High-quality images of Apple's first orange iPod (shuffle)

Apple on Tuesday graced its affordable line of iPod shuffle digital music players with a fresh array of hues, including orange — a first for the iPod family.

The Cupertino-based company also broke the shuffle's gender barrier, delivering a pink model as well as additional unisex offerings in vibrant blue and green. Each retail for just $79.

Although the new lineup of second-generation shuffles offer no enhancements over the monotone silver model introduced last fall, there is one morsel nestled with each new unit: updated earbud headphones.

That's right. Apple has seemingly run through its stockpile of first-generation iPod earbuds and is now more than happy to include an updated pair with each shuffle, as it does every other iPod model.

Customers who want to make sure they receive the updated earbuds when purchasing a grey shuffle should be sure to grab models whose packing sports black lettering (as seen below) as opposed to the green lettering used on packaging for the grey shuffle introduced last fall.

So why orange instead of black or red? "It’s just gorgeous," Greg Joswiak, Apple's Vice President of iPod Product Marketing, told iLounge. "It’s just something that’s going to look nice in fashion scenarios.”