iPod shuffle: your first or second portable audio player?

Have been pondering this discussion and
csipod's words about the iPod shuffle. It occurs to me to wonder: to those of you who are buying the shuffle – are you buying it as your first portable audio player, or as an addition to an already existing collection of iPods/portable music players?

I am sure there will be a lot of first-time iPod buyers who go in for the shuffle because of its low price and because, let's face it, the thing is trendy, not to mention irresistibly cute. But I also have a hunch a lot of folks will buy this as an addition to their existing arsenal.

After having used the shuffle for a week or so, I notice that I just use it and think of it differently from how I
think about its big sister iPod. The 40GB iPod holds a collection of music as well as contacts, notes, recent RSS
feeds, file storage, etc. It has a surprising number of uses for a "music player." The iPod shuffle, on the other hand,
is concerned with one thing and one thing alone: dump a selection of fresh and randomly-selected music every day and go to town. Some will (and do) look at that as "limited functionality." I look at it as relief. I don't have to sync it with 8 different apps every time I dock it. I don't have to even bother craning my neck in the car or pulling it out of my pocket to see who the artist is – if I don't know already, I am simply left to smile at the mystery and unexpectedness that is life, and enjoy the experience of the music itself, divorced from its metadata (and perhaps do a little hunting online later on, and learn something new). Hokey, maybe, and not for everyone – but that's my personality. I enjoy the unexpected. I enjoy being reminded that I don't actually know everything – yet. ;)

I sort of think of the shuffle as the best friend who steals into your room in the middle of the night and ransacks your music collection to make you a marvelously cool new mix tape, ready for you each morning. The mix tape on steroids, with infinite permutations.

So – how do you find the shuffle? Do you think it works equally well as a first portable audio solution? Do you find it makes a fantastic addition to your audio collection? Let us know!