[michiganjfrog]

Well I wouldnt say I "hate" the Shuffle, or that I take it all that seriously... its just an mp3 player, right?! I've never eveb seen the new Shuffle in person, let alone tried it in order to properly hate it! But from all I have seen of Apple and their adherents, I think people are too quick to choose the "Apple option" (which is usually a more expensive option), allowing Apple's marketing or design to be the biggest influence instead of letting "common sense" rule. I think that no matter what the product, if its made by Apple, there are much better equivalents out there at lower prices! They often get little respect or attention because they have different designs (I dont think its a coincidence all of Apple's products feature that round clickwheel....).

With the original Shuffle, what became apparent in review after review I read, is that people were paying more for *less* of a player, in comparison to the competition. In just about every sense of the word (except connection to iTunes). And yet, Apple seems to have sold quite a tidy sum of Shuffles nevertheless. (It may be considered a design failure to most but to Apple, even a design failure seems to sell well!). I'm sure you'll be happy with your Shuffle clone nevertheless... and I can see the appeal of this player (simplicty and size). I too would like to see a hands on review of the unit...