Trying to elevate its new flash-based portable music player to (the original) iPod-like cult status, Apple decided to call it iPod shuffle. iPod shuffle is a misnomer; c'mon an iPod without the hallmark Scrollwheel (or Clickwheel) isn't really an iPod. To celebrate "uncertainty", it comes without a screen too, which means you'll have no way of knowing the title or the artist of a song that's playing unless it's the good-song-gone-bad My Heart Will Go On. No games, calendar, notes and other cool stuff you find in the real iPod for that matter.

Judging from the pictures on Apple's site, shuffle (am refraining from calling it an iPod) has the most uninspiring design ever; definitely a blotch in Apple's record for impeccably-designed products. And if my conjecture is correct, it's made from the same stuff they use to make the dock. And trust me, that white plastic is more of a dust-magnet than the more desired chick-magnet. Then again, I haven't seen the real thing. And if I like it (Heaven forbid!), I could convert my 20Gb, beautifully-crafted iPod into shuffle in 3 easy steps.