones and a three-inch USB connector. Apple's tendency to remove stuff from the iPod package continues with the removal of the free dock; which is a shame, since you'll instead be leaving this strewn about your desk, and because it's so damn tiny, you'll have probably have a hard time finding it again.

Syncing and Playback
The entire iTunes sync screen is improved. There's now support for podcasts and playlist syncing. Yeah, you don't have to use autofill or manually drag tracks and playlists over one by one, because you can now jump between playlists using the VoiceOver feedback system.

These voices, which are generated and synced on the fly when you choose playlists, sound pretty great, assuming you have Mac OS X Leopard. Those who do will get to take advantage of "Alex", the newer text-to-speech voice shipped in the OS. If you're on Windows, or if you ever want to use the 13 languages other than English, you'll default to the VoiceOverKit downloadable pack that comes with iTunes 8.1. Even the supposedly lousier TTS agent works decently enough, because these are your songs and you should be able to at least guesstimate what artist/track it is. But Alex prounounces stuff like "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" and "Jamiroquai" correctly, whereas the other one (a lady's voice) doesn't.

Voice data is fairly small, with 400MB worth of songs only taking up about 20MB of voice track data. That's going to be about 175MB of voice data if you fill up all 3.5GB of usable space.

I tested actual Chinese and Japanese track names and artist names and they all came out sounding correct, if a bit robotic. You can override language selections by song or globally if you want all your music to be read back to you in the English voice—for example, if you have a bunch of classical music labeled in Italian. But if you have a mix and match song, with a Japanese title and an English artist name, the iPod will pronounce everything using the Japanese voice, including the English portion. Which is funny if you're an ass (like me) that gets a chuckle from non-native English speaker accents.

The 255-character limit to song and artist fields still applies, so you can't shove lyrics or eBooks in there and expect your iPod to read them back to you. And blank data in both fields results in complete silence; it doesn't say "untitled track" unless the track name is actually "untitled track."

It does say other things, however, including its battery status, if you flick the hold switch off and on again. This chart displays the possible blinks and audible alerts.

As for the shuffle's sound quality, since the shuffle only works with the included headphones and not any other regular set of headphones, we ran a couple playback tests as best we could. The frequency response, using a specially-encoded frequency sweep MP3, was decent but not phenomenal. The start of the sweep was at 16Hz, and we couldn't hear anything until half a second later when it got above 50Hz. It definitely peaked well under 20KHz (probably close to 16KHzish), but some of that could be due to my own high frequency hearing loss. And, because these headphones are quite lousy. When I compared frequency response to the old shuffle and to the nano with the same earphones, they were all about equal.

Max volume definitely was louder on this shuffle than the 2G version. It wasn't quite as loud as the latest iPod nano, but it was damn close. Again, since we could only use the default headphones to test, there wasn't any real difference in audio quality, even with high-quality 320kbps MP3s.

We're also going to check whether or not the 10-hour battery life claim is accurate, but Apple themselves claim that it's down from 12 hours in the previous generation.

Usage
Because the shuffle's now only half as wide as the old one, the clip is only about half as strong. There's less surface area, and it's no longer jagged—it's just two bits of metal on top of each other. There's still quite a bit of strength in it, but you'll be able to yank it off from your jeans using just the headphone cable, so it could mean trouble.

Since one of the major uses of the shuffle is for exercise, we had to take it on a 30-minute run, testing usability in active conditions. Although the clip is fine, the controls are pretty crappy. The stock headphones suck because the controls are up on the right hand cord, up near the ear. You pause, forward, rewind and seek by hitting the middle button in various ways. This is fine when you're sitting, but when you're running, it's really hard to hold your arm still up in that awkward position to change tracks. And when you're really tired, your arms start flailing and it's very, very difficult to not yank the earbud out of your ear when you're changing songs.

Here's the solution. Apple should move the controls down to where the two earbud cords split. It's much more convenient down there, plus lefties wouldn't have to suck it up and use their right hand. This major problem might get fixed by one of the major headphone manufacturers releasing their own compatible pairs. I'd pay $100 for a good pair that doesn't have the controls placed in a lousy place, or maybe even has larger controls on the cable.

I don't have a pair of snowboarding gloves, but I do have a pair of regular gloves, and when using the shuffle with them on, it's hard to feel where the groove of the play/pause button stops and the volume +/- buttons start. It would be much worse for even thicker gloves that offer zero tactile feedback. But on the bright side, the body itself is at least as water-resistant as the old shuffle. Probably even more so, since there are fewer cracks and openings for water to leak into.

