Apple PR confirms that the company will not stop short of ludicrously small in its devices:
World’s Smallest Music Player Now Talks to You
Apple today introduced the all-new iPod shuffle, the world’s smallest music player at nearly half of the size of the previous model, and the first music player that talks to you. The revolutionary new VoiceOver feature enables iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names. The third generation iPod shuffle is significantly smaller than a AA battery, holds up to 1,000 songs and is easier to use with all of the controls conveniently located on the earphone cord. With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist. iPod shuffle features a gorgeous new aluminum design with a built-in stainless steel clip that makes it ultra-wearable.
iPod shuffle is based on Apple’s incredibly popular shuffle feature, which randomly selects songs from your music library. And now, when you can’t remember the name of a song or an artist playing, with the press of a button iPod shuffle tells you the name of the song and artist. iPod shuffle can even tell you status information, such as battery life. With the ability to hold up to 1,000 songs and the VoiceOver feature, you can now easily switch between multiple playlists on your iPod shuffle. iPod shuffle can speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
The new iPod shuffle comes in silver or black and features a sleek and ultra-wearable design with a built-in stainless steel clip. iPod shuffle is the smallest music player in the world and is incredibly easy to clip to almost anything and take with you everywhere you go. iPod shuffle features up to 10 hours of battery life.
More info:
iPod shuffle tour (video, various sizes)
Note: As several sites have noticed, the iPod shuffle (3G) requires iTunes 8.1, which isn't out yet. According to Apple's iTunes site, this version will include:
Faster. Smarter. Better.
Speed improvements
iTunes gets a speed boost. Now when it comes to loading large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, and syncing your devices, iTunes responds faster than before.
Autofill any iPod
Now the convenience of Autofill works with any iPod. Let iTunes choose what songs fill your pocket and enjoy your music at random.
Import as iTunes Plus
Automatically import music from your CDs as higher quality, 256-Kbps iTunes Plus files.
I'll be reviewing the new iPod shuffle later this month, of course.