iPod shuffle teardown: guts weigh just 10% more than sheet of paper
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Mar 13th 2009 2:52AM
posted Mar 13th 2009 2:52AM
Regular readers, you know the drill: interesting product introduced, product splayed wide for nerdgasm pulp. iFixIt has the honors again, this time aiming its Xacto at the new iPod shuffle. After the usual struggle to open Apple's un-serviceable (by consumers) gear, iFixIt notes that the functioning parts of the 3rd gen shuffle weigh only 10% more than a single sheet of letter-sized paper. Hit that read link for the visual gore -- pretty amazing stuff at this scale.
[Via 9to5 Mac]
Why is this useless piece of cr@p getting so much attention?
...because your mom's face is horrifying
Because it's from apple and all their cr@p gets this much attention.
My thoughts as well. Why do we need a story on every single iFixit guide ever made? It's not like, at $100, this thing is even worth fixing (aside from the fact that it has essentially no standard parts unless you just happen to have the same package flash ICs laying around).
Ridiculously worthless.
HEY ENGADGET YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY USE THE THING WITHOUT HEADPHONES WHICH DRASTICALLY ADDS TO ITS WEIGHT!!!
Stephen => You can't actually use yourself without clothes which drastically adds to its weight.
Wow. Another one.
Whatever.
Because engadget staff is a bunch of apple trolls. Every time they're going to post about this piece of poop -> everyone will promptly write up 100 comments on how dumb this device is. And there will be one lonely true and loyal apple fanboy, who'll admit he'll buy anything made by apple (and somehow single-button control will make sense to him/her). He/she also will admit that their one dream in life is to sleep with Steve, and that they don't really care about gadgets at all. It's just a method to get into Steve's head, and to imagine they're one step closer to him... sick, sick, sick... these people need our help...
If you anti-Apple trolls would stop spamming the posts, Engadget would stop posting them. Simple as that.
Perhaps we should all just realise that as part of a commercial venture Engadget a)aims to attract as many readers as possible and b) keep its sponsors happy.
Obviously posting a heap of Apple stuff (along with loads of other interesting tid-bits) finds a good balance between the two. Until the philosophy of western society changes expect more of the same.
I dunno if anyone noticed, but this isn't the only product to get a teardown
Heck if you search 'Teardown' in the box on your upper right of the webpage, you will see that on page one, 2, yes 2 of the teardowns are Apple products, so you know it isnt getting any more attention than the Vaio P, the DSi, the Kindle 2 etc..
It's an MP3 player why are you so annoyed about this get a life and stop comment fighting it's just ridiculous....
You guys really need to stop with this anti-apple crap. It's getting as tired as apple fanboys. Whether you consider it a good device or not, the new shuffle is certainly sleek looking, and has interesting new features. It is also exactly the kinda thing Engadget suppose to report on. (Personally I think the control scheme is retarded and I can go through playlists faster reading them on screen instead of having to listen to "Stephen Hawking" voice read them to me. But you don't see me commenting on shuffle's "crappiness" in every article. I said it once and that's enough.)
Because its engadget. Anyone else would have moved on. And the paper is 10% more useful then this POS.
I will place a bet that 9 out of the 10 people complaining about apple in these comments all have iphones. Can you say "hypocrite"?
You hate apple .. then go smash your iphone .. that will show them :) ,,, your not going to put up with these shenanigans
@Jakob
You can't actually use English without proper grammar, which drastically adds to everyone else's comprehension.
@Jakob-
"Stephen => You can't actually use yourself without clothes which drastically adds to its weight.
Actually, he can (and probably does) use himself without clothes.
He he he... I cracked a masturbation joke. It must be Friday.
Right on, jguilb! Way to rip that straw man a new one, with that defense you pulled straight out of your ass.
I think that this is concept by apple is simply amazing... almost as light as paper.. wow.
Your head must be as light as paper if you are actually amazed by this.
I´d rather have them produce something that justifies the price gap between their products and comparable tech.
Is that 10% more than a blank piece of paper, or a piece of paper covered in ink with the instructions on how to change songs and fast forward?
Because you know how the last one would keep you awake at night from the strain on your muscles.
Sacrificing buttons to make this smaller is idiotic. Period.
because Apple is demanding that no one writs negative reports about its products.
Product#1
journalist: "but this new mp3 player has a single button to control about 15 functions"
apple: "Yes, but if we take the metal case out of the question, this player is the lightest on the market!"
journalist: "but that's irrelevant to the user"
apple: "are you still here?"
Product#2
journalist: "this new laptop offers very little over the older model, and looks practically the same, has your design team suffered a head trauma, all of them?"
apple: "yes, but the irrelevant uni-body aluminum stamping manufacturing is amazing, look at this machine that stamps the aluminum case, and now look at this manufacturing machine, this one glues the rubber feet to the bottom of the laptop. Isn't this amazing?"
journalist: "what was I talking about?"
apple: "excellent!"
