I own a fifth generation, 30GB iPod. It holds some 7,500 songs, 20,000 photos, or 75 hours of video. It sports a 2.5-inch diagonal screen, which is pretty cool for watching movies on while at work. It’s just under 5 ounces, though, which I have a problem with when I lift weights at the gym or go for a run on the local high-school’s track. It jumps all over the place, and inertia makes it want to throw itself from my pocket onto the ground. So I bought an iPod Shuffle.

This isn’t my first Shuffle. I had a 1st generation model, larger of the two in the image above. About the size of a pack of gum, it held about 120 songs and that’s all. It broke the evening of the last day it was covered under warranty. I called Apple the next day, and they wouldn’t replace it, the bastards.

That irritation was mostly ok, though, because I didn’t actually need it, as I wasn’t really working out, and mostly only had that iPod because I loved it. It felt so good in the hand. The buttons clicked so right. The little switch on the back that turned the iPod on and off, turned shuffle on and off, slid perfectly, and clicked into place so very wonderfully. I miss that iPod, to tell the truth.

Well, when the time came to buy a new Shuffle for the gym, the price had

come down quite a bit. When the original white Shuffle was new, it cost $150. When I bought mine, it was $120. When I got my new, red, aluminum Shuffle,  it was $50. Which is kind of amazing, because it came the new Apple Earbuds. Alone, those earbuds cost $30, which implies that the iPod Shuffle itself is only $20. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

So my red iShufflePod Pro Deluxe Walkman is great. it weighs 0.55 ounces, which is just heavy enough for gravity to keep it from floating away. I generally keep an episode of This American Life as the first track, just in case the Shuffle is the only iPod I’ve got and I want to listen to a story. The rest of the iPod is filled up with songs that I’ve given 4- or 5-star ratings to, and that I haven’t listened to in at least one month. Doing it this way means I’m gonna be listening to songs I like, but that aren’t over played, and that’s awesome for when I’m running the track.

My good friend Christopher hates the Shuffle. He’s gone so far as to say he wishes that Apple would discontinue it. His argument was something like, “Apple’s marketing it as a low-end iPod, and as a low-end iPod it sucks.” I think that’s wrong-headed. If Apple discontinued the Shuffle, I’d be sad. I think it fits a wonderful niche, a $50 niche. Having to spend $150 on an the next cheapest iPod, the Nano, would very likely prevent me from having music while working out, which might in turn prevent me from working out as much as I do, which would likely result in my infirm midsection being more infirm than it is now. I’d be too self-conscious to ever even initiate physical intimacy with my wife ever again.

Thanks, iPod Shuffle!

Christopher does have a point, however: as an only iPod, or as a first iPod, it’s really not a great choice. I’d say that it’s a really great way to augment a larger iPod like the Classic, Touch, iPhone, or full-sized iPods like my own. They can’t sit in a pocket while I run; they flop too heavily, and put my genitals in danger. In an armband, they look stupidly large, and feel stupidly heavy, and fall down too readily. And since these users already have an iPod with a screen, buying a second, smaller iPod which also has a screen for $150 is stupid.

However, if you’ve already got a Nano or Mini, a shuffle is a silly extra device: your iPod is already small enough not to be a pain.

And this is where Christopher and I agree: the Shuffle should not be your only iPod. It should not be your first iPod. It’s an extra iPod for when big and heavy is, well, big and heavy and inconvenient. Don’t get it as a present for anybody unless they specifically ask for one. You’re not doing them any favors if you do.