So where's this all headed? If Apple wasn't so absolutely married to the fact that physical controls need to be in a trademark click-wheel shape, they could have easily spread out the five play/next/prev/vol. up/vol. down buttons along the smooth face of the shuffle. But they didn't.

There's also a limit to how much smaller the shuffle can go. I wouldn't expect such a dramatic decrease next time around. In fact, I predict a re-emergence of the wheel, so that the entire player is thinner, but squarish with only the wheel on the front. After all, the previous generation's wheel wasn't even a real wheel anyway because you couldn't actually scroll with it by thumbing around in a circle. Apple seems to enjoy alternating between different design shapes in their iPod nano (2G nano was thin, 3G nano was fat, 4G nano was thin) line, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they're going to do this with the shuffle as well.

If you need something like this for exercise, or if you just hate the fact that there are no buttons on this one, buy the last-gen shuffle before they're all gone, or wait till next year when Apple changes its mind. To tell the truth, this new shuffle is just okay. We don't know what kind of a statement they were trying to make with it, but suffice it to say, the message wasn't received. [Apple]

VoiceOver text-to-speech feedback is neat, and improves usability dramatically

New 4GB storage means more songs for about the same price

Half the size of the previous generation shuffle

Default headphones have the controls placed in an awkward position on the cord

Battery life has decreased from 12 hours to 10

It's very difficult to work the in-line controls while running or wearing thick gloves

You can only use proprietary headphones, or buy one of the as-of-yet unreleased adapters

This teardown is a little different than most, mainly because of just how simple this device is; once it was cracked open, there was one screw to worry about. The pictures tell the story here, so check out the gallery below or the whole gruesome ordeal at [iFixit—Thanks, Jivesh!]

The iPod Plug

While it in some ways seems like an example of a proprietary technology done right (it's solid, supports lots of connection types and has become basically ubiquitous), Old 30-Pin has quite a bit to feel bad about. Consider this: It single-handedly obliterated the non-iPod accessory market. Almost every MP3 player dock, FM transmitter or interfacing device supports this port exclusively—or with some feeble aux plug (cable not included) in the rear. And why shouldn't they? There are more 30-pin-jack iPods out there than there are all other MP3 players combined.

But it means Apple is stuck. An abrupt switch would be a disaster for third parties and customers alike (consider the outcry when the iPhone 3G wasn't compatible with some older 30-pin accessories) and it's not clear what they could switch to. Micro-USB probably doesn't have enough pins for all the various functions the port should serve, and switching to a solution that would, say, force users to connect both a power plug and and audio cable to a dock would seem like a step backwards. But hey, just because it's currently practical and ubiquitous doesn't mean it isn't evil. It's because of you, iPod jack, that my Sansa has about as many docking prospects as the average Giz writer.

Sprint and Verizon's Secret Shame: CDMA

To the end user, CDMA and GSM don't seem very different—Sprint, a CDMA carrier, offers the same services as AT&T, a GSM carrier—except when it comes to how they handle phones.

GSM phones are identified by the SIM card that they carry, which can be moved between phones at the user's will. Not so with America's other wireless standard. Effectively, a CDMA phone is like a GSM phone with the SIM card welded to its socket. Your CDMA phone is permanently locked to your carrier, and your mobile connection is permanently bound to your handset—unless your carrier is kind enough to authorize a transfer to another phone.

The presumably intentional effect is that there's no market for 3rd party hardware in CDMA, which is fine for carriers, shitty for customers. Worst of all, there's no good reason for this. CDMA SIM cards exist. They're called R-UIM cards, but US carriers are in no rush to implement them.

The Battle of the Redundant Audio Formats

There was a time when it wasn't clear which stupid format would reign supreme, Microsoft's WMA or Apple's AAC. [Note: Yes, Apple didn't invent AAC. However, they are the only reason any of us have heard of it.] While each technically brought improved sound quality, they were both bastards born of the same greedy combination: the desire for DRM and the unwillingness to pay MP3 encoder/decoder royalties. Your AACs wouldn't play on your Zen; your WMAs wouldn't work on your iPod; your ATRAC3s wouldn't work on anything. These formats only grew popular because people accidentally used them to rip their music, and later, because they were an unavoidable part of the digital music purchasing process.

