11Mar/092
iPod Shuffle with TTS
It's about time! Now when can I expect it on the other iPods? Just because they have screens doesn't mean I'm always looking at them.
It's about time! Now when can I expect it on the other iPods? Just because they have screens doesn't mean I'm always looking at them.
March 11th, 2009 - 18:11
Interesting. And it is great news that text to speech is available now. One sad side effect though. The device is now inaccessible to hearing-aid wearers.
I use a Music-Link headset (see http://www.tecear.com/Music_Link.htm) which uses audio-loop to transmit from the headset to the hearing aid.
If all the controls are now in the headset, the Music-Link is rendered useless. As are any other audio-loop headsets.
Looks like Apple just swapped accessibility from one group to another.
March 13th, 2009 - 09:45
I think the input controls are still on the physical device in the form of a single button. The TTS is limited to announcing upcoming song names and artists before they play. From what I’ve read, Apple just synthesizes the “voice jockey” speech as separate tracks on your computer and loads them into the shuffle. The shuffle UI is still limited to blinking lights on the device.
My take is the TTS is a step in the right direction, but a very minor one. The reduction of all input to a single button I see as a step backward, but independent of the new TTS feature.