MP3 Insider

In spite of its unassuming size, the Apple iPod Shuffle is a surprisingly sophisticated MP3 player. With voice feedback, headphone control, playlist management, and podcast support, the iPod Shuffle is in many ways more advanced than the original brick-size iPod.

You don't need a PhD to get started with your first iPod Shuffle, but even seasoned iPod veterans could use a few pointers on this buttonless beauty. Just as we did with the iPod Touch and the iPod Nano, we've put together a video and a slideshow tutorial on setting up the iPod Shuffle.

If you have any additional tips to share, feel free to plug them into the comments section.

How to set up an iPod Shuffle--photos

New 3D games are available for Zune HD owners, and they're all free.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Zune HD owners have something to smile about today. The latest firmware update, version 4.3, not only brings a handful of general fixes (including accurate playcounts), but also ushers the Zune HD into a proper 3D gaming device.

To celebrate the new capability, six new games have been added to the Zune Marketplace software, which users can download to their updated Zune HD at no cost. Games include PGR: Ferrari Edition, Lucky Lane Bowling, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, Piano, Checkers, and Audiosurf: Tilt. We're not exactly jumping out of our seat over Piano and Checkers, but the rest of the titles look genuinely fun--and did we mention they're free?.

Just like the existing games available for the Zune HD, the new titles also show a brief advertisement upon start-up.

A news release e-mailed to us from Microsoft also states "we will be delivering additional applications for Zune HD including Facebook and Twitter in the future."

This week, Donald and Jasmine discuss the firmware fix to the Zune HD, which can now count itself a feature short of one-upping the iPod Touch, thanks to a new Gigaware remote that adds HD radio to the omnipresent king of MP3 players. We also get to spend a little one-on-one time with the slick-but-confusing Cowon E2 and the boring-but-shuffletastic Haier America Video MP3 Player. Plus, we direct you to a couple of how-tos you may find worth your while, and we address some listener questions about earphones, podcast management, and iPod speaker docks.

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The Apple iPod clinched an early success over the MP3 player market by making it dead-simple to load and manage music onto a portable device. Ease of use still defines Apple's products, but when you're talking about a do-it-all device like the iPod Touch, there's only so much you can do to keep things simple.

As Apple's hottest-selling iPod, there are a lot of newcomers to the iPod Touch who may be a little surprised at its complexity. Compared with the iPods of yesteryear, the Touch is practically a handheld computer.

Last week I gave you an overview of setting up an iPod Nano. This week, we're giving the third-generation iPod Touch the same video and slideshow treatment.

If you have your own tips to share, feel free to add them in the comments section.

How to set up an iPod Touch--photos

The iAudio E2 from Cowon offers an interesting alternative to the iPod Shuffle. Hey, at least it has buttons.

(Credit: Cowon America)

Is the iPod Shuffle just a little too boring for you? If you like your MP3 players small, cheap, and stylish, but prefer actual buttons to Apple's odd headphone-clicker voice navigation, the iAudio E2 from Cowon may be just the thing--that is, once someone can explain to us how it works.

On sale for the first time today, the 4GB iAudio E2 is priced at $64.99 from Jetmall. The key-ring-shaped MP3 player is 1 inch wide by 2.5 inches tall by and 0.3 inch thick, and is meant to be worn on a necklace. Like the iPod Shuffle, the E2 is an audio-only device, but tackles a different range of audio formats (MP3, WMA, FLAC, Ogg, WAV).

Like most MP3 players out of Cowon, the real clincher is audio quality. A total of 8 JetEffect audio enhancement presets are included (BBE, BBE VIVA, BBE VIVA2, BBE Mach3Bass, BBE MP, BBE Headphone, BBE Headphone2, BBE Headphone3) to squeeze your music for all its worth. A built-in voice guide is used to browse and select from the sound enhancement presets.

It all sounds great in theory, but there's no telling how well the E2's navigation works until we get our hands on it. At least it looks like there are a few real buttons, which might make up for the confusing hieroglyphics on the front. Right off the bat, though, I have to say that 11.5 hours of battery life isn't exactly dazzling. Also, lack of AAC support is going to be hard to swallow for iPod expats.

In recent statements, Apple reports 50 percent of new iPod sales are going to customers who are buying their very first iPod. That means millions of people are setting up an iPod for the first time. Personally, I'm a little scared for them.

The iPod celebrates its 8th birthday this month, and it has come a long way. What started out purely as a digital music player has evolved into a video-recording, movie-renting, fitness-tracking, do-everything device. For first-time users, I can imagine the experience of setting up a new iPod is as overwhelming as it is exciting.

To help make the most of your new iPod, I'm putting together a series of How-To guides for setting up each of the current iPod models (Nano, Touch, Shuffle, and Classic). I'm kicking things off with the iPod Nano--a deceptively simple-looking, candy-colored device loaded with more new features than any other iPod this season.

The video version of my iPod Nano setup guide is available for download from CNET TV, and an accompanying slideshow can be found below. If you have any other tips for first-time iPod Nano owners, feel free to share them in the comments section below.

How to set up an Apple iPod Nano--pictures

An Apple patent design shows what would happen if its iPod Shuffle and Bluetooth headset mated.

(Credit: United States Patent Application)

In a future where we're all walking around wondering how our iPod brain implants came to exist, historians can point back to this Apple patent application from 2008 and glimpse the missing link: an in-ear iPod.

Of course, others may see this as simply a Bluetooth headset with integrated memory and audio playback capabilities (music, voice mails). The Orwellian in me, though, is fairly certain this gadget will mark Apple's slow crawl into our skulls. Read the patent's abstract to judge for yourself:

Additional functionality in a wireless headset allows it to be used during times that the external device with which it is wirelessly coupled is not being used, but when the headset is nevertheless being worn. This is accomplished by integrating a media player into the wireless headset. The media player may be an audio player, capable, e.g., of playing audio files such as MPEG-3 ("MP3") files. Optionally, the media player may include a recording function as well, so that a user can record voice notes. In addition, if the external device is a telephone (mobile or landline), the availability of a recording function could make it possible for the user to record all or part of a conversation. Similarly, voicemail messages received on the user's telephone could be uploaded into the headset for later off-line playback. Media files recorded by the headset also could be downloaded to the external device.

Apple headset with media player patent--photos

(Via Electronista)

(Credit: CNET)

CNET Labs finished their panel of battery drain tests for the fifth-generation Apple iPod Nano, and the results are better than expected. Testing for continuous playback of audio and video, the Nano reached an average of 33.6 hours of audio or 5.3 hours of video.

Given Apple's own modest battery rating of 24 hours of audio or 5 hours of video, we expect Nano owners will be happy to know they have a little extra time to squeeze from their iPods.

Donald and Jasmine discuss some iPod numbers as well as a troubling issue with the Zune HD that Microsoft appears to be ignoring, at least for the time being. Also on deck is a new music service from Google that's aiming to make your music hunting experience a little easier, and some first impressions on the DoubleTwist software, which has been making waves among Palm Pre and other music phone users. Plus, we have some listener curiosity and hit on the fact that we're not tech support for Dell.

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