Review: Apple ReShuffles the Deck

The advent of the new Apple Shuffle proves at least one thing: Apple is not willing to give up the bottom of the digital-music-player market.Facing new competition from the likes of SanDisk with its new Sansa SlotRadio 4GB player, Apple is out with the third generation of the Shuffle, at $79, with a host of changes that not everyone might be happy about. The new Shuffle is tiny — about the size of a house key. Unlike the second generation Shuffle, which is still out there ($49 for 1GB, or about 240 songs) with five vibrant colors, the new model comes in either silver or black aluminum finish. It has 4GB of flash memory, and advertises room for about 1,000 songs. I loaded on 973, but some of my selections are pretty lengthy orchestral works. Apple claims the new Shuffle has a battery life of 10 hours compared with 12 for the 2nd generation. But as I write this, my Shuffle has been going nonstop for 12 hours and 3 minutes. We'll see if lasts out the piece.