Earlier today, Cory spotted iLounge and the EFF's report on Apple's apparent inclusion of hardware DRM in its new headphones -- a measure that would effectively make it illegal to make shuffle-compatible headphones without Apple approval.
If nothing else, the Shuffle's inline control interface definitely isn't the same as that used in iPhones and other iPods. The Griffin SmartTalk inline iPod headphone controls pictured here don't work, for example, in the 3rd-gen Shuffle. They have the same triple-ringed version of the headphone plug and nearly identical functionality, but do nothing.
People have asked a few times what happens if you just plug standard headphones into the Shuffle. The answer is that nothing happens at all. However, if you turn the Shuffle off then on again, it will automatically start playing--but with no controls to pause, skip, fast forward or rewind. Interface Zen!