Now that Christmas is coming around once more, my mother is struggling with the matter of what to purchase for my brother for a present.

In the past years it's usually the same thing: video games, a video game system, or anything else related to that. Or socks.

But my mom is tired of asking my brother what game he wants this year and mindlessly going out and paying for it and sticking it in his stocking.

So she's decided to get him an iPod shuffle.

The iPod shuffle is a music player that can be connected to a computer so songs can be put on it.

Size and weight

• Height: 1.07 inches
• Width: 1.62 inches
• Depth: 0.41 inch (including clip)
• Weight: 0.55 ounce
• Volume: 0.5 cubic inch (not including volume under clip)

Price

Shuffle: $79

Nano: $149

iPod: $249

Storage/capacity :

Shuffle: 1GB (240 songs);

Nano: 2GB (500 songs);

iPod: 4GB (1,000 songs), 8GB (2,000 songs), 30GB (7,500 songs), 80GB (20,000 songs)

Color:

Shuffle: Silver

Nano: Silver, Silver Green, Blue, Pink, Red, BlackRed

iPod: BlackWhite,BlackWhite

Battery life :

Shuffle: Up to 12 hours

Nano: Up to 24 hours of music playback; up to 5 hours of slideshows with music

iPod 30GB: Up to 14 hours of music playback; up to 4 hours of slideshows with music; up to 3.5 hours of

video playback

iPod 80 GB: Up to 20 hours of music playback; up to 6 hours of slideshows with music; up to 6.5 hours of

video playback

Display

Shuffle: None

Nano: 1.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD with LED backlight

iPod: 2.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD with LED backlight

Ports

Shuffle: Stereo minijack

Nano: Dock connector, stereo minijack

iPod: Dock connector, stereo minijack, composite video and audio through minijack

Connectivity

Shuffle: USB through included dock

Nano: USB through dock connector

iPod: USB through dock connector; composite video (with AV cable, sold separately) and audio through headphone jack or line out on the iPod Universal Dock (sold separately)

Charge time

Shuffle: About 4 hours (2-hour fast charge to 80% capacity)

Nano: About 3 hours (1.5-hour fast charge to 80% capacity)

iPod: About 4 hours (2-hour fast charge to 80% capacity)

Audio support

Shuffle: MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store, M4A, M4B, M4P), Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), WAV, and AIFF

Nano: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF

iPod: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF

Photo support

Shuffle: None

Nano: Syncs iPod-viewable photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only) and PNG formats

iPod: Syncs iPod-viewable photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG formats

Video support

Shuffle: None

Nano: None

iPod: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Low-Complexity Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Size

Shuffle: 1.62 x 1.07 x 0.41 inches (including clip)

Nano: 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.26 inches

iPod 30GB: 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43 inches

iPod 80 GB: 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.55 inches

Weight

Shuffle: 0.55 ounce

Nano: 1.41 ounces

iPod 30GB: 4.8 ounces

iPod 80GB: 5.5 ounces

Included accessories

Shuffle: Earphones, dock

Nano: Earphones, USB cable, dock adapter

iPod: Earphones, USB cable, dock adapter, case