Apple makes the Shuffle even lousier

The 1st generation Shuffle was brilliant. The second, not so much ...

Gordon's Tech: USB adapters for the evil 2 Gen Apple iPod Shuffle

The 2nd generation iPod shuffle uses yet another proprietary apple connector (YAPAC). Yes, another dongle on the desktop, another usb port taken, another thing to lose, another device to carry when traveling.

Sure Apple could have used a mini-B USB interface instead (the original shuffle used a full-sized USB connector, the original iPod used a standard firewire connector), but that would have been insufficiently greedy (aka unfair to Apple shareholders and stakeholders). Apple makes a zillion dollars off their ownership of the full sized iPod interface. They needed another proprietary connector for devices that are too small for the current iPod connector.

Grrrrrrr. This alone is reason enough to buy a Shuffle alternative -- if anyone would make one that played AAC encoded music...

So what does Apple do for the 3rd generation?

They keep the crummy 2nd gen cradle, but now they move the device controls to the earphones. So now the Shuffle has a de facto proprietary earphone connector.

Avoid this.