New iPod Shuffle could be a washout

Last week, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about Apple's new iPod Shuffle. I said the company may have designed the music player to be super small in part because owners will easily lose the device and have to buy replacements. (The third-generation iPod Shuffle is less than 2 inches long and less than three-quarters of an inch wide.)

Chicago Sun-Times technology columnist Andy Ihnatko mentioned replacement sales as well in his column Saturday. But he added a wrinkle that I hadn't considered related to fitness buffs. He writes:

I'm certain that Apple will sell a lot of iPod Shuffles. Most of them to the same people. As a teensy invisible little music player that clips onto clothes that people get all sweaty in, the new Shuffle will probably become the most frequently-laundered product in the history of consumer electronics.