Keepin' it real fake, part LXIV: 2G Shuffle goes dark
By Darren Murph 
posted Jun 23rd 2007 7:02PM
posted Jun 23rd 2007 7:02PM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
finally, a ripoff i might actually buy.
where can I order it?
http://cgi.ebay.com/SHUFFLE-1GB-BLACK-MP3-PLAYER-G-B-GB-w-IPOD-EARPHONES_W0QQitemZ320131528249QQihZ011QQcategoryZ86541QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
It's not comedy, it's awesome.
And I want it.
seriously, that's a pretty good fake and attractive to boot. Apple should follow suit. As long as it actually works, $14 isn't a bad price either. I'd take one. Why not?
I want it, though I'm worried that it's "Assombled in China."
I have actually bought one of these, paid $20 for 1GB of "extremely shuffle-like appearence", which were the webshop's exact words. It works very well, but the earbuds were... less than satisfying.
The shop, dealextreme.com, only sold them for a couple of weeks. Wonder why.
no doubt it doesn't use itunes and allows drag-n-drop from and to the device for music. Win.
You can "assomble" me in China anyday. At least the prices are honest.
Isn't the real iPod 'assombled' in China anyway?
Anybody got any specs on this?
Carbonize, you are correct. The real iPod 2G Shuffle is assembled in China. I have the box right here and this one I got from an Apple Store.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/13/chinese-workers-reportedly-toil-in-ipod-city/
Yes, they are assombled in China, just like these fakes. The reason we have to pay extra for a real Ipod shuffle is because Apple uses translators that can spell.
everyone knows assombling is superior to assembling
"Apple uses translators that can spell" LOL, that's funny Bigsby. Hey, and they also don't use indian (india) call centers. It's so nice to be able to understand what the Apple rep is saying.
these have been on ebay for ages.
i bought a silver one, the knockoff players are really nice and solid, only problem are the cheap earphones that brake nearly instantly.
still good value for money, strongly recomended.
just get better earphones, maybe a nice pair from sony.
"...maybe a nice pair from sony."
Er... what? Sony makes some of the most expensive trash out there. The frequency response on their canal-buds are terrible. They "boost" the bass in the hope you might notice the muddled midrange and tinny high end.
Do yourself a favor, spend at least $150 or more on some shure or etymotics phones. You will not be sorry.
Audio-Technica and Elecom are good too.
Seriously, we're talking about high-end earphones for this fake iPod? You could plug it into a $20K stero and it would probably still sound lame. Get the cheapest phones you can buy man.
That thing is sweet, I'll take 10.
Apple should learn from these Chinese, finally, real value for your money.
Dude, apple has to pay it's staff who created/designed the device (engineers, designers, etc..), marketing, and of course profit for sellers and apple itself. But remember, the profit made goes back into designing new products. Since the chinese get most of this for free from apple, and make it (probably) lower quality while making HRW scream, they can charge far less. Though apple does overcharge a tad... :)
Actually Apple had already learned this from the Chinese long time ago, same as the other multi national like Microsoft, Intel, Dell and others.
Half of the engineering effort and expertise are provided by the Chinese team, Apple do the design and functional verification, all the test and quality test. Then pass the end design back to the Chinese for mass production.
Which is why you will see that it is easier for the Chinese to knock off Apple product, but can not duplicate the quality both in product and ease of use that Apple have the edge.
The Chinese engineering expertise may be in par with the American company, but it will take the Chinese another 20 years (not a wild guess or number pull from the air) to match the quality and creativity of the American companies.
You can buy a re-certified (aka refresh) G2 Shuffle from Apple for $50. Along with that you get the one year warranty. If you happen to get a re-certified G2 from an Apple walk-in an find that you want the newer headphones they will let you trade them in right at the counter. Just open the box right there and let them know you don't like the older head phones.
PS: I do like the black colored knock off though! Maybe I'll have to skin mine to match it :)
I saw these on sale at the Sawgrass Mills Mall in Ft Lauderdale, FL at one of those kiosks in the middle of the place. Except they were like $89 which I think is actually more expensive than a real shuffle.
But it was DEFINITELY the exact same thing. They also had a pretty bad iPod Nano knockoff. It was weird to come home and see it on here because I was REALLY wondering where it came from since it's such a good knockoff.
I see the same people who complained that Chinese workers making the real iPods were not paid enough and had poor living conditions now want them to cut the price over 70 percent. Ummmm.... okay. If you thought conditions at the factory making the real iPods was bad wait until you see the conditions at the factory making these knock-offs. Can you say slave labor? Can you say hypocrite?
you really think that apple's version cost MORE than these? both are probably made at the same place. apple just marks it up ridonkulous to its sucker herd of sheep. at least these folks are being fair and upfront with consumers by taking a reasonable profit for themselves.
hypocrito,
nope!
The mark up to pay for marketing and give Jobs his stock options are just so high. Can you imagine that the knock-offs are still profitable at $14, with shipping and handling?
Wow it looks awesome in black.. Im getting one when it's out
anyone notice how the Play/Pause mark is printed on the button? or is it just how it's supposed to be..?
Wow I want one.
I'm honestly interested in one of these. If someone knows of an eBay auction/seller, IM me at baseballmanxc
@#$%^*@#!! I hate ripoffs! Especially the ones that steal the logo, name, and design. All you wanting one should know that its crap.
This is what copyrights and lawyers are for.
The people that make this stuff should die.
Is it just me, or is this guy *reeeally* funny?
Hmm, Apple assembles these in China so they can make them cheap and make more profit. Maybe they are just getting what they deserve for not having them assembled in a country that they can enforce their patent/trademark even though it would cost them a couple bucks more to make?
well ripoffs serve these companies right. They outsource, they lose intellectual property rights.. thats how it should be.
