Secrets of the iPod shuffle

We’ve been playing with the new iPod shuffle for a while now, and we’ve come across a few little tricks, tips and nuggets that Apple won’t tell you about in the TV adverts. Want to know what they are? Read on to find out about the secrets of the new iPod shuffle.

The VoiceOver feature is even smarter than we first thought
The new iPod shuffle needs iTunes 8.1 to work. That’s because it has text to voice tech built in. It’ll read through the ID3 tags in your iTunes library and turn them into the sound snippets to be read out when you pop them on the new iPod shuffle, but don’t worry if you’re expecting garbled mispronunciations of your world music collection. VoiceOver works in 14 languages, and even better, it’ll automatically detect what language your songs are in, reading them out in the appropriate tongue. Should you prefer English still, not to worry: you can manually override it as well.

Shuffling through your songs is a cinch
If you’re skeptical about the new VoiceOver function, there’s no need to be. It’s quiet and unobtrusive and a definite improvement on the last gen shuffle. You can skip to the next track with a simple double tap on the earphones widget, but if you want a fast read out of all the tracks stored away inside, you can skip through read outs too! Double tap while the new iPod shuffle is reading out a song listing to you and it’ll start reading out the next, and so on. It’s even simpler than it sounds.

Playlist power user tricks
The new iPod shuffle allows for multiple playlists, a useful little feature if you use your shuffle in different settings a lot (Gym, train, library etc). You can activate a playlist read out by holding the middle button down for several seconds but if you’ve got too many playlists to read out, you can skip through them quickly by hitting the + and – buttons. Choosing a playlist kicks it off instantly, as there’s absolutely no loading time.

Manual battery check
Apple says you’ll get a good ten hours of listening on the new iPod shuffle out of one charge, but it can be hard to tell how much time you’ve got left without a screen. The VoiceOver function will alert you once the juice runs down to 25%, but did you know it’s possible to get the new iPod shuffle to tell you whenever you want? All you have to do is turn the shuffle off and on again quickly and it’ll trigger a status update.

It’s even more green than before
Apple is always keen to tout its green credentials, and while it didn’t flag them up in a keynote for the new iPod shuffle, it’s not lacking them. As well as being made from recyclable anodized aluminium, and of course being even smaller than the previous version (40% smaller in fact), the new iPod shuffle comes in an even smaller box. Less packaging, less waste, see?

Out Now | £59 | Apple (Available at Apple)