Mysteryshows.com

[Brad]

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about a new talking ipod shuffle. A blind person called in and said that he was going to get it. I know we have a lot of sight impaired members in our club.


Does anyone plan on getting this product? It seems like a pretty cool idea. This might be good to put some old time radio shows on. Anyone heard anything about it yet? Sorry if this is old news to some. I just found out about it today.


Brad
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[human]

It's not that old news. The product has only been on the market for about three days. I was thinking the same thing about its usefulness for the visually impaired. I recall a member posting within the past month about mp3 players that might be suitable for a blind person and maybe this would work. The only downside to the Shuffle product line is, as the name suggests, it only plays tracks in a random order. There's no way to pick a specific track other than to keep skipping them until you find the one you want. Maybe the "talking" feature gives the user an additional degree of control without adding a screen.

[shuffleotrfan]

It can play media in random sequence, sequentially, or according to a selected playlist. My biggest concern would be the need for iTunes to manage the media, and the cost of non-apple headphones which have to have an Apple id chip, which would add to the cost.

[Brad]

[human]

Correct. The controls on the Talking iPod Shuffle are on the headphone cord, not on the body of the player. I don't know if that means it can only be used with the headphones that come with it or whether the controls are actually on an extension cord that plugs in between the headphones and the player.

If I were designing it, I would have opted for the latter as it would allow people like me, who find earbuds to be very uncomfortable, to opt for traditional outside-the-ear headphones. It would also preclude one from using the device with external speakers, a car radio, or many other alternative connections.

[shuffleotrfan]

The controls are on the earphone cable itself. Until Apple, or some other manufacturer, markets a plug in adapter with controls to which other earphones plug into, you are right about the new Shuffle not working with external speakers.

Unfortunately, any such adapter would tend to put the controls closer to the shuffle, and further away from the earphone cord (conveniently at hand?), and would add weight and more cord length.

BTW, I currently manage to keep my earphone cable untangled by tying up the loose cord with a simple twist tie. You may have dozens of them lying around from various electronics purchases, or you can get them from the vegetable/fruit section of your supermarket at the plastic bag dispenser. Or, you could use a small rubber band, or some tape, or some string.