Small & Beautiful but ergonomically flawed...

Question

Hi there.
I just got my 2nd gen shuffle recently and was blown away for the first 30 hours when it was sitting down on my desk, getting recharged for the first time - this is my first 'apple' device btw.
However, I need to say that the face controls of the shuffle have a major ergonomic flaw which, I believe has been sacrificed (inadvertently maybe), for the sake of aesthetics or just to follow 'ipod' conventions.
I am talking about the signs used on the controls, of course. If you rotate the shuffle around, it is so uniformly designed (square-ish) that it is hard to tell whether it is upright or not.
Why is this important? Well simply because (incidentally), the signs used on the controls are almost all laterally symmetrical!! This means that if you put the shuffle upside-down, the forward key becomes the backways one, and vice-versa. The play and volume functionalities are pretty much error-free.
Why am I being picky? Well because with its small size and ability to be clipped onto your shirt/jacket (thus, easily inverted), controls should be un-ambiguous.
The forward/backward track signs are traditions we have kept from the days when music devices that tiny were never an issue. Today, while trying to stay user-friendly but at the same time greatly altering the nature of the devices, such ergonomic flaws crop up in even the best of devices...
I know that most will argue that the asymmetrical position of the button as well as other factors such as the stereo cable jack output should tell a user which way is up and down. But isn't the circular, slightly convex button surface designed exactly for the opposite goal - read: blind operation or the ability to operate the device without even looking at it and without thinking twice.
Well next time you skip to the next track and get the previous one, remember to remember this little heads-up.
Cheers to all!

Answer 1

I have thought this too. Perhaps some kind of "tactile" bumps would help. Eventually, I memorized the interface based on the earplug port...but if you are excerising with this, I would hesitate to touch that area of the shuffle too much due to sweat trapping issues.