The shuffle is a decent product, it is cheap and still pumps out teh quality of the other systems, but you haev to realise that you cant select songs on it
you can only go next, forwards and so on.
Other than that,they have improved significantly over the last year and a bit and its probably a great christmas present for the missus
Oh and as for durability, im not sure about the new ones, but if its anything like the other ipod range, then its probably able to take a whooping.
Flash memory ftw [img]smile.gif[/img]