The Best ipod Is Cheap, and Old

The Second Generation Ipod Shuffle -$49.99

It wasn’t broke, but… Apple, being the king of “fixing” things that aren’t… tried to fix the ipod shuffle anyway.

The best ipod out there, bar none… is the second generation of the Ipod shuffle.  Its limitations are few.  You can’t reorganize songs while you’re away from your computer.  Yes, you’ll have to set that playlist before you unplug it and hit the road.  But it’s extremely easy and quick to skip around between songs with the easy to use buttons.  And there is that, uh… “shuffle” option.  There is no screen (obviously) either.  But if you’re hell bent on watching re-runs of Lost on a 2-inch screen… well then yes, you’ll have to go with a different option.

It’s downright tiny, it’s light, it clips perfectly onto your running shorts.  Two minutes into my run I forget it’s there.  And unlike the newest ipod shuffle, the controls are NOT on the headphone cord.  So if your headphones bite the dust, which mine often do… you can go out and buy any pair you want.  With the new shuffle they have to be the Apple headphones.

That’s a nifty and sneaky way to make more money, now isn’t it.

The Third Generation has 4GB of space, but… the 1GB you get with the second generation gives you enough space for 240 songs.  If you just gotta have all 453 of the songs you’ve downloaded instantly accessible, then by all means go with the newest of the new.  I’m sure you and the guy sitting next to you squinting and trying to watch Lost will understand each other.

($50.00 is too steep you say?  Get a re-furbished blue one from Overstock.com for $36.99)