AP: iPod shuffle "Best Portable Music Player for the Money"

The AP has joined in with the teeming masses of mainstream reviewers heaping praise on the iPod shuffle. The news service reviewed the US$99 512 megabyte model of Appleis newest and smallest iPod, which the company released in January during Macworld Expo. The reviewer, Ron Harris, praises many aspects of the unit, and calls it "the best portable music player for the money."

Mr. Harris put the unit through its paces by auto-filling it ("too much Insane Clown Posse and not enough Andres Segovia"), and by working with the shuffle feature. The iPod shuffle has no display and is intended to be filled and shuffled through its playlist.

While Mr. Harris said that those who want quick access to a specific song will find that to be a drawback, his impression was that Appleis paradigm works.

He also talks up the unit as simple to work with, easy to charge, and that Appleis design "proves that fewer bells and whistles can be just as good as more."

Mr. Harrisi positive review is just one of many that have been published in recent weeks from mainstream reviewers.