iTunes 8.1 to include voice rendering of music titles
.png)
The iPod shuffle's new voice feature is a great navigation tool for screenless browsing of your music collection. But how does that little device read all of your music titles/artist/genre, etc. to you? That takes a lot of CPU power for a device the size of a tie clip.
The answer? It doesn't. All of the voice rendering will be done on the PC or Mac in iTunes 8.1. That's why the PC voice will be a woman (built in voice system) and the Mac will be a man's voice. iTunes 8.1 will put some extra voice data in your music files (see below) to include the name of the band and title of the song. While this will be relatively small in size, the space changes will take up more space than before, thus growing the size of your library. Eventually, Apple might include this audio data in itunes downloads. Heck, they might even have Jimmy Page's voice tell you the next song is Led Zepplin. A value add!
Apple filed a patent for this a few years ago as well...see more below...
.png)
From the Patent Application
In order to achieve portability, many hand-held devices use user interfaces that present various display screens to the user for interaction that is predominantly visual. Users can interact with the user interfaces to manipulate a scroll wheel and/or a set of buttons to navigate display screens to thereby access functions of the hand-held devices. However, these user interfaces can be difficult to use at times for various reasons. One reason is that the display screens tend to be small in size and form factor and therefore difficult to see. Another reason is that a user may have poor reading vision or otherwise be visually impaired. Even if the display screens can be perceived, a user will have difficulty navigating the user interface in “eyes-busy” situations when a user cannot shift visual focus away from an important activity and towards the user interface. Such activities include, for example, driving an automobile, exercising, and crossing a street.
It is noted that text strings that correspond to standard text strings can have pre-recorded audio files. Such text strings may correspond to common user interface controls, such as “play”, “stop”, “previous”, etc., and to common menu items such as “Music”, “Extras”, “Backlight.” These audio files can be created using a voice talent or speech synthesized from the voice talent’s recordings. The other text displayed as part of the media player user interface that is usually user specific, such as contacts and customized playlist names can all be synthesized by building a voice from the voice talent recordings. This provides consistency by having the same voice for all textual data to be presented to the user.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebook
Google
YahooLatest Stories on 9 to 5 Mac
- Apple patents the 3D Apple Store - Alice in Avatar-land
- Surprise: Warner admits iTunes sales slow on price hikes
- Apple ships Aperture 3: 64-bit, Snow Leopard/Intel only, 200 features, $199/£169 (demo available)
- What's coming to the Apple Store this morning?
- Apple Store Down. Can we has Core i7 MacBook Pros?
- Apple podcasts Mac advice video clips
- iPhone gains, BlackBerry loses US smartphone marketshare
AAPL Stock Coverage
196.19+2.07
Poll
Recent comments
- Sounds like hell to me. One
9 min 12 sec ago - This is going to hurt:
99¢ is
28 min 5 sec ago - what is source?
37 min 56 sec ago - Bazzinga!
42 min 10 sec ago - HELL YEAH! I want my Apple
57 min 53 sec ago - so, since what century are
2 hours 40 sec ago - Having been a Second Life
2 hours 4 min ago - Neither. It's "Cocoa". ;)
2 hours 28 min ago - Serves them right, maybe in
2 hours 38 min ago - This makes perfect
2 hours 39 min ago
Who's online
There are currently 1 user and 0 guests online.
Online users
- mime454
Comments (28)
Absolutely brilliant!
Not so Brilliant. Now Apple requires you to use their crappy headphones if you want to be able to use your ipod shuffle since all the controls are on the headphone cord.... another scam.
it comes with the headphones genius.
it comes with the headphones genius.
it comes with the headphones genius.
of COURSE it comes with the headphones. That's exactly the point! How will you control this thing if you have Shure SE110's that you've used with every other iPod you've owned in the past? You can't.
Thus, you're screwed into using their crappy headphones.
They HAVE to release some sort of adapter sooner than later or this one will be the flopper of all floppers.
Thus, you're screwed into using their crappy headphones.
Here are some options so you don't get screwed.
1. Buy an old iPod Shuffle.
2. Buy another vendor's product.
3. Buy a dongle with the controller built in.
4. Buy another model of iPod.
Wow, that's _4_ options for you, and I'm sure there are more! I hope I helped!
Thus, you're screwed into using their crappy headphones.
Here are some options so you don't get screwed.
1. Buy an old iPod Shuffle.
2. Buy another vendor's product.
3. Buy a dongle with the controller built in.
4. Buy another model of iPod.
Wow, that's _4_ options for you, and I'm sure there are more! I hope I helped!
Let it go, man. These headphones are better than the standard, and Apple has said that they're working with 3rd party manufacturers to develop headphones that do the same thing as the stock ones. That way, you'll have a choice. Besides, why would they try and scam you into using headphones that come WITH the unit? If anything, the scam would be to force you to use headphones that you had to buy separately.
That said, Apple still sells the previous gen shuffles for your listening pleasure.
when do they finally remove the cd from the itunes logo?
Wow... I never thought of that. You are very perceptive, Obi Won.