Product#3
journalist: "Isn't it true that this smart phone still doesn't have a basic copy-paste feature implemented?"
apple: "Look at this game, which is equivalent to a 15 year old console. Remember those dumb games that were boring then? Well now you can play them anywhere!
journalist: "Ok, I see what you did there. Fine, but this product doesn't have a d-pad or any buttons, except for the one that turns it off"
apple: "Yeah, but check out the gyro-control which is completely useless but neat nevertheless."
comment of the year
Don't knock on 15 year old consoles, I have more fun playing PS and SNES games on my PSP than I ever do playing the latest colorless 'realistic' 'next-gen' piece of shit for 360 or ps3.
Pretol you are my hero
I am waiting for the torture test when they swallow and pass this thing.
Hahahaha @ iShit
6 months from now, everyone and their dog is gonna be shittin' iPod Shuffles.
Pretty soon we won't have to worry about our iPods dropping and denting because they will just flutter to the ground.
I hope i'm not the only one who thinks this is the most useless pmp EVER.
The shuffle was a bad enough gimmick without a screen, and now they make it even more ridiculous by removing the controls on the actual player. Sometimes minimalism isn't a good thing....
It's not that minimilism isn't good, it's that like anything, too much of it is a bad thing. The shuffle was good for people who just wanted some background music while they jogged or worked out. The problem with the new shuffle is that most people who do those things need more sport oriented headphones, which won't work with the new shuffle.
i guess the size of it is pretty amazing. but the buttonless design...wtf
I have to agree. This is the first apple product that I think they have truly "spaced" on. heck the ven vplus that I got a few years ago probably beats this in functionality, it has an 1in OLED screen too. ^_^
@sacapuntas: that's what you don't get. Why would I need to view my album art, tasks and the sort on a 1 inch screen? Why do you need the song name on a screen when the player can tell you without the effort of straining your eyes? You have fm radio but who listens to fm anymore?
All of this functionality that you speak of is useless. That's why apple doesn't put them in. They not only want to create a great device but to also make art out of it.
Btw the cord has all the functionality that the old shuffle did and made something that looks simple and elegant. People should be thanking apple. Your old headphones may not work, but they are pushing forward technology of the headphones you'll buy in the future. Can't pave the way for the new without getting rid of the old.
@Str1f3 : Actually FM radio is still really popular, the only reason Apple doesn't include it in their devices is because it infringes on their profit margins for a feature that doesn't like very attractive on paper even though the usage statistics are still very favorable.
You forget, Apple just wants your money, they don't care if you're border-line obssessive to the point where you'll pay more for fewer features because they have no shame. They exploit their fans just like any corporation - The only difference is Apple have gotten it down to a T.
You pay £100 here for what? A plastic case and a few £1 chips ... You'd have to be a fool to buy into their garbage way of thinking.
@str1f3: and whenever you damage your headphones, you have to buy new iOverpriced special shuffle headphones.
And what about all the people that bought other (better quality) headphones to replace the ones that come with the iPod?
And about hearing what the next track is: Imagine you are running and all you want to listen to is music, with an annoying voice interupting at the beggining of each song. Why would you have to listen to the name? You have the song anyway so you should know which one it is.
I can't believe people are suggesting that somehow Apple have invented in-line headphone controls...
First fm radio is a dying business. It has been in the same position as newspapers for the past 10 years. The main reason for that is mp3 players. It's 5 minutes of commercials followed by 8 minutes of airplay. I live in ny where one of the last modern rock stations just closed it's doors. CBS killed the staion. Do you want to know what replaced? Lousy mainstream pop songs with a playlist done by the company and not a DJ. Radio is slowly dying and everybody knows it.
Apple wants my money? LOL,everybody wants my money! Creative and Sony aren't out there giving me free products. It costs $10 more than the zen but also looks far better.
Some people on this board should understand that design has value. Clothing, cars, and furniture all can cost more based on the design of the object. Btw the shuffle is aluminum.
As for the headphones, I don't know if you watched the video but the song name is not always spoken unless you want it to be. This is a major advantage for the visually impaired. The headphones that come with it are priced as the same as the old headphones. If you're running you no longer have to look at the shuffle to see which button to press.
As for those with expensive headphones, two things.
1.There will be an adapter for it.
2. Why would you pay for a $100 pair of headphones to use with an $80 mp3 player. It's absurd. Especially when for $50 bucks more you can get a nano. 95% of the people buying the shuffle would not be buying personal headhones. If you were that kind of person, you'd be buying a nano or touch.
Btw, the iPod headphones may be average at best but they last longer for me than all of the earbuds that I've ever bought and that includes my $100 Sony earnbuds that lasted for 4 months.
Apple did not invent it. They are just pushing it forward. When you control 70% of the market, changing something like this forces everybody to progress. In five years no earbuds will come without controls. Apple did not invent but they will be the most responsible for it.
"First fm radio is a dying business."
They've been saying that since MTV came out. Wasn't true then, isn't true now.
I like happy dogs that go bark! bark!
bark bark! happy dog
Just how many obligatory, dumbass engadget posts can be held by a shuttle? More than a week's worth? Probably not.
How do you get the product name wrong? HOW?
iCall that an iGotcha. Cuz for some of us, this ain't no iReligion.
are we talking 80gsm or 100gsm here?
I call the first iPod implant player.
As in breast implant? You got my vote!
press three times and hold to play the last song again!!