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iPod1st generation

iPod shuffle (1st generation)

No screen, a control ring and a USB plug under the cap. Autofill picked the music and you pressed play.

Released January 11, 2005 · Discontinued September 12, 2006 · From $99 (512 MB)

iPod shuffle (1st generation)

No screen at all. Apple shipped a 512MB flash player the size and roughly the shape of a pack of chewing gum, with a control ring on the front, a lanyard loop, and a USB plug under the cap so it needed no cable. The pitch was that you should not need to choose. Autofill put a random selection from your library on it and you pressed play, which turned a limitation into the product. It cost $99 for 512MB and $149 for 1GB, undercutting every flash player worth owning, and Apple sold an enormous number to people who wanted something to run with. The slogan was that life is random, and it is one of the few pieces of Apple marketing that described the actual experience of using the thing.

Reviews & Reception

A screenless $99 iPod divided opinion on announcement, and reviewers who used it came back warmer than they expected.

Much of what has been said above shouldn't surprise you, but this section will: overall, we've liked the iPod shuffle more than we thought we would.

Jeremy Horwitz · 2005

We must emphasize that despite the lack of a screen, the iPod shuffle is actually fun to use.

Jeremy Horwitz · 2005