Now I love using technology in day-to-day life, but only when it works. I hate calling a helpline and reaching a computer who wants me to actually talk to it. Often the conversation ends with my forehead slamming onto the desk as I yell "I said PRODUCT ASSISTANCE," only to hear "Transferring you to"¦ Human Resources." Despite this prior experience I must say that the latest voice control offering from DirectVoxx sounds brilliant.
DirectVoxx's Muso is an iPod dock that is (you guessed it) voice activated. Not only can you operate it by saying basic commands such as "play" and "pause", but you can actually get quite conversational with it. Possible commands include:
"Play me some Nickelback."
"How about some Rolling Stones?"
"Give me jazz."
"Go to My Hot Hits Playlist."
or my personal indecisive favourite: "Play me something like the last song."
To alleviate my fears of talking to it, DirectVoxx state that the Muso can understand "an extremely wide variety of English accents" and will work even with high levels of background noise. This is excellent news for my bruised forehead.
The Muso synchronises with your iTunes library upon first use and will automatically be able to deliver on your requests. Better still, it's mobile and uses a battery that will provide 10 hours of whatever you happen to feel like listening to.
This is a great device for people who listen to their iPods in the car, as no longer will you have to take your hand off the gear stick (and your eyes off the road) to surf through your songs. Suddenly, changing from Abba to Xzibit has become a lot safer. The Muso will also come in handy for those who like playing tunes in the background while they do other things around the house. The next time you've mopped yourself into a corner, you won't have to stand there and listen to those last 4 songs you hate on your latest compilation CD as you wait for the floor to dry.
The only downside to this device is the price. To be priced at around £80 it's around the same cost as a 4GB iPod Nano. DirectVoxx defend this by pointing out that the Muso is basically a computer with extremely small components and cutting-edge technology and they compare it to the cost of a motherboard on a typical smartphone. At any rate, £80 for your own personal DJ isn't too bad, especially when there's no chance of strobe lighting being involved.
For release in December 2008 it could potentially be a great gift for the festive season.
Source: DirectVoxx
One thought on “Muso Voice Activated iPod dock: You Don't Say!”
Sounds like a great idea as I use an FM transmitter and find it hard to reach to change tracks on the ipod. I think I have to try it to really believe though, my phone has voice activation and it never works.
To save your forehead any more pain Tazza I think I’ll review it for you.