Gratis keeps on rockin'
I got my free shuffle iPod today from Gratis. Once again, they have come through and proven that it is possible to get your free stuff if you give it a little time and effort. This makes the third iPod I have gotten, and possibly the most fun. It's very limited in functionality, as you've probably read in a lot of reviews, but it has huge appeal to me because I can take it jogging or wear it when I am outside working without worrying about shredding the hard drive.
Here's about how long it took to get the shuffle...
01/12/05 - Joined FreeiPodshuffle.com
01/17/05 - Credited for offer
01/25/05 - Submitted for approval with 3 greens
01/26/05 - One green rejected, back to work
01/30/05 - Put on hold because of the rejected referral???
02/01/05 - Previously rejected referral goes green again
02/02/05 - Taken Off Hold By Gratis, resubmitted for approval
02/04/05 - Approved for order, order placed
03/08/05 - Sent to Vendor, waiting on product
03/15/05 - iPod Shuffle Shipped by Gratis!
03/17/05 - Received My Free Shuffle iPod From Gratis!
Here's the box it came in and the shuffle iPod still in the box...
Here's what you get in the little tiny box! Some stickers, and a nice little pocket reference card are new additions to any iPod. Headphones, a neck lanyard, and the drivers disk round out the accessories.
Here is my free shuffle next to it's free 20 GB brother. See how tiny it is, and still 1GB?
Here is a nice full view of the shuffle. Very simple interface.
You have volume up/down, Play/Pause, Previous/Next and that's about it. If you hold the Play button for 3 seconds it will activate the 'Hold' feature making the keys not work until you do it again. The back side of the shuffle has a 3 position switch to let you play all of your music in order, or on shuffle mode, or turn the unit off. The only other interface is a few LED lights that flash different colors depending on what you're doing. It is all on the little pocket reference card that they send with the unit. Very nice touch.
What do I think so far?
I transferred 228 songs to the iPod using the 'Autofill' feature in iTunes. It selects random music from your Library (or subset that you can choose) and then transfers with one click. It took about 10 minutes (maybe less) with my USB 2.0 port on the laptop. Not too shabby.
The unit itself is very nice to hold and use. It is very well constructed and has a nice shiny white finish just like all of the other iPods. The only thing I don't like is that the lanyard doesn't seem to attach very securely. It seems like if it snagged a little on your clothing the iPod could become detached. It attaches with an extra end cap that snaps over the USB connector. I may buy a special sport case for it, so it won't happen.
My first impression of the controls is that they work well, but may be a little cramped for my thumb size. I haven't had too much trouble so far though, and after getting used to it I think they will work out just fine. I am just used to the larger click wheel on the 20GB iPod I have been using.
All in all it seems like a great little MP3 player, even without the screen you have a lot of options for listening to your music. As long as you don't mind refilling it every couple of days with new music, I highly recommend picking up one of these. I would say go with the 512 MB model, because you can still get easily 120 songs on it which can last you the entire day and you still spend under $100! Or get a free 1GB shuffle like me, even better.