Apple has done it again and made an already-miniscule MP3 player even smaller with their 3rd generation of the iPod Shuffle. This Shuffle has no screen or physical controls on it aside from a single switch, and it comes with a headset with an in-line remote that has the volume and music playback controls. The new Shuffle has a leg up over its predecessor with its new VoiceOver technology that will announce song title, artist, playlist name, and other information to you so you have some way to navigate. Its storage capacity has been bumped to an impressive 4GB for such a tiny device. It comes in black or silver and retails for $79.

The headphone's inline remote has volume up and down buttons on either end, with a single multi-function button in the middle. A single click on this button pauses and plays music, while a double click skips to the next track. Getting fancier, a triple click will skip backward. Getting even more elaborate, a long press starts VoiceOver, allowing you to hear a computerized voice announce the title and artist of what you're currently listening to, and then moves along to tell you what playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks are stored on the Shuffle. Choosing among these announced items is as easy as pressing the button again. Contrary to what you might think, VoiceOver kicks in quickly and you can use the volume up and down buttons to skip through the announcements even faster. Altogether, it works quite well and is easy to get used to, if a little intimidating at first.

Performance (read the full lab performance results at www.mediaplayerinfo.com)

The iPod Shuffle generally upheld the good audio performance reputation earned by its predecessor and other members of the iPod family. Its frequency response performance was just slightly under that of the previous-generation Shuffle, though it showed less distortion than the last Shuffle. In terms of cross-talk - the amount of audio played back on the wrong channel - and noise,  the new Shuffle conducted itself quite well, earning a better score than its predecessor in both of these areas. The only area that caused us concern was its output power, where a low score indicates it will have trouble powering headphones with high impedance. Unsurprisingly, the included headphones performed poorly and were unable to showcase the Shuffle's good audio performance overall.

Its battery life performance in our tests didn't live up to Apple's claim of 10 hours, lasting 8 hours and 44 minutes. While still a considerable amount of time in and of itself, be prepared to charge it if you like to have your tunes available from dusk 'til dawn.

Comparisons (read the full conclusion at www.mediaplayerinfo.com)

The iPod Shuffle is in a unique, and quite under-populated, class of digital music players since it lacks a display. Definitely intended for the active user who doesn't want an expensive digital music player that can be easily broken, it's a focused device with a single purpose - to give you music and nothing but music. The previous Shuffle had buttons that required at least a quick glance to control playback in the midst of a run or a work-out, and the new Shuffle streamlines this, removing the necessity for a glance as long as you can find the remote on the headphones by feel. Using the VoiceOver function sounds kludgy but it works rather well in actuality, and it's easy to envision the new Shuffle fitting right into your work-out. With praiseworthy audio performance, the Shuffle is a good buy as long as you're not looking for any more elaborate functions, such as viewing videos, storing PIM data, and the like.

For a more in-depth review, visit the Apple iPod Shuffle 3rd generation 4GB MP3 Player Review at our partner www.mediaplayerinfo.com.