With wider format support in new players, the slow death of the all-you-can-download rental WMA stores and Apple's new "our bad!" attitude towards audio DRM, it seems like we're taking a healthy step back to good ole' em-pee-threes. And while iPods will never play WMA, iTunes does convert 'em. And it's nice to see more Microsoft products supporting AAC, which Apple still won't shake off.

A Unique Phone Charger for Every Phone

Even—or rather, especially—when phone plugs were only for electricity, every goddamn manufacturer had their own exclusive, silly connector for dumping current into batteries. Today, little has changed, and as virtually anyone who owns a cellphone knows, this sucks. A lost charger means your phone is out of commission, and because of carrier subsidies, a new charger sometimes costs more than the phone itself did.

And that's how we arrive at the reason for this stupid situation: Unique chargers=$$$ for cellphones makers. This would explain why the first substantive call for standardization came so recently, and why Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Apple and pretty much everyone else still, in 2008, enforce phone-charger monogamy. And if you think phones are a pain, try finding a replacement charger for your Bluetooth headset. Good luck.

A Raw File By Any Other Name...

R-A-W. If you care about digital photography, these three letters form the most beautiful sound in the English language. Raw images, supported by almost every new DSLR and an increasing number of point-and-shoots, are made up of the 'raw' image data, pulled directly from your camera's sensor, letting you change all kinds of parameters—white balance, exposure and noise reduction, to name a few—instead of letting the camera pick them automatically during the shooting. And you can make infinite changes and tweaks long after the photo has been taken.

It would seem that by now importing raw files should be as easy as transferring JPEGs. Well, it's not. The problem is that almost every camera maker has insisted on using their own slightly different version, meaning that you either have to use your camera's supplied raw conversion software (almost always a steaming pile) or invest in a wide-support program like Photoshop, Aperture or Lightroom—and make sure it has the right compatibility. Come on guys, Adobe gave you a perfectly fine, royalty-free raw format back in 2004. Use it.

So Many Memory Cards

For years, everyone had their own memory card format: Sony products used Memory Sticks, Olympus used xD, Fujifilm used SmartMedia and so on... they all thought they had the heir to the 35mm/CD/Zip Drive throne. It was adorable! Now, it's not. While we were all busy stockpiling one soon-to-be-obsolete memory cards and multi-compatible (bit never totally compatible) readers, most of the electronics industry was aligning itself with a winner.

Two, actually—or maybe three. SD cards (backed by Panasonic) are cheap, compact and capacious and only getting better, with MicroSD as its tiny phone version. Meanwhile, beefier, more durable Compact Flash cards suit the serious photogs. The rest of you: You all do the exact same thing! Please die.

For Our Earphones Only: Non-Standard Headset Jacks

When a little metal trim kept the original iPhone from accepting regular old 3.5mm headphones, a lot of people almost blew a gasket, and rightfully so. It seemed hopeless: Even a phone that was more iPod than handset couldn't resist the allure of proprietary earphones.

Phones have always been terrible for this. The same varied, awkward orifices that charged your old phone probably served as its headset connector too, leaving you stuck with the flimsy, tinny OEM earbuds or an easy-to-lose adapter to deal with. For a while though, it seemed like companies were starting to catch the drift, as standard 3.5mm headphone/mic jacks became more and commonplace in music phones. But a Nokia or two is little comfort; HTC's newest Android phone, a multimedia powerhouse, only has a USB port. Apple's new Shuffle—a friggin' iPod-only works with the supplied earphones or special replacements. Grief ensues.

Sony's Entire Oeuvre

The story of Sony is like an exaggerated summary of the history of proprietary goofs. Sony entering a new market=Sony introducing a new, frustratingly exclusive format, plug, codec or device standard. With audio, it was MiniDiscs and ATRAC; on the PSP, you got UMD; for cameras and other portable devices, the Memory Stick. In video, there was Betamax, Laserdisc, HDV, and now Blu-ray. Yeah, this last one is sorta successful, but only because Sony decided to fight like there was no tomorrow to beat its rival format. [Blam: I'm not apologizing for the past, but Sony's promised to better about open formats going forward.] It worked this time, but God only knows what Sony labs have in store for us, and our shrinking wallets, next.

Did we leave out any nasty ones, like Nintendo's many accessories, or an Apple USB port that doesn't take all USB products? If you have a good one, throw it into a comment below.

