Just over a week ago I reviewed the iPod shuffle for The Guardian here in the UK and made it absolutely clear of my feelings towards Apple’s decision to prevent any headphones with clickers (Apple or otherwise) working with the latest shuffle - an otherwise excellent piece of kit.
Wearable, and designed to be used without a screen, [the iPod shuffle] seems to scream for use when you’re exercising, except for the fact it is at the mercy of its own headphones – ones that refuse to stay in my ears when walking, let alone working out. If you’re happy or indifferent with the Apple-supplied ones then the shuffle is the ideal workout companion. But if you’re wanting to use any other earphones you’ll be sorely disappointed with the shameful support for other headphones in the shuffle, and probably wise to look at something else.
Let’s consider it highly likely we’ll get inline volume controls on the next iPhone’s headset (and of course, no existing headsets will be able to control the volume - that’s understandable). But here remains the one, vital in my mind, question: will Apple continue their push for licensing revenue with the clicker and lock out the clickers on existing headphones in the next iPhone - as they have with the iPod shuffle?
Quite frankly, if I can’t use my (slightly pricey, awesome-sounding) Bang & Olufsen headphones and their clicker with the next iPhone, I’ll be one seriously pissed-off bunny.
Posted on Saturday May 30th, 2009
© Nik Fletcher 2007-2011 ~ Contact
