New iPod Shuffle: “Wow, Look How Small It Is”
General Design, Product Design, Upcoming Inventions
There is a lot of hype about the sleek new design of the iPod Shuffle. People are eating up the re-design, paying much respect to the size with little regard to the true benefits that have been incorporated with the new speaking feature.
The iPod Shuffle is being drooled over for all of the wrong reasons. The ADA-friendly music device has bridged the gap between the visually impaired and the audio aficionado. Never mind how the speaking feature can be used for the blind, say design blog authors, look how small it is!
Bloggers and gadget geeks are abuzz because the Shuffle tells you what you’re listening to in a cool robot voice. But, have you heard that if you use a PC to load music, you get the lesser of cool robot voices (think Marge Simpson’s sisters) telling you what track and artist you are listening to? No, but you have heard many times over about how it is the size of a house key.
There is no doubt that a bunch of people are going to race out and buy this device blindly, paying no mind to the new features other than they are new, it’s Apple. There are people who will have to have this, using it as nothing more than an accessory or as a status symbol for coolness.
This design’s best achievement, making music more accessible to the blind or visually impaired, is what should be hyped by the press. The fact that the display-less mp3 player can be controlled using a toggle on the wire of the ear buds is where it’s at.
News for all of you Apple-loving design bloggers: the smaller a gadget gets does not gauge how cool it is. Look a little deeper, think a little harder. A lot of what is designed goes further than just size.
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