The Further Adventures Of A Jaded iFan (2011)

This entertaining yarn continues the story of Fanboy, a reluctant but hopelessly addicted user of Apple's iPod range of music players. Followers of the series will recall how the previous episode ended with Fanboy rejoicing at his success in replacing the battery of his aging 1st generation iPod Nano and seemingly poised to enter a renewed and lasting era of music listening prosperity.

Alas, as good (and not so good) sequels tend to do (just think of Alien 3 -- from the "not so good" category), this one begins with the revelation that the idyllic scenario envisaged at the end of the previous installment has not worked out quite as expected. Five months on from the battery replacement, Fanboy is struggling with new and more serious iPod issues: the battery is no longer recharging properly and the screen is intermittently displaying strange "screen of death"-esque diagnostic messages. He is soon forced to confront the grim but inevitable truth: the time has come to stop farting around and just get a new mp3 player already.

And so begins Fanboy's epic quest to choose the optimal player for his needs. He is briefly tempted to consider the "dark side" of non-Apple products (the Sony USB-stick Walkman seems particularly appealing) but in the end he realises his destiny: for overall usability and compatibility with his existing Mac-centric home set-up, he must remain an iPod Fanboy.

In the film's climactic final scene, Fanboy is forced to choose between the new 16GB Nano, whose smaller size and built-in clip makes it suitable for uses previously restricted to the iPod Shuffle (e.g. running, gym). However, still shaken -- and possibly a little wiser -- from his battery problems with the previous Nano, he ultimately chooses the new Shuffle, figuring that the smaller outlay ($56 as opposed to $220) more than makes up for the reduced storage capacity (2GB) and lack of (battery-sapping) LCD touchscreen.

Bottom Line: the new Shuffle is a nice upgrade to the range and a great little mp3 player. The new "voiceover" function allows you to check the name of the current song playing and, crucially, to switch between multiple playlists. My only major criticism is that it is now too small for its own good: the clip is rather awkward to open without inadvertently pressing the buttons. It's a detail, but an annoying one when you consider that the previous version worked perfectly -- why fix something that wasn't broken? But overall, the world is safe and Fanboy is content -- for now....