The iPod Shuffle is the forgotten sibling of the iPod range. Often overshadowed by its largely popular siblings iPhone, iPad and iPod touch the iPod Shuffle isn’t as popular as the rest of the iPod family. Yet the iPod Shuffle has features and attributes worth noting, and if you are planning on purchasing a new MP3 player, these are the reasons as to why that MP3 should be an iPod Shuffle:

1. The iPod Shuffle is the smallest iPod of the range. If you like compactness, this is definately the iPod for you. It weighs just 0.38 ounces with the aluminium cover, (0.61 for the stainless steel cover) either way it is pretty light. It is 1.8 inches tall, 0.7 inches wide and o.3 inches thick, I think you’ll agree that that is pretty small.

2. Despite it being smaller than a battery, it certainly does better for playback. When fully charged, this tiny Shuffle gives you up to 10 hours of playback, with its built in polymer lithium battery. No faffing around with batteries as with older MP3 players.

3. The iPod shuffle may be tiny, but its controls are easy to use, which are found on the earphones as a remote control. It beats any other MP3 because you don’t have to take out your Shuffle to change the track or volume while running or on the train, you can control it all from your earphones.

4. The iPod shuffle now has a feature called ’VoiceOver'which tells you the name of the song that is to play as well as the name of the artist. With the iPod Shuffle’s large capacity of 4GB or 1,000 songs (5th reason why you should buy the Shuffle) you’re bound to listen to a track you’ve forgotten the name of. If you press the centre button of the remote control on the earphones, the VoiceOver function tells you the name of the track and the artist, without interrupting the song itself. You can also hear the titles of your playlist if you continue to hold the centre button.

The iPod Shuffle may lack a screen which most other MP3 players including iPods have, but it makes up for its deficiencies with its unique features like VoiceOver and its easy to access controls. The iPod Shuffle is a compact yet robust MP3 player which comes in a variety of colours including a modern stainless steel finish.