The Ipod Shuffle is Totally Workout Friendly!

Intro
For those of us who need to work out and pretty much hate to, music is the one thing that can keep us going. I simply can't work out without music, and I was getting sick of carrying around a portable CD player and trying to find ways to keep it from interrupting my workouts, wanting to swap discs, having to change batteries, etc. So, my husband and I bought ourselves the ipod 512MB Shuffles in January 2006 to keep ourselves on regular workout schedules for the year - no excuses now!

Well, it worked for a while, but as usual, we slack off - but the ipods have not!

Why Shuffle?
We are not into Macs as far as computers go, but I was already using iTunes to play my music at home, so I was already familiar with how to use it - so naturally, we went straight for ipod Shuffles instead of other mp3 players. We aren't hugely into technology, but we knew that Shuffle is simple and friggin small. And anyway, they were quite in style anyway. We were never interested in the larger ipods - I have no desire to have my whole music collection on an mp3 player, or have to scroll through albums and songs to hear what I want to hear - my husband and I simply wanted something small that we could listen to music on for workouts. At $99, they were cheaper than others, and we could both afford to have the same thing...and since we already had thousands of songs on iTunes, it would be easy to load the ipods and go.

Using the Shuffle
The 512MB version holds almost 120 songs. It all depends on the length of the songs, of course. Setup was so simple. Plug the ipod into one of the USB ports, iTunes was already configured to my PC, so all I had to do was register (optional) and load songs. What I love about iTunes is that you can create all different types of playlists for different moods or occasions. Obviously, this Shuffle was going to be for working out, so I have a few different "workout" playlists that I can choose from. Plug the Shuffle in, load the playlist, let it charge for a few hours, then unplug it and you're ready to go. There's an on/off switch, a light that lets you know when the battery is full (green), getting low (yellow) or dead (red). You can play the list in order of how they were loaded, or "shuffle" the songs - play them randomly.

The Shuffle comes with a set of earbuds which I love - they are small, and the only earbuds that have ever really fit into my ears. They get tangled sometimes, but not a big deal. The whole thing is so discreet and simple. I turne it on, slip the Shuffle into my pocket, and I'm good for riding my bike, walking, elliptical machine, etc - would be wonderful for runners. I remember back in my running days I had to hold a CD player it was so awkward. Now I can have my hands free no matter what I do - can lie down and stretch, can do situps - anything without worrying about carrying something or worrying about headphones.

Other Uses
I've used my Shuffle when traveling - great for airports/airplanes or riding the El (heh hehe, Chicago thing) - or just for walking around. To be totally honest, in the summer, I go everywhere with my Shuffle - walking, grocery shopping, farmer's market, etc - it's totally awesome for shopping because you don't have to listen to all the clacking around you, and for those who really don't like grocery shopping, it makes the time go by fast and it's FUN - and every once in a while I have to shake my thang in the produce section. :) And the Shuffle is totally discreet, I can press the buttons through my pockets and all is so smooth. Just be sure to turn off the tunes and take out the earbuds at the checkout lane - because that's just rude.

Also, I never have to carry CDs any longer in the car - I just use my ipod Shuffle. There are all kinds of expensive transmitters and things that you can use, but I bought a simple $10 CD player adapter - the kind that has a cassette tape with a wire that you plug into your CD player so you can play CD's - well, most of those fit into any of the ipods, so I've got my playlists right there with me. The only downside that I have come across with this is a long road trip I took once - that's when a 1G Shuffle would have come in handy because the playlist had to play over and over again, and the battery died. Not a big deal because that's what audioboks are for!

iTunes
I love iTunes. I don't believe in downloading "free" stuff from the internet - I always pay, even though that might be uncool - but at least fully legal. I've found so many great songs from over the years in the iTunes music library - it's worth it at .99 cents for a song. It takes just seconds to find, purchase and download music. I love the fact that iTunes accepts Paypal! The only downside is that just a few of the songs I'f found can only be downloaded witht he whole album. Just a few - most I can buy separately though. And iTunes keeps those purchased songs in a separate file so you can always see what you've purchased - and it also puts the song into your main library. There are also music videos, TV shows and one of my favorites - Saturday Night Live skits!

Final Thoughts
The Shuffle is awesome. I'd say if I were in my teens or in college again, one of the larger sized ipods would be better so all of my music collection is totally mobile (moving from place to place, going back and forth from college to home, etc), but since I have all of my music at home and on my PC, I am fully content to having random songs or albums on my Shuffle at one time and change them frequently. I've not had any problem. I think the battery life is reasonable. I have a PC at home and at work, and if I think the battery is getting low, I just plug the Shuffle in at work for a couple hours. You don't even need iTunes for the unit to charge, just any USB slot. Not to mention, you can use this to store documents and things, but we never use it for this - we get separate flash drives for that.

If you like tunes, get one. It doesn't have to be one of the larger, more expensive ones. And if you workout, well, this thing will make things so much easier. I still see many folks at the gym carrying around CD players and even CDs to swap - those days are over. Be cool, and have your hands free with the Shuffle.