Back Talk From Your New iPod Shuffle

Apple is ready to sell the new iPod Shuffle, and taking the "smaller is better" mantra to a whole new level.

The third-generation Shuffle, a super-slim rectangle (less than 2 inches long) takes up about half as much space as the previous version -- even as it doubles music storage space to 4 gigabytes.

The trade-off? To achieve such a tiny form, Apple had to remove most of the buttons from the body of the $79 device and build them into the headphone cord instead.

Now that the device can carry 1,000 songs, Apple has come up with a way for people to identify the music they're listening to or find songs they want. A new feature called VoiceOver can -- at the push of a button -- speak the song and artist name or rattle off the list of custom mixes and playlists that you've loaded.

Here's how it works: As you synchronize a new Shuffle using an updated version of iTunes, your PC or Mac looks at each track and playlist and creates a small file of a computerized voice speaking the title, artist for playlist name. If a song is in Spanish or Chinese, say, the software figures this out and speaks in the appropriate language! Apple says the device can handle 14 languages.

The new Shuffle, which comes in silver or black aluminum with a shiny clip, goes on sale March 12th. Apple said their own earphones will be the only option for early buyers, but that other companies plan to make compatible headphones as well as adapters for regular headphones.

Do you think this new VoiceOver technology will catch on quickly?

Images courtesy Apple

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Comments

[axel]

thats TOO small.
i already lost the other shuffle..

[Mikey]

It's almost a choking hazard at this point.. I'm glad they've come up with ways to identify the songs... I think it serves a purpose in this niche, but I don't think it'll "catch on" to anything else - I certainly don't need or want it on my iPod Touch.

[Jauri Aragon]

I always forget this thing in my pocket and then after laundry they're gone! what the sue when soemthign this small can be lost along with you pennies?

[Coco]

wow... shouldn't we be putting our money, time, and tech. to something better than this.... just my opinion.

Personaly, I can't wait till the next "big thing" comes out. Then when it takes over the world and kills everyone off because it was some secret weapon no on knew about (other than the crazys); i'll be sitting back laughing about how I commented on it on gay.com XD

[Kidd Kasper]

Although, I certainly understand it being small enough to lose or get washed, the voice command technology is already catching on. Certain cell phones used by Jitterbug don't have dial pads. You have to call the company and set up a dialing list. Then, to call someone, you press a single button and say the name of the person you want to call.

So, the technology is already "catching on" and will implemented in many, many other devices in the future. Now, if we could just work the bugs out of transporters....

[Tony]

No way am I buying this. So small as to be useless and the headphones are the things that break most easily. Had to replace mine twice. Now they are putting the controls in them too? Forget it.

[Will]

I dont really see it catching on. My phone does the voice dial thing and I never use it. It actually takes more time to repeat a name 5x then dial a couple buttons. Its not like blue tooth or anything thats very handy. When you buy a shuffle you pretty much know what ur getting. An mp3 player with no screen and minimal buttons. The way they are stripping them down it may be better to get a sansa fuse or something else; more space and a nice sized screen or something. And this is coming from an ipod user.

[ROCKWOOD]

It's too small. Prefer working with the controls with my fingers.

[bmpe77]

I bought mine the second day they were out and my only complaint is that the clip doesn't have enough room to clip securely onto a pocket.

But, the syncing is a VAST improvement over the old shuffle... no more "syncing iPod" every time you click on a song that's also on the shuffle. It also allows creation of playlists.

I love the small size, especially at the gym, where I don't want anything strapped to my arm, etc.

[Jay]

I think it sounds pretty cool, even being the Anti apple guy that I am, however I still don't see the need for practically ANY mp3 player these days when pretty much everyone has a cell phone and pretty much every cell phone can play music, videos, even streaming music and videos, so I just don't see the point to this or any mp3 player really. I can put thousands of songs, several videos, or even movies on my cell phone, so why would I pay for something like this? And ok so it has buttons on the headset to control it. There are bluetooth headsets that can do the same thing and those are wireless!

[sirald66]

I would have liked to have seen a quick-clip attachment for your keyring, so you can secure it where you know it will be.

Anyone know if this will fasten securely to your belt?

[Tarnisha Williams]

Well that's really a crock of doo-doo, as an experienced homosexual I can tell you that smaller is not better. My a-hole can can confirm and I surely can tell you; a big one is the best for my a-hole.

[JP]

Awesome product. Less materials used for a product with better performance. For those complaining about products breaking too easily should perhaps look at how they're using it rather than blaming the company. I'm using my current iPod Video (5th Gen) for 3+ years with the same headphones. STILL DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!!

[rob]

personally i think this is really dumb. so the iPod tells you the name of the song for YOUR OWN MUSIC. HELLO?! HELLO?!

YOUR OWN MUSIC!!

if this was sirius and you could find out the name of a song you want, i understand that. but you OWN IT. why do you want your iPod telling you what music you already wasted the time finding out in order to get it? seriously

[Bubbie]

Whats the point? I mean, don't we have better things to do than spend too much money on a contraption like this?!
Maybe I'm a prude.

[Arthur Graves]

Just more carp to waste your money on. And when the battiery go's dead your just thowning your money away. So take the money your wasteing on junk like this and put it in the bank for something real important like your rent.

[Tim]

Anyone use Microsoft Sync? Its amazing. If the Shuffle did voice recognition anywhere near the quality of Sync, it should catch on.

My only question is ambient noise. A car is a controlled environment, will you have to run to a phone booth to change songs?

[Aedon]

I agree this thing is way to small and easily losable but I also think the shuffle in general is pointless just get a cheap mp3 if you don't want a real iPod and they should do the voice thing for all the other iPods so you don't have to sit there and scroll through so many songs especially if you have like 80 gigs of music

[oldkingtroll]

I use my iPod to store all 30 gigs of my music. When I travel, that is the player I take. I use a couple of cheapie 2Gb Sansas to load up with (a) work out music and (b) music to chill to. Of course, everything is backed up on my computer. Works fine for me. I fail to see where this new system will do much more than I've already got.

[acclrtr]

My friend balked at the idea of the 2nd generation shuffle. He said that it was too small and that he'd lose it easily. After he lost two nanos he decided to go the cheap route and get the shuffle and he hasn't lost it since.

[dack]

I guess VoiceOver's a decent way of coping with screenlessness. If I planned to get one of those, I can see me having way too much fun with it, trying to see which artists I could get it to mispronounce... But eventually, I've got 30 gigs of music, and only a handful of times have I had to look at the screen to see what song is playing... I doubt I'd want to disrupt the song for that.

What I think would catch on is getting voice-recognition. Kinda like Microsoft's Sync. I haven't tried it, but the commercials make me wonder how much longer until iPods can take voice commands. How much longer until you're on the subway and you're surrounded by people saying "Play artist The Hold Steady" and "Play album Abbey Road", so on and so forth... all ride home. Ugh. Forget I said anything.

And yeah, I have to wonder why they feel the need to shrink it by half each time. Did anyone look at the last one and say "I'd buy it if it weren't so cumbersome"?

[Dan]

I think everyone's confused. It's not voice activated. It speaks the song name if you push the button.

[jasonc]

There's one thing it's missing. A personality. It's just a flat silver piece of nothing now.

[blah]

I got mine as a gift. First day I used it, I cut my finger... not a pretty sight. The clip is sharp for some reason.