Wednesday, March 11, 2009

New Apple iPod Shuffle w/ VoiceOver: Same Device: Boring Feature

We've waited nearly nine months, an entire gestation period, for an exciting creation from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). I was hoping for something along the lines of a video recording device or just ANYTHING other than a revamped, condensed iPod.

Apple touts it as "the first music player that talks to you."

Really? I hope they're talking about portable ones,  because my friend's 2007 Honda Accord features a talking music player, it's just not portable.

What did we get? An iPod that's smaller than a AA battery, (even easier to lose!), which  nearly half the size of the previous shuffle(you know, the one you're cursing about because you just bought it a month ago.)

It has a 4 gig capacity and it's highlight is a "remarkable" feature known as "voice-over"-a robotic voice that announces the band and artist that's playing. Apple touts it as the first talking  device that syncs with iTunes to  to your Mac or PC, "Just like every iPod", as Hannah tells us in the guided tour (I wish I had those five minutes of my life back.

It's so easy, you can use it with your eyes closed.

Sounds like a line straight out of a Vince Offer, star of the ShamWow commercial.

Considering the fact that Apple had nearly a year to develop this device, you might expect the voice to closely resemble a human. Instead, it sounds just like the robotic voice from your old Speak & Spell . (Any of you born during the Reagan years know what I'm talking about.)

Judging from the 4.5% jump in stock, investors responded positively to Apple's release.  Perhaps the reasonable retail price of $79 seems like a  great bargain for 4G worth of music, but is it really worth buying another shuffle so you can hear the name of the song you already know by heart?

Dear Apple:Wake me up when you have a device worth getting excited about.

By Matt O'Hern at 05:50 PM | Comments (1)

(1) Thoughts on New Apple iPod Shuffle w/ VoiceOver: Same Device: Boring Feature

Apple almost had something to shout about. Okay, the device is newly designed, with a new feature, to do the same old stuff. Boring. What I did like, was that the device has no buttons, and can be made ridiculously small. While this doesn't do much to improve the status of the Shuffle, it does open up some doors down the road for other devices and features.
The drawback though, to the controls on the earphone cord, is the dilemma of wanting to play my newly designed Shuffle in my car, through my auxiliary port. Once plugged in, how do I get it to play?
How about a permanently attached control "stub" (about 2 inches in length) with the female receptacle for any earphone jack? Then I can really play it whenever and wherever I want. Close Apple, but no cigar on this one.

Comments by Cy Cabbell : Thursday, April 09, 2009 at 07:18 AM

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