Smaller than a stick of gum and serving the dual function of tie-clip and 4GB mp3 player, Apple’s new talking iPod Shuffle ($79) is both elegant and understated. If worn correctly, it’s nearly invisible. All the flashiness of this mp3 player is on the inside. New VoiceOver technology, controlled by a button on the headphone cable, makes this the first Apple product to address you in a Stephen Hawking-eqsue voice and tell you what song you’re listening to. It’s a nice gimmick, if a bit distracting (it momentarily turns your music off when it talks to you) when you’re really getting into a song.
The VoiceOver has no idea how to pronounce Sigur Rós, Sufjan Stevens, MSTRKRFT, or any word outside of its American lexicon. Although guessing how it’s going to pronounce your favorite artists and songs is funny at times, it does get tiresome. There also seem to be some kinks in the VoiceOver’s code — it crashed my computer three times before it would install itself. Yet once you get past its quirks, the Shuffle’s massive storage space, diminutive size and accessible controls will make it hard to live without.
