So you've gotten your brand new 2nd-gen iPod Shuffle out of the box, like *nathan did. What else can you do besides loading it up with, uh, I dunno, the High School Musical soundtrack, clip it on your bag strap, and catching the bus to school? Well, take a cue from iFixit, those handy-dandies who just love to take anything that starts with an "i-" apart, and take your Shuffle apart!

It's not exactly Swiss-watch precision - the Shuffle's still larger than the Swiss watches I've seen disassembled (usually by giant sledgehammer), but you get to see how much Apple has packed into something that's no longer than one and a half inches, about as wide as an inch, and less than a quarter of an inch thick. And iFixit notes with admiration:

Apple has done an impressive job of packing functionality into the headphone jack. The dock plug has three conductive strips, plus the ground post. It's safe to assume that the plug is multi-modal and switches between USB, analog audio, and possibly power modes. The separate power mode may not be necessary if they can get enough juice off a 4 conductor USB connection.

Check out the disassembly process at the Read link, or enjoy seeing the guts of a Shuffle splayed out before you below.