Apple launches talking iPod

Apple's new iPod Shuffle, announced on Wednesday, can talk to you as you listen to music, the company said.

The talking iPod Shuffle has a feature known as VoiceOver that tells you information about what you're listening to.

The iPod Shuffle doesn't have a screen on which to view information about tracks, and the VoiceOver feature is intended to help Shuffle owners overcome this problem.

"Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names," said Greg Joswiak of Apple.

"The amazingly small new iPod shuffle takes a revolutionary approach to how you listen to your music by talking to you, also making it the first iPod shuffle with playlists."

The new iPod Shuffle has a 4GB capacity and costs £59 including VAT.

The announcement rounds off what has been a busy three weeks for Apple.

Last week, Apple launched a new Mac Mini and the week before it released a beta version of Safari 4 web browser.