If you wanted a 1GB iPod Shuffle for Christmas and haven't gotten it yet, good luck finding one. A message in the Apple store indicates that the larger version of the two Shuffles has "sold out for the holiday," with no availability until the middle of January.

While the player may still be found in some retail locations, it is likely that the stock currently available is the last of the players from Apple until next year.

BetaNews checks of the Circuit City, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com Web sites showed the player was sold out through those retailers' online stores.

While at first glance the date may not seem odd, it actually falls right around the time of Macworld 2006 in San Francisco. Apple has long used the yearly event to launch new products, and rumors have pointed to a refresh of the company's entry-level flash memory based music player.

The smaller 512MB Shuffle version seems to still be in good supply, with a wait time of one to two business days for shipment of the player. However, the shipment dates for this version would be something to watch for clues as to Apple's next move. The company has been known to suddenly increase ship times when a product refresh is imminent.

If the iPod Shuffle were to receive a refresh, it would be the first time since its introduction at the last Macworld expo. Rumors include the release of the Shuffle in multiple colors, as well as a further shrinking of the form factor of the device.

As is standard with such industry speculation, Apple is not commenting on the matter.