The phones range from $50-$100 and will be available come springtime. No pricing or availability yet on the adapter, picture here:

Scosche Industries Announces Earphones With Increased Dynamic Range Designed For New iPod shuffle

Oxnard, CA., – March 12, 2009 – Scosche Industries (www.scosche.com), an award-winning innovator of mobile electronics and iPod accessories, today announced that it is developing breakthrough earphones with integrated controls for the new third generation iPod shuffle with Apple's new VoiceOver feature. The new IDR (Increased Dynamic Range) noise isolating earphones will give users the ability to play, pause, adjust volume, skip tracks, navigate playlists and hear the name of the song and artist with the press of a button.

"We are delighted to support the exciting new VoiceOver technology in the 4GB iPod shuffle," said Kas Alves, executive vice president of Scosche Industries. "Scosche's focus on innovation means we're ideally placed to develop new and exciting products like the IDR earphones."

Scosche is currently developing three earphone models- IDR350M, IDR450M and IDR650M noise isolating earphones that feature an integrated control surface. Users can control play, pause, adjust volume, skip tracks, navigate playlists and hear the name of the song and artist with the third generation iPod shuffle. A miniature microphone built into the back of the control surface allows users to record voice memos on the latest iPod touch, iPod nano and iPod classic 120GB. The IDR (Increased Dynamic Range) series earphones are designed to give users an enhanced listening experience with brilliant highs, silky smooth mids and powerful bass. The headphones are expected to be available this Spring and range in price from $49.99 to $99.99.

Scosche is also developing an inline control adapter kit that allows consumers to use any standard set of headphones and enjoy all of the advanced features of the third generation iPod shuffle. The inline control also allows users to plug their shuffle into any vehicles auxiliary input and maintain full control of the iPod.

The new third generation iPod shuffle with the VoiceOver feature can speak song titles, artists and playlist names. When you want to know the name of the song or artist playing, simply press a button on the conveniently located headphone controls and iPod shuffle tells you the song and artist name. iPod shuffle can even announce status information, such as battery life.

The accent, that of a robot that actually dislikes you, like it does all fleshbags, is not all that different. Both of the voices are synthesized from your computer, too, as we realized in this patent.

If micronization trickles up like this voice application has trickled down, I suppose one day the phones and computers will be shuffle sized, too. Like in Zoolander.

As you can see in this flowchart, the trick happens in your computer. Apple patented the process a while back, and it's going to implement the mechanism in the next revision of iTunes. iTunes 8.1 will use the text-to-speech capabilities of your computer to generate sound bites, embedding the name of the artist and the song in every tune.

This explains why the voices are different depending on the platform you sync your iPod shuffle with: iTunes 8.1 uses the text-to-speech engines available on each operating system with different settings. The only thing that the iPod does is playback those sound bites when you click on the central button, located in the headphones cable (sadly.) [9 to 5]

I like the idea of having controls on my headset's cable. I use that feature every time with my iPhone. However, I've used every single iPod, iPod mini, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle ever made—advantages of being a journalist and getting evaluation units—and every one of the Apple headphones that came with them have been a failure. Invariably, I had to replace them with other earbuds.

I'm not talking about the sound quality, which has improved since the awful first generation—now it's still not good or amazing, but acceptable. I'm talking about them literally failing on me, one after the other.

I don't mistreat my gadgets and the iPod/iPhone's headphones have been no exception. Invariably, however, they all have finished in the dumpster after a few months. Whether it was failing neodymium-schmdynium drivers making popping noises or breaking cables, every one of them have proved to be too flimsy, too fragile for continuous daily use.

More concerns
I'm sure that there will be plenty of third-party headsets options for the new tiny iPod, so it won't be a problem to replace them. However, it still will suck to have the headphones rendering your shuffle useless until you get new ones.

On top of that, most probably the new replacement headphones will be more expensive than any regular ones, since they have to include extra electronics and they will be perceived as "special" by the market. And then, their variety will also be limited. Sure, you don't need huge DJ-quality headphones for the shuffle, but what about if you want an specific kind of in-ear earbuds?

Still, we don't know how the new headphones are. Hopefully, Apple put extra care in making their earbuds more durable than previous models. Maybe not to last for as long as the shuffle itself, but for more than the three to six months lifetime I've experienced. [New iPod shuffle]

Update: We have talked with Apple and they said that they will sell an adapter for third-party headphones—which solves the issue about picking any headphones, even if it is for an added cost.

