I recently purchased a new iPod Shuffle 4G.

The 4G stands for 4th-Generation and the device is certainly amazing. It's a simple little unit about the size of a USB thumb drive. There's only one switch on the entire unit, which powers on and off the device and also allows you to set the music to play straight through and also to shuffle the songs automatically. The controls for volume, song skipping and Apple's new VoiceOver feature (which speaks the name of the song and of the artist) are now located in-line on the headset wires.

Here's a photo of the unit

 Here's a photo of the headset:

I bought this Shuffle to use exclusively for my workouts. I love it since it's so small and light, and I can clip to to my shirt while I'm working out. I usually clip the device to the back of my shirt neckline and then tuck the wires into the front of my shirt where it stays secure throughout my entire workout, even when running. Maybe I'm wrong, but I assume that most people also use their shuffle for working out instead of normal "play".

The flaw in the design, that I've experienced, is that that headset-controller unit is not really very robust. I'm actually working on my second one (the one I got when I bought the device was defective and never worked - Apple promptly replaced it).

I think the control unit should be somehow "waterproofed" or made to be "water resistant", because once a little sweat gets going, it affected the controls such that I can no longer switch songs or adjust the volume.

Maybe I sweat more than normal folks, but I doubt it. I'm now waiting to see whether is will begin working again once it dries out a bit.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this same problem? I'm also wondering whether there's a company who produces a waterproof headset that will work with Apple's 4G iPod Shuffle?

Let me what you think and/or share any insights you might have by commenting below. Looking for answers.