Diggin' the Shuffle

So, I'm heading to India and China in a few weeks for work and I'm starting to organize and plan. I was going back and forth about whether to bring my old iPod or my new Zune for tunes and audiobooks (and Podcasts like "This American Life" and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", which should be familiar to anyone who listens to NPR...) Anyways, I decided I'd get an iPod Shuffle and bring that along with the iPod or Zune so that I could use that for walking around, working out, etc. The reason to bring the second MP3 player is cause the Shuffle um..... shuffles. You can't pick what you want to listen to, which would be tricky with audiobooks 'n podcasts.

I ordered one from Apple's refurbished hardware site. If you aren't familiar with the idea of refurbished stuff, it's a great way to get discounted hardware directly from the manufacturer with all the same warranty, etc but for a lot less dough. Mine cost $49 for a 2nd generation (current) Shuffle (they retail for $79, so this made me very happy since no one discounts iPods). I just searched for Apple refurbished. What you're getting is hardware that was returned and they fix it and someone manually (and personally) tests it out (which doesn't happen with the new ones, by the way). They aren't allowed to sell them as new, so companies will resell these items for a good discount. Also, I didn't have to pay sales tax since Apple is in California & they don't have any stores in Washington State.

Anyhoo...

So, the thing arrives on Saturday (btw...who ships for Saturday delivery? Apparently, Apple does.) It's a good thing cause they wanted my signature and I would have been spitting mad if I came home from work on Monday and saw that stupid piece of paper saying I wasn't home to sign for my package and they'd try again...in a few days (I'm not the most patient kinda gal).

I immediately got on the web to search for tips and it turns out that you can choose what to sync to the device and you can tell it what order to play in - without shuffling! So, I loaded one audiobook and three podcasts and then told iTunes to fill the rest of the thing with assorted music. I set it to play the audiobook first and then the podcasts, so I know that tracks 1 & 2 are the Bob Newhart autobiography and tracks 3, 4 and 5 are podcasts. The remaining tracks are music. I set it to play in order rather than shuffle and automagically, it works for both music & spoken word....

I'm totally just bringing that on the trip with me. I'll have my other audiobooks and podcasts on my computer so that I can move them over to the Shuffle when I'm ready -- even if I'm on the plane or on an airport (cause there will be lots of that on this trip).

It's super cute and super handy. Apple's so on top of these things. I wish more of the world was this pretty and worked so easily.