Sparky, as far as I know, there's no way to "know what is on it" with the Shuffle. The other models have lots of feedback on their built-in screens, but the Shuffle is just for fill and play. You can also browse the contents of the other iPods from your computer, but you can't do that with a Shuffle.
I don't know if it'll help at all, but there's an
illustration here that shows the Shuffle Switch that's used to choose playlists instead of random play.
Shuffle support here
Shuffle FAQ - it says it's for the original Shuffle but most applies to the 2nd Generation too (and there's a link to a page with the few differences)