• 4GB or 1,000 Songs
• Silver or black color options, stainless steel clip
• Controls have been moved to the earbud line
• "VoiceOver" Text to speech artist and track names and battery life in 14 languages
• 10 hours of playback (Down from 12 hours in previous gen)
• The 1GB, 2nd gen iPod shuffle is still around for $50

So what do you think? Is this design better than the last iPod Shuffle? Personally, I really dislike that the new form costs users 2 hours of battery life.

CUPERTINO, Calif., March 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today introduced the all-new iPod® shuffle, the world's smallest music player at nearly half of the size of the previous model, and the first music player that talks to you. The revolutionary new VoiceOver feature enables iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names. The third generation iPod shuffle is significantly smaller than a AA battery, holds up to 1,000 songs and is easier to use with all of the controls conveniently located on the earphone cord. With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist. iPod shuffle features a gorgeous new aluminum design with a built-in stainless steel clip that makes it ultra-wearable.

"Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod and iPhone™ Product Marketing. "The amazingly small new iPod shuffle takes a revolutionary approach to how you listen to your music by talking to you, also making it the first iPod shuffle with playlists."

iPod shuffle is based on Apple's incredibly popular shuffle feature, which randomly selects songs from your music library. And now, when you can't remember the name of a song or an artist playing, with the press of a button iPod shuffle tells you the name of the song and artist. iPod shuffle can even tell you status information, such as battery life. With the ability to hold up to 1,000 songs and the VoiceOver feature, you can now easily switch between multiple playlists on your iPod shuffle. iPod shuffle can speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

The new iPod shuffle comes in silver or black and features a sleek and ultra-wearable design with a built-in stainless steel clip. iPod shuffle is the smallest music player in the world and is incredibly easy to clip to almost anything and take with you everywhere you go. iPod shuffle features up to 10 hours of battery life.*

Pricing & Availability

The third generation 4GB iPod shuffle is now shipping and comes in silver or black for a suggested price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iPod shuffle comes with the Apple Earphones with Remote and the iPod shuffle USB cable. iPod shuffle requires a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.11 or later and iTunes® 8.1 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista, Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 8.1.

*Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. Seewww.apple.com/batteries for more information. Song capacity is based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding; in 256-Kbps AAC format, song capacity is up to 500 songs; actual capacity varies by encoding method and bit rate.

[Apple]

But accusations of monopoly sound a little hollow coming from a company that last made headlines for narrowly escaping a copyright trademark suit filed by Apple to cease the sale of Luxpro's Super Shuffle iPod shuffle knockoff. The suit resulted in a changed name for the player and a massive, failed countersuit by Luxpro. Even more significant here is that Luxpro's latest suit has been filed in an Arkansas court, which I'm guessing will be a little less lenient when it comes to Luxpro's obvious imitation products.

Whether they'll take Luxpro's monopoly accusations seriously remains to be seen, but the filing makes it clear that Luxpro is after money, and lots of it. [MacNN]

Podzilla is a little more pricey at $17, but he'll make an excellent guard dog for your nano. Just look at the guy. He's ferocious. [Etsy via Apartment Therapy]

The iPod classic looks like it's getting the runt's end of the "Let's Rock" magic wand today—with boosted storage to 120GB for $250, up from 80GB for the same price. And it's death for the 160GB thickie, matching the Zune's lineup to a tee. Same form factor and colors as last time. Now, the largest iPod money can buy has been downgraded by 40GB—seem like a strange move to backtrack like this to anyone else?

Shaking the player activates Shuffle Mode and tilting allows scanning of Cover Flow when the nano is held in landscape. The nano's storage will jump to 8GB and 16GB.

Not a lot of information on the iPod classic and iPod shuffle. The classic is said to come in two colors (probably white silver and black) with the shuffle available in five colors.

The iPod touch will have no color choices and retain the same storage options of 8, 16 and 32GB.

Oh, and the last juicy tidbit from the rumors: The new iPods are supposed to be available at Apple stores today. [AppleInsider]

A lanyard design, two iPod shuffle variations and a technology that allows production of smooth motion compensated frames by combining multiple interpolation results. Information is scant beyond that, but we do know the remote control patent was filed back in March 2007, and has just now been cleared. Bearing that in mind, the idea may have made it to the scrap heap, but we shall watch this space nonetheless. [ipodnn via Mactropolis]