iPod Shuffle On The Way Out Already?

An anonymous reader writes "A CNN Money article, of all things, talks about the reasons Apple might have for getting rid of the iPod shuffle." From the article: "The shuffle may not be long for this world. The tiny MP3 player, a favorite of gym-goers, is cheap at $129, but lacks a screen. It may soon be replaced by a 1-gigabyte version of the iPod nano, according to UBS analyst Ben Reitzes. Currently, the smallest nano has 2 gigabytes of storage, enough for about 500 songs, and costs $199."

Comments

Not going anywhere

[AKAImBatman]

The tiny MP3 player, a favorite of gym-goers, is cheap at $129, but lacks a screen.

1. The $129 is for the 1GB version. The 512MB is very popular at $99, a full $100 less than the iPod Nano.

2. While the Nano's screen is very cool (*I* want one!), not everyone needs one. I gave my wife a 512MB Shuffle a little while back, and she couldn't be happier. As far as she's concerned, the screen is just a liability that she would never use anyway. Thus she's in no hurry to upgrade.

In fact, I probably wouldn't have gotten my wife an iPod at all if the 512MB price point wasn't so low. She asked me explicitly not to spend too much money on her (she was afraid I'd go out and get a $300 iPod), so I took the route of saving up a bit of extra spending cash here and there for a few months, and paid cash for the Shuffle. Even at $150, the Nano would be priced a bit too high for such a range.

I dont WANT a screen!

[dissolved]

I'm one of the aforementioned gym-goers and my iPod shuffle has been part of the reason I've lost so much geekweight(30kg) in the last year. Having a little, robust and fuss-free mp3 player with me has got me through some tough long distance runs and some gym sessions where I didn't want to be there.

I often sit there for ages with my iPod video not knowing which of the 30gb of music & podcasts I actually want to listen to, having that hassle on runs before with other media players has been more than off-putting.

The whole reason we bought a Shuffle for Christmas

[DaedalusLogic]

My dad has a bit less than 20/20 eyesight. If we give him a Nano or regular iPod he would fumble around with the clickwheel to select what he wants to listen to in the car. With the shuffle he just loads it with the few things that he wants and skips around.

If it's not making business sense I understand... but it is a good product. I hope that they are just coming out with a new incarnation of the Shuffle.

You say it can easily happen. Evidence?

[ianscot]

but have you ever had one of those slim cellphones? they snap in half which is what the nano can easily do.

A quick google finds me a lot of people who say they think this must be a problem, but I'm not finding anyone who says it's happened to them.

Personally I'm convinced I'd just plain lose a Nano, and the scratching put me off to start with, but "snaps in half" doesn't register on my list of concerns. Evidence?