SAN FRANCISCO--As widely expected, Apple Computer on Tuesday introduced a new version of its popular iPod music player dubbed the "Shuffle," priced at just $99 or $149

Based on flash memory, rather than the more expensive computer-like hard drives that have been the centerpiece of all other iPods, the new player is aimed at a segment of the market that has largely been untapped for Apple to date. The player has two versions, respectively holding 512MB and 1 gigabyte of memory.

"iPod users discovered a new way to listen to their music...shuffle," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said at the Macworld Expo here. "With shuffle you don't have to find your music; it's shuffled up for you."

Although widely expected following a series of leaks, Apple's move into the flash market does mark a departure from the company's previous high-end strategy. Jobs has previously dismissed small-capacity, relatively inexpensive MP3 players as products given as gifts and rarely used.

The flash market overall has been larger in terms of units sold than the hard-drive market, and remains very strong overseas. The largest share of the U.S. retail market over the past year belongs to iRiver, followed by Rio and RCA. Other players include Nike/Phillips, Samsung and Creative Technologies.

Other companies have been making their own new approaches to the low end and middle of the music player market as well. At last week's Consumer Electronics Show, Rio introduced a new 2.5-gigabyte player called the ce2100, priced at $199.

The holiday season proved a successful one for some of these Apple rivals. Creative Technology said Tuesday that it had sold more than 2 million MP3 players in the quarter ending December, prompting the company to raise its yearly revenue guidance substantially.

However, Apple remains the dominant player in the hard-drive based MP3 player market, accounting for more than 80 percent of sales in the year between October 2003 and October 2004, according to the NPD Group. The company said Tuesday that it had sold more than 4.5 million iPods in the fiscal quarter ending Dec. 25.

The company's share prices have soared from $40 to nearly $70 in the last three months, largely on expectations of continued iPod sales growth and associated positive effects on the rest of the company's business. The Prudential Equity Group said it expects Apple to ship 15 million iPod units and 22.5 million units in fiscal 2005 and 2006.

Tuesday's introduction of the flash iPod may also give Apple's iTunes store a boost. Previously, none of the flash players on the market could directly play songs purchased from Apple's digital music store, although customers could burn the songs to a CD and then re-rip them to MP3 format.

By offering a lower-priced player, Apple could attract a new segment of the market to its music store that previously only had access to rival download services such as Napster, Virgin Digital or MSN Music.

And it's tiny too...



...iPod shuffle

Just got back from CES. Gargantuan show. A gadget head's paradise.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

what's the point of this? the standard ipod does a just fine job of shuffling my music. is it solely an economical spin on ipod? seems like a waste of money. just save up and get the 20 gig ipod; 1 gig is nothing. i'm finding my 20 gig to be too small; its just about full. i couldn't imagine having only 1 gig!
[Edited 1/11/05 14:06pm]

SassyBritches said:

It is about money. They wanted to release a more "affordable" version. They introduced it, because there are a good number of people who don't want/need that many songs. I like the bigger memory version, so I won't be getting flash iPod.

RipHer2Shreds said:

so, is this a good thing for fiscally conservative folks such as myself?

hey, im a fiscal conservative?

OFFICER CRUMPSY!!

Wow. That's tiny.

My 20 GB is almost full. Thinking of upgrading around summer.

SassyBritches said:

I agree. To go to flash memory is a bit of a regression IMHO. That wasn't the point of the iPod in the first place.

VoicesCarry said:

See, I'm one of those people that had a 20gig, which I liked, but wished had a radio. Then my bag was stolen out of a bar with the Ipod in it. I decided to get a smaller (and cheaper) player with a radio, and I have to say, I prefer it. Not only do I love having the radio, I've learned to like having only a 1 gb player. It's still 24 hours of music, and while it's true you get tired of the songs more quickly, that just means you're more active in getting new stuff on there. I found that when I had the 20gb, I would just let stuff sit on there forever, and then when I'd put new stuff on, I"d get frustrated cuz I didn't want to shuffle through the old stuff. And I'm way too lazy to make playlists.

If they made this shuffle thing with a radio, I'd probably get one. Have no idea what Apple's trip is about that...
[Edited 1/11/05 14:55pm]

MendesCity said:

could it have to do with the whole beatles issue?

What can i say? It's cheap, it's usefull, i love it!
Working out with a HD player isn't ideal, and in comparison to this a regular iPod weighs like a brick.
I also love the iPod, but losing or breaking it would be horrible.
And i'm amazed how Apple managed to get into a very active market and still come up with the cheapest (i think) and most elegant (imnsho) player.
Hey, and with one Gig you can listen to two hours of music a day for a whole week without hearing the same song twice.



Disclaimer: yes, i'm somewhat of an Apple fanboy. So sue me

Although I love my 20 gig 3G, I think this unit would be ideal for the gym or snowboarding or similar uses.

Stax said:

Yeah, I can totally picture people using this during workouts, so non-cumbersome.

Christ.

So now Mac bring out a mini mini player, which costs twice as much as a hundred other players which incidently have better functionality, direct port access, MP3 and WMA playback, a screen and controls!?

Want something handy for the gym and a tiny price? They are all over ebay.

There are hundreds of "shuffle" killers already.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/...34452&rd=1

Its a gig, has a radio, records, tapes WMA too, is USB2, colour screen, menus AND it makes the "I-plod" shuffle look like a large tampon.

Selling my ipod was the best thing I ever did. Now I'm free to load what I want, play what I want, and a fraction of the cost.

Shuffle? Its been around for years. Its called "Random".

Steve Jobs should sell you mac heads white dildos and call them i-shaft.



.
[Edited 1/11/05 17:33pm]

Does this piece of crap skip?

SquirrelMeat said:

\

I-shaft? Now you're talking.

Oh, and you Gates-gits have your own form of punishment (pleasure)...it's called the Task Manager -- and its your master. By the time OSX really got going, I lost all respect for PC defenders. The equipment may be cheaper, but you get what you pay for, and frankly, I want my i-shaft as painless as possible.

And whats with the Mini Mac!?

The worlds most expensive paper weight!

SquirrelMeat said:

Now THAT thing is silly. I suppose it was designed to compete with lower PC prices, but by the time you buy a keyboard and monitor, it's not gonna be much of a deal. Just buy a damn ibook for a few hundred more and get a grownup computer!
[Edited 1/12/05 8:43am]