12
Mar
2009
CNet: The Apple Store was down earlier, and that means a new product: it’s a redesigned, fourth-generation, 4GB iPod shuffle!
It’s absolutely tiny, and is claimed to be the first talking iPod. It’s smaller than an AA battery. Being that wee, there’s no room to add a screen, so Apple has come up with the VoiceOver feature, which allows the shuffle to tell you the title and artist of the song or playlist you’re listening to.
It’ll even tell you status information, such as battery life, and how great your bum looks in those skinny hipster jeans, presumably all in that soothing Cupertino drawl.
This isn’t entirely new: VoiceOver began as a Mac accessibility feature, and iTunes already adds speech information to tracks for the nano, to help blind and partially sighted users.
Interestingly, Windows and Mac users will get slightly different voices, with a predictably more mellifluous lilt for Macheads and a grating metallic tone for the rest of the world.
Have fun with language at the VoiceOver page, where there are samples for your listening pleasure. The shuffle’s 4GB memory will hold up to 1,000 songs, according to Apple, and has 10 hours of battery life. It also speaks 14 languages, kind of.
