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Apple’s iPod and iPod mini turned the MP3 player genre on its ear and have become the new standard by which other portable audio players are measured. Well, Apple is at it again, this time with a miniscule Flash player called the iPod shuffle. This unit takes everything music fans love about the original iPods, such as click-wheel control and iTunes AAC compatibility, and puts it in compact, more affordable package. About the size of a cigarette lighter, the shuffle is small and light enough to go anywhere.

The iPod shuffle’s name refers to its playback abilities. This player lacks a display to show what songs are loaded. iTunes software on a PC or Mac is used to fill up the player; a playlist can be dragged and dropped into the shuffle, or iTunes will autofill the shuffle with whatever songs it randomly chooses from a user’s iTunes music library. The shuffle then has two playback modes–it will either play the downloaded list in order, or it will pick the tunes and play them back in random order. You know, shuffled.

Unlike the hard drives used by the original iPods, the shuffle sports a skip-free Flash memory system. The shuffle is available with two storage capacities, either 512MB or a more practical 1GB, which will store about 16 hours of music coded at 128kbps. The shuffle will play MP3, AAC (iTunes), WAV, and Audible audio book formats.

The iPod shuffle connects to a computer via USB cable, or the player can plug directly into a USB slot. It has a built-in lithium-ion rechargeable battery good for about 12 hours of playback, and it can recharge by either the supplied power adapter or from the USB connection when plugged into a computer. It comes with adequate-sounding earbuds and a USB cable. Expect the unexpected when you (iPod) shuffle it up.

The $99.00 MSRP is for the 512MB version; the 1GB version has an MSRP of $149.00.