If you just got an iPod Shuffle and haven’t had an iPod before, you may be looking for a very common button found on most consumer electronics: the on/off switch. Well, stop your search because the iPod Shuffle doesn’t have an on/off button.

Turning off the iPod Shuffle
How do I turn off the iPod Shuffle then, you may be asking? You let it go to sleep.

The iPod doesn’t work in terms of on and off. Instead it only deals in awake or asleep, with asleep being the closest you’ll get to turning it off.

If you use your iPod for a minute or two and then set it aside, you’ll see its screen start to dim, and then eventually go black altogether. This is the iPod going to sleep. When an iPod is asleep, it uses much less battery power than when the screen is lit up and the music playing. By letting your iPod sleep you conserve your batteries for later.

Keeping Your iPod Asleep
If you press any button on your nano when it is asleep, the screen will light up quickly and your iPod will be awake and ready to rock.

If you plan not to use your iPod for a while and want to store it, you can make sure that you conserve battery power and keep your iPod from playing a concert to the inside of your backpack by engaging the hold switch.

The hold switch is at the edge of the iPod Shuffle near the random switch (on second-generation Shuffles. On the first generation, it's on the back of the iPod). Slide the hold switch to the on position when you put the iPod away. This will lock the clickwheel the same way you lock a cell phone keypad.

Now, your iPod won’t accidentally wake from sleep when a button is pushed and drain its power. To start using your iPod again, just slide the hold switch into the other position and click a button to start it up again.