Talking iPod

The world of music is currently dominated by Apple whose iPods and iTunes claim about 80% of the music player share in the U.S. Reports and rumors surfaced last week that Microsoft would come up with a new player to challenge iPod just before christmas but Microsoft issued a statement on Friday denying to have shown or briefed the music industry any such music player.

In any case, in order to keep its domination intact, Apple has introduced a talking iPod today. The device will convert the names of bands, albums and songs into recognizable voice patterns. The iPod will announce what is going to play in advance of it coming on, and allow users to change selections with voice commands.

Apple maintains that the device will be safer for those who are engaging in an activity such as driving or bicycling, where looking at the screen to change songs may be dangerous. A patent application indicates that it will use the same speech technology common in Apple's Macintosh computers.