The iPod Shuffle

I like riding with music playing. Not all the time, but I do like it. Previously I've used my old Rio Karma, which I think is an excellent hard disk MP3 player. It's getting old'ish now, but it still does the trick: good ergonomics, good interface and good quality sound.

Being a hard disk player it does have a tendancy to freeze/skip under certain circumstances - but surprisingly I never had any problems with it while snowboarding. What was less suitable was the size and weight, and I was kinda worried about damaging it...

Enter the iPod Shuffle. When I ride I pretty much listen to one or two playlists - so the 1GB capacity is more than adaquate. I also just put the playlist on random - so the lack of screen and selection methods presents no problems.

But what's really cool is the size. The shuffle is tiny! It's also super light. Solid state, no freezing and you can carry this thing around in your pocket and not even know that it's there. It's excellent.

I'm not totatlly sure about iTunes yet, but one way or another I'll sort that out. I just can't wait to use it on the hill :-)