Shuffles + Headphones + Device Acquisition Strategies

It’s kind of cute or weird or funny or something when your music system is about a fraction of the size of your headphones. This is the case with my new Apple iPod Shuffle, and trusty old Audio Technica ATH-ES7 headphones.

For mother’s day this year, I decided to order my world’s greatest mom a little pink (pronounced, “pank” by southern rednecks like me) iPod Shuffle. While browsing the Apple Store, I got to thinking that I sure would like to have one too…

Problem was, as usual, finding a justification that I can successfully slip by the boss wife. You see, I already owned a 4G 60GB iPod and an 2G 8GB iPod nano, making it kind of difficult to justify a Shuffle. But after 79 years of marriage (well, it seems that long…), I’ve become a master at this. Watch how this goes…

Let’s start with the purchase of my new (and amazing) Apple TV last month. Given that I consequently no longer used the 4G for videos, and had started toting it around for serious listening, the undeniable truth is that I actually haven’t been using the nano that much. In fact, about the only thing I used the nano for at this point, was jogging, and, clearly, the Shuffle would be a preferable jogging device, right?

So, how to get rid of a nano…

Once again, my office colleague, and design critique buddy, Alex, saved the day. (Alex and I often support each other’s needs to find justifications for gadget purchase – and bag purchases, and software purchase, and t-shirt purchases…)

Turns out, through a bit of justification creation of his own, Alex came to the realization that he really needs a nano!

Not long ago, he bought a shiny new 5G iPod (which, compared to my 4G iPod has 20 more GB of space, a screen that’s not so scratched it makes you cringe to look at it, and, of course, an extra “G”.) But, thinking about how he was using it, it was really just a tad too big for him.

So, we agreed to do a swap – his 5G iPod for my 2G nano.

Bingo– we’re there. At this point, I’ve got a 5G iPod, a 4G iPod, and a whopping big void at the small end of the scale. I could now sell the 4G (anybody interested?), and purchase the (highly justified) Shuffle.

See? I’m good this. I should write an eBook called, “How to justify anything you want!”, and make millions. (Then I could afford anything I want!)

So along with my mom’s pank one, I ordered myself an orange little iPod Shuffle.

There’s several advantages to buying stuff from Apple in the US. For starters, and this must be a dirty little secret, iPods purchased in Europe have volume limits. Can you believe it? The governments here won’t even let me damage my own hearing. Second, Apple, so focused on simplicity, have a pricing structure where all prices are the same, regardless of the currency. So a $79 Shuffle costs 79 Euros here in Spain. (And 79 Euros is about equivalent to $106!)

It arrived yesterday, and I hooked it up to my Audio Technica’s, and it is just amazing. Looks great. Sounds great. Works great. Apple industrial design is just miles ahead of anybody else out there.

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