My partner just ordered a iPod Shuffle. It joins the 1G iPod, iPod mini, Rio S30S, and Sony MZ-S1 already in our mobile music stable. The shuffle is compatible with our existing infrastructure and should eliminate the annoying silence when the buffer runs out during a workout.

The price was right. And while the feature set could be more robust, it appears to be an excellent complement to feature sets already provided by Apple’s iPod lineup. The same device from anyone else would have gotten the cold shoulder. But the iPod brand sealed the deal.