It appears I’m the only one who loved the third generation iPod Shuffle. To me it was the perfect iPod Shuffle! It was tiny, sleek and absolutely gorgeous. It was narrow rather than square, making it easier to clip it onto your clothes. And I believe it was absolutely consequential to move the controls over to the EarPods! The iPhone has always had EarPods with controls*, and the position is much more comfortable there then on the device itself. A cable remote was also standard with MiniDisc players, and I remember having devices that relied on the cable remote, too. So I never understood the hate the third generation got!
I’m very sad about the death of the iPod. I always thought about getting another one, but I just can’t find a need for it. And now with streaming music and Bluetooth headphones, the iPod is obsolete anyway. I’m doubly sad for the fact that Apple has reverted the Shuffle to its second generation and never improved upon it again, and has actually worsened the iPod Nano with every subsequent iteration starting with the square touchscreen Nano. The last generation felt like a knock-off iPod Touch. Not a proud way to go …
*Which unfortunately changes with the AirPods.
