Bam, another
Apple rumor vindicated. Apple just doubled the capacity of its iPod shuffle to 4GB while ditching the control wheel entirely. The new design keeps the clip and adds VoiceOver -- a new feature that gets around the lack of display by telling you which song is playing and who performs it at the touch of a button on the earbud cable. It'll also call out your playlists and let you navigate to others. Available in black or silver for $80 and your claim to what Apple calls the "world's smallest music player." Check the video tutorial after the break.
Update: VoiceOver in English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
posted March 11th 2009 8:34AM
Microsoft Sam is back, baby!
Small print says it requires iTunes 8.1 (unreleased). My money says the voiceover is done by iTunes and downloaded with the updates.
This is absurd. When all the buttons are on the remote control anyway, why is the player itself not in the remote as well!? Ah yes, because then it would not be a remote anymore.
If everything is so miniature, there is no reason to have two seperate boxes (player and remote). Dumb. Ah yes, it's Apple.
ROFL, i like how they've got 2 different voices for ipods synced to pc or macs.
Mac voice being fluid and PC voice being robotic.
It's more or less a limitation with the base operating system. I'm pretty certain that all they are doing here is using the operating system's Text-to-Speech function to record the track and playlist names as audio files, then syncing those new files to the Shuffle along with your music and playlist data. OS X Leopard introduced the "Alex" voice that does sound relatively natural, although having it read track names isn't really using it to its full potential. Windows, I believe, hasn't progressed this far yet with text-to-speech technology but if it does then the iPod Shuffle should make use of it.
That's not quite correct. PC's and OSX Tiger have the same TTS voice. Leopard uses the one built into the OS for the new Shuffle's TTS. It's not a Mac vs PC thing.
That's possibly true. I have no idea what voices are available in Vista, or what voices were like in 10.4, but I agree that the voice demonstrated in the video isn't Microsoft Sam from XP.
Vista has a "Microsoft Anna" voice, which I'm pretty sure is the one in the video. I thought they both had issues - the OSX one had awkward pauses but sounded fairly natural, Vista's sounded more fluid but less like a person. :shrug:
And yeah, trying to read isolated song titles pretty much throws away most of the enhancements made to the default TTS engines over time since they deal with analyzing larger blocks of text for clues. While it may be worthwhile to have TTS be more visible in the market so we start making some more improvements, I don't really feel this was the best place to show off its current status.
OMG invisible buttons, genius! Oh wait..
That's probably the ugliest iPod ever made.
It's not pretty...
GTFO... the 16GB card I have in my phone (that I paid $60 for) says this is worthless.
WANT
Damn, this comment system really does suck! It just cut away the second part of your comment, DeanTastic. Wait a sec, I'll complete that for you:
"... NOT!"
@GB
bahahahahahahahaha +1
How are you supposed to control this if you connect your iPod shuffle to your car's aux port?
You can't.
Or you have to wait till Apple releases their own Car-iPod-Remote-Control-Connector .
Apple hit an all time low with this control-less shuffle.
At this point, why aren't they just building it into the earbuds?
Sony already did that with the NWZ-W202.
Now Apple just needs to wait a few years until Sony discontinues it.
Then Apple will release a knock-off version and claim to be the first to offer a music player built into the earbuds! LOL
I wonder if those headphone controls will crap out like the iPhone ones do after they are exposed to sweat during exercise? I watched the demo video why is there a different voice based on if you connect to a mac or pc?
It works using text-to-speech on the host computer – then syncs that audio to the device. So it depends on what voice comes with the operating system.
Have you heard of the Cepstral voices? They sound so clean, I hope it will allow to use those voices. And, no I'm not affiliated with the company. I just can't stand robotic voices in our day and age. I mean, did you hear the Ford car ad with that Microsoft Sync-based control system? So tinny and robotic, sounds like Dr. Sbaitso on my Sound Blaster card.
No, it does not.
It uses a built-in TTS technology on PC and Tiger (I don't know if it's in the shuffle it's self or the latest iTunes). But because a big part of Leopard was a new (significantly improved) voice called "Alex," the shuffle uses this built-in voice on Leopard.
Another comment speculated "Microsoft Anna" from Vista was used for PC, but I do not think this is the case as a Microsoft voice would have to built in to Tiger.
Please note this is purely speculation, and I do not know if this is fact.
Why did they get rid of the 2GB but keep the 1GB?
um 8GB sansa clip cheaper and a million times better ipods are for the less informed sorry
And the 4GB Clip can be found for about $50. It has buttons and one of them there new fangled screen thingies.
