[July 4th]

If you are looking for an mp3 player, the iPod shuffle is a pretty inadequate player for the price. No display, not that small, pretty much just a memory stick with a headphone out.

BUT, if you are looking for a USB storage device, if you spend about $50 more over the purchase price of a straight memory device, you get an mp3 player too. Not worth it, IMHO.

Note the disclaimers on the website:

Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128Kbps AAC encoding.
Do not eat iPod shuffle.
Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
Some computers require either the optional iPod shuffle Dock or a USB cable extender (sold separately).

[SamAdams76]

The iPod Shuffle looks pretty lame to me. Get the real thing. I've had a 40GB iPod since September and I still can't get over how amazing it is. The thought of using a 512MB or 1GB "flash" device with no display depresses the hell out of me. I'm currently shuffling a playlist of 5248 songs right now. It will take me until about Memorial Day to hear it all and by then, I'll have loaded about 5000 more songs. Then I'll probably have to get one of the 80GB or 100GB iPods that will be out by then. Then I'll truly have a lifetime of music at my fingertips and I can hit "Shuffle All" and hope to hear them all before I die.

[hemogoblin]

I have one of these, which is intended for PCs but works fine with my Macs/iTunes. It has only 64 MB, but:

It's the size of Bic lighter
It runs on one AAA battery.
It plays music in the order you want.
It cost $80 a year ago.
You can buy bigger ones.
It also serves as a USB thumb drive.