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Mar 12, 09 - 08:01 am Comment from: jayburridge

Anyone watched the video, the voice over is awful. Surely someones come up with a remotely human sounding voice by now?

The most embarrassing thing is, the voice if different if sync'ed to a PC, and its MUCH BETTER!!!

Thats gotta hurt!

Do PC/Windoz folks talk about Mossberg and Pogue the way we talk about Enderle and Dvorak?

Mar 12, 09 - 08:30 am Comment from: ron

jayburridge, Surely someones come up with a remotely human sounding voice by now?

Yeah jay, just get off you rear end and DO-IT! It's $79 for ---'s sake.

Once you sync it with a Leopard-running Mac, the sound improves greatly. Voice samples are available in the middle of Apple's iPod shuffle VoiceOver page here. (And check out the different languages--makes me want to learn Portugese...)

Uh, the voice with Mac syncing is clearly superior to the PC voice.

Also, Walt, that looks more like a switch to me, not a button on the shuffle.

@jayburridge

I've seen reviews that say the exact opposite - the PC and Mac (Tiger) voice is a bit robotic, but the Mac (Leopard) voice is very smooth.

Mar 12, 09 - 08:37 am Comment from: auren

Ummmm, the voice is Alex, straight out of Mac OSX, which is hands down the best digital voice on any platform, IMHO.

If I have a long article to wade through, having Alex read it out is great.

hmmm... they made a small mistake here:

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/voiceover.html

Where it reads "Portugese" should be "Portuguese".

I've sent an email to Apple already. If anyone knows a better way to warn them, be my guest.

Mar 12, 09 - 08:49 am Comment from: Predrag

Yes, it looks like it's using stock Mac OS X speech synthesis voices, which means we can also use Victoria (to me personaly, better than Alex, or Bruce). This probably also means that ConvinienceWare's Ghostreader voices could be used. You HAVE to try one of those -- they are so convincing, you can practically visualise the speaker!

Also, this explains why the VoiceOver sounds better on Mac; XP voices are quite more synthetic, and Vista ain't any better.

@jayburridge,

Paid are we?

Or just stoopid?

!

I put together an Automator workflow which lets me turn any copied text into an Alex audio file with a couple of key strokes...

It's brilliant. Alex is the most normal digital voice that there is.

Mar 12, 09 - 09:35 am Comment from: twilightmoon

@Macaday

both?

Mar 12, 09 - 09:59 am Comment from: jayburridge

@ ron

i'm not a software developer so i think its best left to the experts, but it seems they've come no further than the program i use ot have on my Amiga 500+! Are criticisms not allowed on here?

@ Mark
The reviews may well say that, its only my opinion, but genuinely the Mac voice sounds very jarring, and the PC one smooth. Have you watched the product tour video, it has them both on there, and the difference is noticeable.

@ Macaday

I'm not really sure what you mean, paid for what?

And what does stoopid mean? I can only assume its a childish way of spelling stupid?
What kind of reply is that anyway? Its just nonsensical rhetoric and a waste of space.

I can only assume there are some very avid fan-boys here that have taken my comments to heart and maybe think i'm a troll.
I haven't used a PC in over 4 years so my comments are in no way meant to upset anyone from a PC Pro-standpoint.
I hate PC's, and work on a Mac Pro 9 hours a day, 5 days a week and have an iMac at home, along with 2 iPods and an iPhone. And i have to say the iPhone is the best piece of hardware i've ever had. handsdown.
So get off your high horses and try and be less hysterical and maybe discuss the product like grown ups eh?

wow, when you press the button a green beam of light encircles your finger tip !

The shuffle is a great little mp3 player. I won't necessarily use it as my everyday ipod, but i love taking it with me when traveling since its so tiny. I don't know if i'll be buying this one right away though, since i just got a new shuffle over the holidays. Plus it seems like paying 79 dollars for it when you can pick up the previous model for less than half that is a little silly. I found a bunch of Apple shuffles on sale at zingsale.com :

http://www.zingsale.com/search/Everything/All/ipod+shuffle/

@Predrag: "...we can also use Victoria (to me personaly, better than Alex, or Bruce)."
Vicki's voice has a sultry charm that Victoria's seems to lack. And those short skirts Vicki always wears to the recording sessions...

@Predrag: "...we can also use Victoria"

I feel so used. :(

I want to take this moment to thank you Walt. I will have my assistant send out your monthly stipend shortly.

expect the one billionth download from the app store to be announced. one billion apps downloaded in 10 month! unbelievable. there has never been a plattform or technology in history that achived that kind of customer response in such a short time.

Mar 12, 09 - 12:42 pm Comment from: Lilochris

How do you rewind, review or fast-forward through a song?

How can you use this on a cassette adapter so you can use it in a car.

This gen Shuffle is really categorized for a certain group of buyers.

HOW long will apple sell the old shuffle. I thing the old shuffle is actually more flexible in terms of function even though it doesn't have voiceover.

It's a beautiful iPod & apple added a nice features to it, but it's way of function & control is rather clumsy.

@jayburridge,

You took a bit of flack, (not very graciously) because you came out with a load of crap. Saying the Alex digital voice in OSX is worse than Windows, and is embarrassing, was just plain STOOPID.

And if I want to spell stupid in a way that is less humiliating and more humorous, I will. Get over it.

I bet a firmware update could add this feature to existing shuffles. And I bet Apple wouldn't do it.

Mar 12, 09 - 03:46 pm Comment from: LordRobin

Man, the itty-bitty shuffle holds about as bunch as the first-gen iPod. I remember how small it seemed when it came out -- now it seems like a gargantuan antique, and it hasn't even been ten years!

------RM

Mar 12, 09 - 03:49 pm Comment from: Brau

Mossberg reports, "Apple has packed a lot of new intelligence into a truly tiny music player, at a pretty low price."

Unfortunately Uncle Walt is wrong. There's no text-to-speech technology in the new Shuffle. The audio files are converted on the PC/Mac side (that's why the voices differ) and stored as mere audio files on the shuffle that are accessed when a request for info is made. It's a brilliant work-around, but there's no intelligence on board.

Mar 12, 09 - 07:21 pm Comment from: jayburridge

@macaday.
Oh i see, so people aren't allowed opinions, and criticism against Apple Products aren't either. Right. This site is great so friendly. What a bunch of dicks.

PS> the Alex voice is smoother within each word, but transition between words is better on the windows voice. Alex jitters between words on that demo video.

Can I just say...

I'd pay BIG money for a MacBook Pro in that charcoal grey color.