New iPod, No Steve

Author: Brian Caulfield

Apple unveils a new, even smaller iPod Shuffle.

Talk about taking minimalism to a new level. Apple announced a new iPod shuffle Wednesday that takes the Cupertino, Calif.-based gizmo maker's stripped-down sensibility to the edge of the absurd.

The twisted part? It makes sense. To shrink its already dinky, low-cost iPod shuffle to nearly half the size of the previous model, Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) bumped the device's buttons onto its earphone cord and taught its music player to talk.

The trick solves the previous model's biggest flaw: It couldn't tell you what song it was playing. Hit a button on the new model's earphone cord, however, and you can play, pause, adjust the volume or hear the name of the song and the artist.

But the cleverest bit of engineering is the itsy-bitsy music player's price tag. The new iPod Shuffle goes for $79. For that you get a sliver of style in silver or black that's smaller than a AA battery and able to hold 1,000 songs on its 4GB flash drive.

Of course, the latest iPod is missing more than just buttons--and a big price tag--it's missing Steve Jobs. The Apple chief executive had introduced every major new Apple product--and some silly ones, such as a set of iPod speakers--since his return to Apple a decade ago.

With Jobs out on medical leave through June, however, it was unclear what Apple would do if it were to drop a big new product. Now we know: Apple will just put out a press release. How minimalist.