The 1st generation iPod shuffle is a USB Drive stylized iPod. It lacks a screen and and offers little storage when compared to all other iPods in the iPod lineup.

It only has one play mode: Shuffle. Since most people used their iPods just to shuffle, this allowed people to use this ability at a lower cost of entry than a full-sized iPod. It had a low cost-of-entry.

This iPod was also praised for its fantastic sound when compared to the next generation. The 1 gigabyte model could hold 240 songs (AAC, 128kbit/s) while the 512 megabyte model could hold 120 songs (AAC, 128kbit/s).