The Value of a display in flash based MP3 players

It’s no secret that the iPod is the king of the digital media player market, but there is now a surge of players coming out using the rapidly increasing capacity of flash memory. Personally, I think the iPod shuffle, and other flash players like the Nomad MuVo that double as a USB jump drives are not only nice in terms of portability, but easy to use as an MP3 player or storage unit.

Recently, while discussing this with friends, one ridiculed the Shuffle saying that no one could sell a player that lacked a display. I happen to disagree with his assertion. Having experimented with a number of players of this design, both with and without displays, I have to say that the displays are fairly useless in terms of navigating the content of the device. About the only thing the display is good for is identifying the currently playing song. That being the case, why spend extra money for a device with a display. I will, however, concede that players with displays can be purchased at a lower price than the Shuffle.

I would not agree that Apple messed up with the shuffle by leaving out the screen. Admittedly, despite owning a 40GB iPod, I find myself wanting a Shuffle (in addition to my regular iPod), purely for situations that demand ultimate portability – working out, etc. The random track selection feature of the shuffle is also something that will force me to listen to music in my library that would otherwise go untouched. Even with 8,500+ songs, you’d be surprised how repetitive things can get when you’re not really dedicated to building play lists.