But I'm afraid that this is as far as my praise for this little device will go.
I know, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Honestly, I will use the iPod while commuting to and from work on my bicycle.
I have done so for quite some time.
Since last year I am completely Windowless, at least my computers are. My house still has windows, just to keep the cold out and the light in. But on my computers I have converted myself to a very satisfied Linux user. And that is where it starts to go horribly wrong.
If you've got it working on Linux, don't you ever connect your iPod to iTunes anymore, because a new software update will almost certainly break your Linux compatibility.
Any €10 mp3 player can simply be filled with music by dragging the songs to it.
Not with Apple products though, they require a crappy piece of software called itunes, which is not even available for Linux.
This is not Linux's fault, it's Apple's policy not to support the rebellious open source community.
To cut a long story short, here are a some reasons why I think the software of the iPod is crap:
On my way to work and back I have noticed that the random play feature of the iPod Shuffle is not too good either.
I've noticed, on several occasions, that the songs played on my way back were exactly the same songs that I've heard in the morning on my way to work, only in the reverse order.
It was a random thing and I have never been able to reproduce it.
But it happened, multiple times.
Especially for these kinds of situations I keep a virtual XP machine handy.
I simply installed iTunes on this virtual XP machine, only to copy my music selection to the iPod.
Thanks a lot Apple.
Here are some very good reasons why I am not an Apple fan boy. At least they are good enough for me.
I have used the iPod almost daily during my commute for quite some time, with a relatively fixed collection of music on it. However this lesson teaches me that I will never buy an other Apple product which requires the use of iTunes and that includes iPads and iPhones. The only thing I will ever own that starts with i, is a Toyota Aygo.