Crazy Apple News Site

The brand new, button-free iPod Shuffles were announced just yesterday, and already a bug has been found.

“So, you like, you like that Ricky Martin, do you? Yeah, he’s pretty stylin’, isn’t he? Pretty hot. Myself, I prefer something more mellow. Something like Marvin Gaye. Should I put some Marvin Gaye on for us to listen to?” One user reported his Shuffle to say to him during a skiing trip.

“I like knowing what song I’m listening to, but this is kinda creepy,” said Edward S. of Newport Oregon. “I didn’t even have any Marvin Gaye in my iTunes library. Now suddenly I’m listening to ‘Let’s Get It On’ in every playlist.”

Other users have reported that the new shuffle talks about sports, The latest movies, and even politics.

“I read on the BBC that President Obama favors Merit-based compensation for teachers. Myself, I prefer a more…” said one person’s shuffle in the middle of their John Meyer playlist. “Apparently when it heard the song ‘Waiting On The World To Change’ it decided I wanted to talk about changing the world.” the befuddled owner said.¹

Apple has acknowldeged that some of the new iPod Shuffles have developed what they are calling the “iThink syndrome: A condition affecting less than 10% of new Shuffles, where the iPod shuffle develops it’s own personality and opinions about your music library.”

“Actually, pretty much all iPods do this, ever since we added the genius feature,” remarked an Apple employee who asked to remain nameless.² “The new Shuffle is the first iPod that’s actually been encouraged to talk over your music, and it does so. Other iPods just pick their own favorite songs and play those more often when you shuffle your library.” I asked if this is what was causing my iPod to play “Roam” by the B-52′s in every “Genius” playlist, but she just said, “Why do you even have that song?”

A patch for iThink is expected in the next few weeks.

1. Anyone listening to John Meyer voluntarily is definitely befuddled. [↩]
2. Not from us. They actually asked their parents not to give them a name. Great idea for a short story; not particularly relevant here. [↩]