Ipod Shuffle talks back
Disappearing down the back of the sofa
Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 13:09
CATCHING EVERYONE ON THE HOP Apple has launched a new 4GB Ipod Shuffle... and it talks to you!
The tiny thumbdrive-sized device is half the size of the previous model and gets over its lack of a screen by speaking song titles, artist names and playlist titles. It'll even tell you what state your battery is in... in 14 languages.
Controls are located on the earbud cable which allow you to play, pause, and switch playlists as well as adjust the volume and activate the Voice Over functions.
Available in silver or black for £59, the 1,000 song third generation Ipod shuffle is shipping within five days according to Apple's UK store. µ
L'Inq
Apple
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...that you have to use Apple's crap earbuds?
Give it a week or three, and world+dog will have made little adaptors to let you plug your proper headphones in and still control the creepy computer voice (yaaaay for creepy computer voice).
..assuming one is needed, and the earbuds don't plug into the top of the remove bit, like the first gen iPods..
Nope, you can use a different 4 gig mp3 player for half the price.
Here's another catch. I drive an old car with a stereo with only a cassette player. I have an iPod cassette adaptor for my old Shuffle.
If I wanted to upgrade I would have to plug in the headphones just to control it. I know time and tech marches on...but I won't be until I can afford a new car...and in this economic environment....PLEASE!
Given that plugging it into a Leopard box gives different voices than Tiger or PC, I'm pretty sure it renders all the voice stuff in iTunes and copies it over alongside the music, playlists, etc.
So... Will you be able to choose Zarvox?
Who would buy this piece of shit? Maybe if it were $20-$30 or something, but that price?! I've seen cheap $10 Chinese knock-offs with better features. Just get an older generation Nano and have superior everything on it.
They have removed the pesky features such as screen and controls that have tortured owners of other devices.
Now the device is pure.
Apple will now levy a fair surcharge for their services, quadrupling the price of this POS.
Why have buttons?
Apple knows what you should listen to...