Are you waiting for a tiny new iPod Shuffle? To finish your waiting Apple announced just few days ago a tiny new iPod Shuffle with a “Voice Over” feature. The feature identifies tracks out loud. With four gigabytes spaces the $79 Shuffle holds up to more than1,000 songs. It is about the size of a tie clip. In other word, it is the smallest iPod yet. Principle analyst at Creative Strategies, Tim Bajarin says the $79 price tag for a 4GB player is “very consumer friendly” even in a soft economy.
The new one’s controls are located on the cord of the earphone. Users will get a press button on the cord to play, pause, adjust volume and hear the name of the song or artist. Apple vice president of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing, Greg Joswiak said “Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names.” The new earphone-based controls were inspired by the ear-buds on Apple’s iPhone. Analyst Bajarin says you can use the ear-buds to take a phone call, hang up and perform several other actions.
The earphones are totally new, and ship with the player. Like previous Shuffles, it does not have any screen. The player comes in silver or black. Its battery lasts around 10 hours on a single charge. The speak aloud feature is available in 14 different languages. The player features an aluminum design with a steel clip. The clip makes it wearable, just as any user can wear current iPod Shuffles. Apple says the new one is now shipping but it is not obvious whether the new ones replace Apple’s existing Shuffle lineup such as a 1GB, $49 player and a 2GB, $69 version. However, some of those older models were still available on Apple’s website.
