Apple’s new iPod nano has some extra features that you may not have noticed at first glance. Actually, you can’t see my favorite new feature of the iPod nano’s menu system, but it “sounds” very promising, and I’m hoping Apple can add to it’s functionality.
Apple added some accessibility features to the new nano in the form of spoken menus.
Spoken menus allow listeners to hear many of the names of menus, song titles, and artists without viewing the screen.
Why do I find this interesting? Not only does this allow the blind to use iPods much easier, but I think this could be the start of something wonderful.
I’ve always thought it would be an excellent idea to have a “virtual dj” of sorts built in to iTunes and the iPod. What I mean is, when a song comes on, a text-to-speech voice could announce the end of the last song and the artist and title of the next song, or other relevant details. Call me old fashioned, but I’d like iTunes to sound like a radio station. I think it would be really fun, plus you wouldn’t have to switch to iTunes, or use something like Growl to figure out what that mysterious song is that’s playing.
With Leopard’s excellent built-in text-to-speech capabilities, I don’t see how this would be that difficult to work into an update of iTunes. Would you like or use this feature if included in iTunes? Let us know.
Oh, and if spoken menus aren’t your thing, but you can’t see the screen on your new iPod nano very well, then you can use a larger font for the menus.
Product [Apple]
Not that I go jogging with my iPod, but many people do, so does anyone have an idea how well the "Shake to Shuffle" function works when having to cope with the wearer moving around.
It was the first thing that came to mind when I saw SJ shake the new nano, and he didn't mention if you could turn that feature off.
Given the super sensitivity of the iPhone accelerometer when moving around watching a movie…
Shake-to-Shuffle is not touchy, and is unlikely to be set off accidentally. And the feature can be turned off. I think the lock switch also temporarily turns off Shake-to-Shuffle too.