Shuffle Better Than iPod?
I love my new iPod but… the interface well… to put it nicely… needs a bit of work.
What? Everyone says how wonderful it is!
Where do I get off daring to suggest such a thing? Easy. My first iPod was a Shuffle. Last week I bought a 30Gb iPod photo. After a Shuffle, a screen-based iPod’s interface is a chore. The iPod could learn a lot from the Shuffle. You just don’t have to think - or look - when using a Shuffle. The same could - and should - be true of the other iPods.
(Note: For this article, I will say Shuffle when I mean Shuffle, and iPod when I mean any screen based iPod.)
A music player first
Bearing in mind that an iPod of any description, is first and foremost a music player, then playing music, skipping or finding songs, pausing it and adjusting its volume should be the easiest to access and use functions of the device. This is very true for the Shuffle - besides finding songs of course, although being of the cassette tape generation used to endless fast forwarding and rewinding, continually pressing skip isn’t much of an issue.
All these functions should be a click away, and although they sort of are with an iPod, there is some uncertainty and inconsistencies.
Try these simple tests with a Shuffle and an iPod
Play music
(assuming the unit is off and we just want to play wherever it’s up to)
Shuffle:
Slide switch on back to sequential or shuffle.
Press Play.
Adjust volume to suit.
iPod:
Turn off Hold if it’s on (this will turn the iPod on) or if Hold is not on, press any key.
To start playing music, on some screens, you will be able to simply press Play but others such as the slideshow screen, you will need to navigate up to a menu.
If it was at a menu, you will have to wait about 10 seconds for the Now Playing screen to appear so you can adjust volume.
Switch Hold on (optional but advisable).
Sound reasonably easy on both? What if they were in your pocket and you wanted to do it without looking? The Shuffle’s simple physical interface is significantly easier to use “blind”. And you can more easily find and push its buttons through you shirt or jumper (sweater). And why should I have to think so much when using an iPod just to play music?
Pause music
(assuming it’s in your pocket or inside your jumper)
Shuffle:
Feel around and press pause- you can even do this through your jumper if it’s not too thick.
iPod:
Feel around for the Hold button, if it’s on turn it off.
Feel around some more - careful not to change volume, press Pause. Or if that’s too fiddly, just pull it out of your pocket, turn off Hold and press Pause.
In both these scenarios, the Shuffle is easier to use. Likewise adjusting volume and skipping tracks.
And all the rest
At this point we have reached the end of the Shuffle’s usefulness by comparison to the iPod. The iPod’s usefulness extends past music. The Shuffle is a music player plain and simple - but probably the best one on the market. It’s as easy to use as my old cassette player - Play, stop, forward, back, volume. It’s not always that easy on an iPod.
At this point, many will be ready to flame me with the old “Horses for courses” or “different animals” or some such. But I still contend, the iPod’s physical and GUI interfaces need some work. So I will do the right thing though and make some suggestions.
What else the iPod needs
Physical Design
- Change the centre button to be the Play/Pause button and the bottom of the wheel to be Select. This makes logical sense: because the Back - Play/Pause - Forward buttons are then all in a row; because the Menu and Select buttons are then at the top and bottom which makes sense since they take you up and down menu branches; and because it makes the Play/Pause button easier to find by touch (as it’s raised).
- The headphones should have an L-shaped jack rather than straight to reduce chance of getting bent or damaged when in your pocket
Music
- Hold over-ride. Eg press Play/Pause for 2 seconds. It’s very annoying having to turn Hold off to pause a song or to resume playing.
- A newest songs playlist (yes I can create that on iTunes, but it would make a nice default feature on the iPod)
- Radio shuffle i.e. Select Radio Shuffle and it plays a mix of music and podcasts
- A key combination to resume playing the last song that was playing (useful when you accidentally select a new song or playlist)
- When I press Play on the iPod, don’t wait 10 seconds, take me to the playing song immediately. I can always press the Menu button to get back to the previous screen.
