Can the iPod shuffle get any smaller?

rsf (apparently) - 03:11pm Feb 26, 2008 PST
via email

> I'm still betting that Apple releases an even smaller iPod within a
> few years.

I'm tempted to take that bet. The iPod shuffle is arguably as
physically small as it can usefully be for the near future. Take a
look at the product pages, and specifically this gallery page: <http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/gallery/index4.html>.

The face of the shuffle is just big enough for the control pad,
plus a place for your thumb to grip the unit when opening the spring-
loaded clip. The thickness is just big enough to accommodate the
headphone jack.

Any smaller design would have to incorporate technologies that aren't
common today. I can imagine an iPod that's simply a pair of earbuds,
communicating with each other and with the PC via some future
highspeed version of Bluetooth. It would charge via a wireless power
induction pad (of the kind that is frequently demonstrated but not yet
widely available -- I can't remember the exact name of the
technology). The controls would be touch-sensitive pads (or metallic
studs) on the outside of each earbud. Tap one earbud for pause/play;
tap the other on its top edge to raise the volume, or on the bottom to
lower it. Do a longer tap on the right earbud to skip forward, and
the left one to skip back. Of course, I assume that data storage can
be made arbitrarily small.

Is *that* what you had in mind? :-)


[Very much so, in fact! -Adam]


-- Russell Finn