The new shuffle is ok, but I think that it points to something that is more exciting. If Apple is able to color the aluminum on the shuffle black, what is stopping them from carrying that over to their macbook line? .. nothing really. So I expect that at the next revision of macbooks, we will see a black unibody macbook pop up. I can't wait to see it, if it is anything like the black shuffle, it should definitely impress.
As a poster in the previous shuffle post noted, this technology will, I predict, make it to ALL ipod/iphone platforms before long. They'll release a "female" version of the cable-with-remote that you can plug your nice Shures into along with a corresponding software update.
Perhaps soon enough more and more information will be delivered via VoiceOver. Your on a busy train with your iphone safely in your pocket and halfway through a song VoiceOver announces that "a new email has been received from (....) subject line (....)" - maybe a triple click would read you the whole email.
There is an awful lot of scope for use of this technology!
I guess you didn't read the article or at least didn't understand what was written.
I think you're missing the point. The shuffle may not have the CPU ability to do voice-over but the iPhone and iPod touch does. Anyone who follows apple knows that if they introduce one thing on one product, that technology goes down the line to the rest of the products. Expect to see this ability on an iPhone or touch within a year. I'm also willing to bet that the MacBooks won't be the only place you'll see the unibody design.
no way! i believe i understood this perfectly well! you may have a point in the sense that delivering in-ear notifications of email/rss update/sms/etc will not necessarily be done by encoding voice data within the audio file..... but i was speaking more generally of how apple like to introduce a feature (like VoiceOver for shuffles) and then if it's a good one, EXPLOIT IT all over the place.
i also got a little paranoid/excited that it could also be used for delivering adverts inbetween songs, if apple were to somehow get involved in a subscription service for itunes, a la Spotify (Europe-only free music service, fantastic app, supported by occasional inbetween songs)
it's a long-term conceptual idea, for sure...
(occasional *ads inbetween songs)
They had this feature for iPod Nano's awhile ago remember? They heavily promoted it for users with disabilities? I guess that becomes irrelevant when you need to promote your new lineup. As a Mac user and owner of four iPods, this is officially the worst iPod ever made.
Why?
-You can't use your own earbuds, you need to pay for an adapter to do so.
-The controls are not on the device, meaning if you sit/crush/break or blow out their provided earbuds you need to buy new ones.
-The 4GB capacity for the price, considering the current economy and competitors prices who've been offering the same space for years is way too high.
-The battery life is two hours less then the last generation of shuffles.
I'm pretty sure they just released this product to kill off the Shuffle line.
Damn.... We Fanboys are hard to please, aren't we?
I for one, like the new shuffles. Seriously, their $79! Not that big a deal. I spend way more than that going out drinkin' with the peeps and the misses. It's perfect for it's niche.
As for the 4GB capacity, you're paying for more than just 4 GB's. You're paying for software integration with iTunes, the VoiceOver, the superior design, etc. Apple subsidizes software with hardware. Everyone knows this.
@9to5mac nooby - i'm sooooo sure you're employed by some marketing arm of apple in some capacity or other. paid to camp on this thread and fly ye olde fanboy flag... and that's cool, but i'm a little bit peeved i just ordered a new shuffle without being aware of the proprietary headphone bullshit prior. sure - that's my fault for not researching, but it's not immediately evident on the apple store page. so while i may suffer from my own impulsive decision, i *dare* you to say one bad thing about apple. fcuk it, i double dare you.
ZEPPELIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With an E!
A lot (seriously a lot) of people have commented on the new Shuffles not being able to use 3rd-party headphones (yet). I know that the Apple headphones bundled aren't the best, even I upgraded to better ones. But here is the thing, i own an iPod Touch. Most people who really care about how good the music sounds are going to go for one of the "Serious" iPods (i.e. the rest). I even know people that are huge music fans, and they don't give two hoots if the headphones aren't that good. So... people who are complaining about it: i bet at least 70% of you don't own an iPod Shuffle. If you do, great. But the fact of the matter is that if you don't want to spend that much on an MP3 Player, you aint going to want to spend that much on better headphones when some are already in the box.
I find the included iPod earbuds to be the best on the market. They sound good, yet they don't block ambient sounds that much. So I can walk around the city AND hear music. It's awesome.
For the airplane I use noise canceling phones.
My current Shuffle is great in my old car (with a cassette adapter). It's much better than my IPod touch, since I can control it without a glance. I suppose a female adapter would work, but I wouldn't want to be searching for tiny buttons on a cord just to skip to the next song.
Smaller is better for workouts, but we'll need some third-party earbuds with buttons that can be controlled while wearing (thin)gloves. I also prefer over-ear loops.
Waterproof shuffles (now available via third party) would have been a more useful upgrade.
I am glad Apple is innovating and putting themselves way ahead of their competitors both softwares and hardwares.
At this rate they are doing things the next iteration of the iPhone will leave everyone in the dust and the users benefitting. Those who want to bitch will always find something to bitch about.
And in these bad economic times it makes sense to buy something that has quality and holds it value well and when you need to sell it in eBay you can still fetch a decent price.
Just keep on surprising us Apple.
change the record.
Players are to enjoy wowspa.com buy wow gold , five minutes, they can gain more of the cheap wow gold and wow power leveling . At wowspa.com trade both safe and fast!
hi