Newsflash! Walt Mossberg Likes iPod Shuffle!

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20050112.html' target='_blank'>http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20050112.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I've been testing the new iPod Shuffle for a couple of days, and, in my tests, it fulfilled -- and even exceeded -- Apple's claims for convenience, battery life and song capacity. Sound quality is so good you can barely believe the music is coming from something so small."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/mossbergshuffle.gif" /><br /><br />Gosh, who could have seen this coming? Mossberg gives thumbs up to yet another Apple product? Stunning. I respect Walt's opinion, but the man has annoying habit of treating Apple products with kid gloves; allowing his glowing admiration for all things Apple to color his judgment at times.

[Jason Dunn]

Apple could release a sticker and Walt would write a 1000 word column about how much better of a sticker it is than every other sticker he's ever used. :roll:

[Jason Eaton]

Have you seen the Apple stickers (http://search.ebay.com/apple-sticker_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8)? Man are they glossy.

Besides, what is the going price for a genuine Windows sticker? :lol:

[gry]

He drank the Apple Kool Aid a long time ago.

I think we all shold just ignore his commentary and stop replicating it on other news sites, he'll hopefully just go away...and listen to his iPod shuffle and write useless articles on his iMac mini.

[Tim Williamson]

Apple could release a sticker and Walt would write a 1000 word column about how much better of a sticker it is than every other sticker he's ever used. :roll:

ROFLMAO! :lol:

[DrVictorVonDoom]

Walt Mossberg is a complete hack and a fraud when to come to serious technology reviews. I know for a fact that he doesn't even test or write his own reviews. I believe it falls to some intern named Katie Boehret. And the word on the street is that he doesn’t even know how to use a PC (hence his love for Apple Macs).

I remember a review he did on a flash player by either iriver or Samsung where he compared the 256MB flash player to the iPOD HDD. Hello?

Two different technologies, life-style uses, feature variants, price points and I think the flash was using SRS labs technology. I wonder if he will go back and objectively re-review those other flash products vs. the Apple Shuffle.

Personally, I think Walt is on the take and gets a check in the mail every time he mentions the phrase “Apple iPOD.” I hope Apple doesn’t have a Halloween party because I think Walt would show up as a big iPOD and bob for Steve Jobs apples. His journalism is far from objective.

I think it is time for the WSJ to bring in some new talent that actually knows how to A) use a computer and B) be objective in product reviews.

BTW, I got my hands on an iPOD Shuffle and it’s like a thumb drive with ear-buds and that’s it. The Rio 300 (circa 1997) is, by far, a better product than this gum pack with no gum.

Seeking objective journalism by the people FOR the people,

Audio Hz

[treo007]

Personally, I like Walt's reviews and tend to agree with them on the products I've used myself. Also, the only Apple product I own is an iPod.

I think his reviews are written for 'non-geeks'. While I might possess a certain geek knowledge that only those of us on sites such as these might have, I don't want to have to employ it when using a product. Gear should just work and it should simply make your life better/easier. I think Walt's reviews reflect that.

[TomB]

With all due respect to the pros who are amazed at the sound coming from the tiny Apple products - come on guys! I have been using an MP3 player the size of a pudgy Microdrive before the iPod was a glint in Steve Job's eyes. The Panasonic SV-SD80 is not only tiny, it plays pretty good sounding music from whatever SD card you have handy and can handle about 30 hours of play after a few hours charge. It can't compete with the style of the mega huge Apples but it is hard to keep a straight face listening to "pros" drone on about their iPods.

This is not to steal the fire from Apple. Their style and marketing did something Panasonic, Casio and even Microsoft couldn't achieve. But I wish journalists would do a little homework before they start their public gushings.

[Felix Torres]

Have you seen the Apple stickers (http://search.ebay.com/apple-sticker_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8)? Man are they glossy.

Besides, what is the going price for a genuine Windows sticker? :lol:

Dunno but its probably less than $5 judging by the $16 price of the Apple stickers. :twisted:

Gotta say, Jobs must really have some mojo going if the faithful will dish out $16 for the honor of providing free publicity to Apple.
At least Mossberg gets *paid* for his hype-work...