Because of this Ipod Shuffle's small and pocket-handy design, your workout can now be completed to the sounds of your favourite songs. However, despite the pocket size and its ability to be used almost everywhere, be it indoors or out, the Apple Ipod Shuffe has attracted a lot of criticism. It may be argued that most products in today’s markets have their flaws, and this Ipod indeed has, but Apple has nevertheless managed to keep this product extremely competitive with other such devices. No doubt the first positive aspect to mention would be its ability to be taken almost everywhere. While you’re exercising, walking your dog or simply sitting around the house or on a journey somewhere, the Ipod can be used to listen to whatever music downloaded to the device.

Other positive aspects include the user friendly way of downloading and categorizing music on the device. This is something Apple has really made beneficial to its buyers; the music can easily be transferred from a computer using the Itunes software and, in a matter of seconds, can be played through the Ipod’s earphones. If the user does not wish to place all of his music collection on to the device or prefers specific songs, then this can be done by an easy drag and drop of songs included in the user’s ITunes. Furthermore, any music transferred to the Ipod is automatically categorized depending on such aspects as genre and artists etc. The earphones themselves allow music to be clearly heard and are, overall, a really good quality way of listening to whatever music the user enjoys.

Though the headphones play music to a very high quality, the functionality of the headphones may be slightly disappointing to some people. For example, where, on the one hand the headphones have easy to use buttons for the playing, pausing and skipping of songs, the phones themselves are rather sensitive to sweat. This is a disappointing aspect of this Ipod as it was designed to be the most beneficial to those who want to listen to music during workouts. Other niggling problems include the comfort of using the earphones. In the past, users of the device have commented on the problem of keeping the earphones in the ear during exercise. The life of the battery is another one of those issues that may have been designed a little better as well. Earlier Ipod Shuffles tended to feature a longer battery life and were quicker to charge up again.

 Despite the flaws, the Ipod Shuffle is still a handy and easy to use product popular with many people. One cannot feel though, that Apple may have let itself down a little here though, especially in regard to the comfort and functionality of the earphones. To appeal to even more of the public, one may feel that Apple has to resolve these niggling aspects to completely dominate the market.