F-ing A. Knockoffs rock. There are no copyright laws in china you tool. I wouldent buy one cause its prolly crap quality like the real iPod or my fOakleys and my mRolex watch.
Difference is this one works with Vista.
Michael: Uh, so does the REAL iPod shuffle. iTunes 7.2 works just fine under Vista...
Didn't for us. The problem is Vista, not Apple.
I bought one and would not recommend it anyway. Although it does ‘function’, there’s little ‘fun’ to the functionality, and the limitations have become clearly apparent through usage. Industrial design aside, there’s a great deal more to be said for the quality and feature set of the actual Apple product over this or any other mock effort. Although this cost less then half the price, it would have been well worth paying the extra for all that it buys you.
Without going into laborious details, here’s a summary of fallbacks and failings around this device, and all the related reasons you should buy an iPod.
The original unit was defective and required a return and replacement that took about 6 weeks.
The battery life is dismal. 3 hours at best, compared with 12 on a true Shuffle.
This only shuffles. It does not play continuously.
A real Shuffle pauses when you remove the headphones, while this continues playing and runs out of juice.
Loading it required finder file copies, not the smooth iTunes integration of an iPod, and that’s a bit cumbersome and off-putting once you’ve had that luxury before.
There’s no volume 'balancing' feature like the Shuffle, so song volumes raise or drop depending on their original encoding.
The copying of files is drastically slow. I don’t believe their connection hardware utilizes the faster options. It's likely USB 1.0.
So, although I’ll likely use this for the occasional needs or pass it along to my wife for her running, I won't cut corners like this again. You get what you pay for and this is no threat to Apple's quality and feature set.
Hey Geoff, do you work at Apple???
you sound like a rep!
Jesse: How is Geoff an "idiot"? Because he dares to clearly indicate the shortfalls of a cheap ripoff product, and delineate examples of problems which users WILL encounter when using it?
Or, that to has the nerve to imply that the perceived Apple "hegemony" in music players might actually be due to thought going into the design of the product, a focus on build quality, and award-winning tech support? i.e. "You get what you pay for"
Keep buying cheap imitations of brand-name products if you'd like (thereby proving to such criminals that their efforts are financially viable); but don't complain - or even be surprised - when such knockoffs are next-to-impossible to use, don't function as advertised (if at all), spontaneously combust if you look at them the wrong way, etc.
No, i'm not an Apple Rep, just somebody who's bought one of the fake ones and documented the failings here, hoping to help others at least be aware of the tradeoffs they'll face. How that makes me an idiot, i'll never understand, but thanks SomeOne for defending me.
Here where you can buy them. Great company to deal with:
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/upgraded-clip-mp3-digital-music-player-4gb-usb-port/
Hey yeah, it's available in Red too! Up to 4 gigs? Heh, just tricking someone that you have a black/red shuffle makes it worth the 20 something bucks.
Aren't they supposed to call it the iPood Shufull or something similar. To rip off the actual name is sheer blasphemy. Does it work with iTunes or did they turn it into a drag and drop audio device? Well, it looks nice and if it plays music well, what the hey.
Probably USB 1.0 and poor battery life. I wouldn't be surprised if the thing sounded like an AM radio.
Do the Chinese have any original throught in their heads?
Do then need to when the West has them make nearly all our electronics?
So it's just like the real thing!
Manufacturing (putting something together) is not the same as actually Engineering it from scratch.
My point is that it's annoying to see Chinese ripping off every commercial brand under the sun instead of coming up with something original on their own.
Maybe when the rest of the world pays back royalties on gunpowder and all of its derivative products and acquisitions, China will stop copying stuff that we ask them to make for us.
One of these days we will see a Wal-Mart brand iPod just chillin' on the shelf by the other mp3 players in the electronics section.
I'd buy one simply because It's 4GB. I also see not having to use itunes and making sure apple doesn't get my money as two big plusses. I just wish they had more detailed specs though.
lol i had these at the flea market i worked at. my bosses told me to sell em for 50 bucks. good thing i quit.
The 1GB (whch does wma) cost me $20 shipped from china, and its pretty great sounding. YOu can get up a 4GB for about $50 SHIPPED. Plus, there is a USB converter thing for like $2. Plugs into the headphone jack obviously, and the other end is a usb plug. I think I got it at deal extreme.
cant be beat for the price. good quality. its actually an eact dupe, except, no shuffle mode.
I recently bought one of these. Total rip off. I paid 35.00 for mine.
I just googled the upc. It's the same as the real silver 1gb.
Yea, the play button is facing north... wah wah wah (trombone noise)..
Anybody want one? I am currently living in China and going to the Hong Kong Plaza Tech Mall next weekend to get me some of these babies and the iPhone clone ^^
u in shanghai? id love to see the iphone copy :) if u are in shanghai, have u seen it yet?
hello, drteckger. i likem to know exacly where to get these ipod suffle for $14 dollars shipping incuded , everybody seems to talk about it but i can not pin point the source. you can e mail me if you like , and i thank you for your comments . hope to chat with you more in future thanks again. r g
actually to make it more simple about the spoid iv said earlyer here is my e mail . geoleyla@hotmail.com thanks rg
i live in shanghai, and bought one. they are great little things. i bought a blue one :)) they sell in shanghai for around 200 rmb (about $25 US i think)
so where do i order 1?
http://cgi.ebay.com/SHUFFLE-1GB-BLACK-MP3-PLAYER-G-B-GB-w-IPOD-EARPHONES_W0QQitemZ320131528249QQihZ011QQcategoryZ86541QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
....you think Lead paint was used?