- Give me a shortcut to the Music menu (eg press Menu button for two seconds) and also add a Settings menu to the top of the Music menu, containing EQ, Shuffle, and Repeat
Podcasts
- Newest podcasts playlist (You can’t do this with SmartAlbums even though Podcasts are in the Podcast genre, they don’t show up in a SmartAlbum created with the condition Genre = Podcast)
- Ability to play all podcasts end to end, rather than having to select each one or each podcaster
Photo
- Zooming and scrolling in photo viewing
Calendar
- I don’t want completed ToDos! Why would I want my last three years of completed To Dos on my iPod? Unless I can turn them off, I don’t want them. And while we’re at it, I do not need the last three years of calendar events on it either. (And don’t pick on me for keeping these things when iCal lets you automatically delete them after a certain time. A history is very important in business or corporation. If someone says - “Where were you on the night of September 16, 2003?” I want to be able to tell them.)
- When I go to my ToDos, why are they listed alphabetically? They should be in priority order.
- ToDos with due dates should also appear on the calendar for the day they’re due.
General
- Whatever is playing (Music, Podcast, Audiobook or Slideshow), a shortcut (eg hold Menu for 2 seconds) takes you to it’s menu.
- A settings menu on the main menus of each category (i.e. Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Slideshows, Calendar, Contacts, Notes)
- Play is play is play. The Play button should never do anything except play or pause music. If I want to watch a slideshow, I will press the Select button to to start it. For those of us with the centre button as the Select button an option could be provided in the settings to swap the Select and Play buttons.
- Select is select is select. Should I be able to play tracks by pressing Select? I don’t think it should.
- And one day - I’d love a waterproof iPod
- A shortcut key combination to the Main Menu. A lot of clicking through menus could be saved by being able to easily jump to the Main Menu.
I love my iPod!
Well after reading all this, you’d think I hate my new iPod but I don’t. I LOVE it. It’s the sexiest and most beautiful device I’ve ever owned and it’s so very useful. I bought it because I wanted to be able to have playlists to suit my mood, Podcasts all together, contacts, calendars and ToDos, photos, slideshows… I bought it for everything it does. If I just wanted to listen to music, I would have been more than happy with my Shuffle (which was a gift) but with the Podcasts in iTunes 4.9 I reached my tipping point.
So I’m very happy that it does everything I want, but come on Apple, can you please polish the iPod’s interface?
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Comments
Dude, use the remote! *G*
The remote needs some improvements though
a) get rid of the current clip, it is horrible. It does not work well with any thickish material. What we need is a classic clip as on pens, or even better, with an added spring. I never use the remote because I can hardly attach it to anything I wear.
b) give the remote a display (OLED) that mimics an iPodmini’s screen
c) give it a “select” button
I would pay extra for such a remote, even though it should be standard.
I also applaud the right-angled plug. It does not look as good, but it makes sense. *hint* 3rd party headphones *hint*
Great article. I can think of one more major improvement that would make the iPod interface much more efficient:
Use the Menu Play buttons to move up and down between menu items, one item at a time. This would allow for easier selection that one song you are trying to navigate to. Using the scroll wheel often results in over-rotating and shooting way down to the end of the list! My worst nightmare on my iPod is selecting a specific artist and song from 20gb of music, now try doing that while driving, and it becomes virtually impossible, leaving you with no choice but to select the highly popular ‘Suffle Songs’.
With all due respect, you’re daft. The iPod has way too many features and way too much capacity to be able to control it as simply as a Shuffle. Your biggest argument seems to be you hate using the hold slider. So don’t use it. Two steps eliminated immediately.
Adding other functions (holding X button while standing on your head for 3 seconds chanting will disable the hold function) just makes it even more complex - which I thought was your complaint to begin with.
“Radio Shuffle?” Huh? You want a simpler interface, but your answer is just to add feature bloat. I’m sure Creative or Dell will be doing something like this very soon. Don’t fret.
This article strikes me as “I’m not sure what to write about, so I’ll turn some conventional wisdom on its head and attempt to justify my position.”
Message to Apple: Don’t listen. I like the interface just as it is. I think most of us do.
P.S. There are waterproof iPod cases available now.
I think Chris managed to point out, if a little unintentionally, that there are actually markets for both a Shuffle-type device and the regular, full-featured iPod.
No matter how much Apple simplifies the interface, the regular iPod will never become as simple as the Shuffle without adding new buttons.
But it’s not necessarily about ease of use. The Shuffle serves an entirely different market than the regular iPod.
For example, I would never take my full-size iPod snowboarding. Now only would I be concerned about the constant bumps and g-forces involved while riding down a hill, but moisture tends to have a nasty habit of condensing in alpine environments, as the iPod moves from the cold mountain air into the warm recesses of an inner jacket pocket. Who wants water collecting inside the LCD? I ruined a screen on my iPod this way and that was just because I accidentally left it in my car during a cold night and found water had condensed on the inner screen by noon.