It seems slightly desperate to call this "another Apple rumor vindicated" when the news only came 73 minutes early... ;-)
I'm not sure I'm a fan of the controls just being on the headphone cord, plus the voiceover stuff seems like trying to make things too complicated – if they wanna makes this thing manage playlists and stuff they should just stick a screen on there.
We are now being forced to use the stock earbuds because the controls are on the cable? Is this some kind of joke?
So let me get this straight in order to use this thing you have to use the included crappy earbuds OR have to buy yet another accessory just to use your own earbuds. Dont you like how Apple manufactures a problem to market a solution? What a load...
Why does this just feel like something the Onion would run? NO controls (on device)? Looks interesting but I would lose it so quickly -- I like when I can tell if my device (cell phone, mp3 player, pistol, etc) is actually in my pocket/on my person....
I can see myself pulling that out of my pocket when drunk, desperately trying to light a cigarette with it then cursing and throwing it away when I fail to do so then waking up in the morning and find a lighter in my back pocket and no more ipod shuffle...
Come on apple, make it multifunctional and add fire and I might buy one!
expensive
Coby 4 GB on amazon...
4gb, a nice screen, slim, FM radio, OGG and flash support + charger include = 47$.
You know, coby sucks so much that I'd rather take this crappy shuffle than get the coby.
This is just odd. I dont think Jobs had any say in this...because he would of said no.
First of all its ugly, it has no defining feature. Its an ugly drab slab of aluminum.
Secondly if your running the cord is going to be flaying everywhere, so instead of just grabbing the shuffle you have to stop, grab the cord and change.
Thirdly, the buds wont stay in your ears when your running because of the extra weight of the controls, or is that just me?
Fourthly, what happens when you lose the earbuds or they break which is BOUND to happen. You have a useless slab of aluminum?
Filthly, its ugly.
This would make sense for use in the car where you don't want to take your eyes off the road IF they'd included controls on the iPod itself instead of the headphones only. Now it's ONLY useful with their headphones. Grrr. I hope that third parties will be able to develop a remote and jack pass-thru to allow third party headphones and car audio use. What would be cool is integration onto the steering wheel.
It doesn't actually talk. If you watch the video, they say that the voices for PC and Mac are different for each system. That would indicate that part of the sync process is to create little audio clips announcing the song and artist on the computer. Cool idea. Hope they put that on the other iPods/iPhone.
do want
You haters kill me!
Just can't stand being behind the curve. What is the matter?
Look, go write them shmucks over at MS and ask them to get busy.
Yeah right.
Ah, and please stop making it out like Apple is taking away your choices. It is you that has a say in your purchasing rights. If you see that Apple has something you don't like and there is no work around, go find another motherfucking product and stop crying like my three year old niece.
Pussies!
Behind the curve? 80$, no controls, no screen, its going backward.
@terry
You are a true fanboy.
Have a cookie. Steve loves you.
Signed,
Apple PR Team
Okay, ease down there. Your little tantrum (oh, delicious irony!) isn't worth a response, but I'll give one anyway. I'm bored.
You're right, it's easy to choose another product.
It's less simple to choose another product that syncs with iTunes (for those people [who aren't me] who like to use it).
Assuming that any criticism of Apple stems from MS-affection or blind hatred is, also, shortsighted. Lots of us get frustrated by Apple's missteps precisely because we *like* the company. Their industrial design remains second to none, and they have certainly innovated over the years and pushed multiple industries forward.
To see the company release a portable music player that has *no* controls on the device, and that relegates this essential functionality to stock-earbuds, is a misstep. Maybe you don't think so, and that's swell, but unequivocally this is a mistake. It's sad to see from a company that can do, and has done, so much better.
Engadget needs to update their story to include the supported languages. It's all right in the technical specs. It makes Engadget look kinda stupid and lazy. And we know that's not true! :-P
How can it be the "Worlds Smallest" when it's actually bigger than the last gen?
its actually half the volume of the second gen shuffle (0.378 cubic inches vs 0.711 cubic inches)
No way will I buy an iPod that REQUIRES a PROPRIETARY earbud that houses all the controls! You will be locked into having to purchase Apple Earbuds or wait till 3rd party manufacturer come out with an equivalent. The point is that something thats suppose to be as simple as a shuffle, now your left having to buy "special" earbuds.
It comes with those earbuds. You don't have to buy anything aside from the iPod itself.
Well, i am never going to buy/recommend this ever. Moving on....
Really Apple? Maybe if you ditched that dang aluminum, you would have enough money to put in screen at an affordable price. Good luck beating any of Sansas or Samsungs or even Chinese knockoffs offerings.
this ugly player remind me the smallest mac in the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noe3kR8KqJc - same control
ratatat..! hehe that was funny!