The iPod as Free Toaster

[Kire]

The Free Toaster? Today, It's an IPod

By DAVID BERNSTEIN
Published: August 18, 2005

CHICAGO, Aug. 17 - When Nahs Horton, a 26-year-old entrepreneur, recently decided to join Lakeshore Athletic Club, a fitness center here, he cited two reasons, one big and one tiny, for doing so: the chance to play pickup games with National Basketball Association players who sometimes work out there, and the free iPod Shuffle that the club offered for signing up as a new member.

"To play against N.B.A. players - that's the biggest reason I joined," Mr. Horton said. "But they were like, 'Hey, if you join you get an iPod Shuffle,' and I was like, 'Cool, that's an added bonus.' "

To lure customers these days, marketers at corporations and small businesses are capitalizing on the iPod craze by giving away the popular digital music players made by Apple Computer. In fact, iPod Minis are the No. 1 "motivational" electronics product, according to the trade publication Incentive.

IPods come in three versions: the original ($299 to $399 for 20-gigabyte and 60-gigabyte models); the iPod Mini, which holds less music and comes in four colors ($199 to $249 for 4-gigabyte and 6-gigabyte models); and the iPod Shuffle, about the size of a pack of gum ($99 to $129 for 512-megabyte and 1-gigabyte models).

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/18/technology/circuits/18ipod.html?8cir&emc=cir

[Chichiri]

1. Why is it called the iPod shuffle?

[supernova]

2. It's little more than a memory stick

that plays about 200 songs, I think. And I don't think you can search the list and pick and choose your songs. It just has the one random, shuffle playlist setting.

But they are cheap compared to the regular iPods.

[Lisa]

6. wow -- did the twins "cheap out" on their dad's birthday gift?

Bush allegedly uses an iPod Shuffle when he's working out.

http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2005/08/14/Worldandnation/Hitting_the_trail_wit.shtml


If this is the same iPod his daughters gave him last year, maybe they're trying to tell him something? (I can't imagine them being short of cash.)

[Touchdown]

3. It shuffles the music.

There's no set playlist.

[TecnoCrat]

4. Actually, there is a playlist.

Once you set a playlist for it in iTunes, it can and will play them in order of the list. I can also shuffle them, but that's just one setting.

/apple geek

[supernova]

5. Ah, thanks

for clearing that up.