Apple unveils new iPod Shuffle that talks to you

March 11, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments | |

Apple announced today a new iPod Shuffle that can talk to you. The move is another sign that the company is serious about holding its No. 1 position in the music player space, and that it isn’t done revamping products that have been on the market for a while.

The new Shuffle is a tiny silver thing about 0.7 inches thick and only 1.8 inches long. It weighs 0.38 ounces.

It’s also got a new feature called VoiceOver, which lets your device talk to you. It can help you navigate through as many as 1,000 songs. When you press a button, a voice will tell you the name of a song or the artist, without interrupting the music.

Now, in contrast to earlier models, you can have multiple playlists, because VoiceOver announces their names, too. That lets you navigate without ever looking down at your device (say, if you’re driving). VoiceOver comes in 14 languages, and you can choose the voice when you sync your Shuffle with iTunes. It holds 4 gigabytes of data (1,000 songs) and can operate for 10 hours on one battery charge.

It is available now for $79.

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About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Miramon
    I really liked my own shuffle until it not-so-mysteriously disappeared -- probably fell between some cushions or something like that. Not that Apple means ill, but there is obviously a certain degree of lossage to be expected from such a small device.

    Anyhow, I love the design features that make it possible for such a tiny thing to actually be usable. The voice feature is probably unnecessary and may even be annoying to use, but the underlying utility and usability of the device is still impressive.
  • swag
    I remember a comedic bit from Eddie Murphy, "Talking Cars", on his self-titled album from 1982. ("Hey man, somebody stole your battery!") What's funny today is this bit of technology history seems so foreign and alien today. You'd think that with 25 years of car-talking technology, they'd be reciting Shakespeare by now. But people found it creepy and irritating.

    Apple was clearly around in 1982. What's their excuse now?
  • WhatWhat
    LOL "an AMAZING NEW TECHNOLOGY that takes to you"...priceless
  • The voice thing will be turned off (if there's an option for that) almost immediately, but the cool size and form factor will sell it (and the price, the same as a 2GB shuffle now).