I have a confession to make; I just love small shiny gadgets. Big surprise eh? Well Apple have just released what I can only describe as a very small, very shiny gadget and I’m besotted, again. Yes the new iPod Shuffle has arrived on our shores.

The highlights are; 4 gig of space and Voice Over all in a tiny 8×18x45mm package.

“What the heck is voice over?” I hear you say. Well Voice Over is a genius idea. I’ve had a Mark II Shuffle for a year or so now and yes I know it’s my library but I auto fill it with random music and sometimes I hear a track and have no idea what it is. 

Now you can simply press a button on the headphone cord, the music fades down and the Shuffle tells you the track and artist you are listening too.  The Shuffle can also tell you the playlist names and even nags you to charge it’s battery.  Genius.

The only control on the Shuffle itself is a single switch with three positions; Off, Play in Order and Shuffle.  Volume, Voice Over and navigation controls are all on the headphone cord.  So this leads me to my only worry, can I use my favourite headphones with this thing?  Well good news Schosche has saved the day and released an adaptor.  The first of many I’m sure.

The Shuffle is available from Apple in the UK for £59 which sounds like a reasonable price for all that shiny loveliness.

[editor's note - in case it wasn't obvious, Kevin is a born-again Jobbite. We don't hold that against him though - the rest of us think the new shuffle is pretty cool too!]