The missing lock feature is a *real problem* for this device. I bought one last week and have decided to return mine. First of all, the the problems are threefold:
1. Lock is a plain useful feature for listening to music/talk/etc. - without it, your attention constantly wanders to considering whether you're goinh to accidentally bump one of the controls
2. Lock is especially useful for listening to audiobooks and podcasts (which I do on a regular basis); accidentally hitting skip track instantly results in a frustrating few minutes of fast-forwarding/rewinding to get back to where I was listening.
3. As other posters have noted, the design change to narrow the iPod removes any holding leverage
or good place to hold the iPod while using the clip. Holding with fingertips around the base of the headphone jack the is NOT a working solution, it's still very easy to accidentally click a button. In other words, the 4G's design needs the lock feature more than the 2G's design (which the 4G most closely resembles)
Furthermore, this appears to be an oversight on Apple's part; when I first realized that a lock feature was not mentioned in any of the online support I spoke with Apple's technical support (who were very helpful and reviewed both the public as well as internal documentation in regards to this) - they couldn't find ANY mention of a lock feature in the documentation, and did not in any way question that I was surprised by the lack of this feature (which I would expect them to do were the feature deliberately removed).
Support then put me in contact with an engineer who asked me further questions and verified what support had told me; he also agreed that this seemed like a missing feature, and suggested submitting feedback to Apple about this; perhaps if enough noise is made the feature will be restored (if possible) by a firmware update.
Overall, the evidence seems (to me) to indicate that this is simply a
glaring oversight, versus a case of Apple removing a feature in order to "streamline the experience".
In any case it would be good for Apple to acknowledge the issue more generally. I strongly suggest that everyone who has bought one of these ipods should submit feedback to Apple about it at:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ .
I'd have little problem (re-)buying a new 4G shuffle if this lock feature is addressed, but for the meantime I'll be returning my model (and noting the lock issues with the Apple Store manager), specifically due to the poor user experience I've had in the past week of usage.