I don’t use my full-szie iPod for exercising, either, because of the relative heft. The Shuffle is perfect for either of these activities, however.
But I do appreciate how the full-size iPod gives me more control over the way I listen to music. In the case of the color models, you have other options to enjoy content. These are feature that you really don’t need in environments that the Shuffle is suited for.
So the answer it seems, is that Apple wants everyone to own two iPods.
Agreed. While reading the initial article my reaction was “you’re out of your freakin mind”. But Paul’s response makes sense and puts it into perspective. The shuffle has all the music sorting features of a rock and I can never find what I want with it— but then again that isn’t the point, is it? It’s the easy route. iPod isn’t tough to use, it just isn’t dead simple (i.e. you have to look at it).
I guess I shouldn’t have titled it as I did, coz that over emphasized the Shuffle vs iPod thing, which was only half my argument.
I listed 20 suggestions - only two of those were related to my Shuffle comparison (i.e. swapping the Play and select buttons, and Hold over-ride)
I shoulda titled it something like “iPod interface needs refinement”
I expected disagreement on this article but Apple are always improving and refining their products, so for Billy K to say to Apple to not change anything… I don’t like his chances.
Apple will change the iPod, because nothing is perfect and when they do, I just hope they incorporate some of the changes I’ve listed.
Ever tried using a Dell mp3 player? A Samsung? A Sony? If not, try them. You’ll claim the iPod interface is perfect in 5 minutes flat.
Heheh - I took that line out of my original article, Dick. I decided it wasn’t polite to have a dig at the comp, but for our amusement this is how I was going to end the article:
“And yet we’re told the iPod has the most user friendly interface by far - the poor sods who own the others!”
#21 Contacts. Can the groups setup in Address Book be loaded onto the iPod as well?
#22 And the images on a contact too
IPOD question! Okay, I can get a 20GB Ipod for $199 refurbished. OR…I can get the 20GB Ipod Photo (now known, of course, simply as the Ipod) for $299. That’s a big difference and I want to know if it’s really worth it.
My wife is about to have a baby and I can see wanting the photo-viewing feature, but does anyone actually use this? I’ve never met anyone who did, so I’m wondering if it’s one of those things that seems like a good idea at the time but that you never actually use.
I’ve also heard numerous accounts of the 60GB Ipod Photo crashing constantly when trying to view a folder with too many photos, so I’m a little wary of the Ipod maybe being a little under-designed for handling photos.
If it’s your first baby, you’ll almost certainly use the photo viewing feature. The most likely scenario will be slideshows for the grandparents, but on their TV, not on the iPod.
It’s actually rather cool - and distracting - to put up a slideshow on TV with a nice bit of music behind it. It can be quite a time waster. But it’s not something I do often - but I do like the feeling of having all my photos on hand - and in your line of work Beeb, maybe there’d be some advantage in that too.
Also, I reckon the iPod slideshows viewed on TV could become the equivalent of the slide nights from the 60’s and 70’s.
Okay, I ended up getting a 30GB Ipod Photo (amazingly enough, that’s the feature that justified the Ipod for my wife so it was the Ipod Photo or nothing). Got it for one helluva deal at BB because it was discontinued.
So here’s my question: Obviously it works on my Mac just fine; but my PC says I have to format it to work with Windows (this is the Apple software, btw, not Windows). Am I wrong in thinking that the Ipod is cross-platform compatible? Do I really have to move all of my stuff over to the Mac in order to sync my Ipod?
If it can’t be done, then so be it, but it’d be nice if it could.
Beeblebrox, if you want to use the iPod as a hard drive then it needs to be formatted, either in a mac format or a windows one.
Currently, your iPod appears to have the mac format (HFS), and because Windows doesn’t support this format it will only work with your mac.
However, OS X has built in support for windows drive formats. Therefore, I suggest that the next time you plug it into windows and get the dialog box, proceed with the formatting and make it a ‘windows-iPod’. From then on you will be able to use it as an external drive with both Windows and Mac OS X.
Thanks, Oliver. But what if I don’t want to use it as an external drive but purely as a music player? If I format it with Windows, will it still work in OS X? It seems like it should, but I don’t know.
Also, is there any way to partition part of it as an external drive and part of it as a music player?