Apple's new bouncing infant was born on Mar 16, 2009 and it already talks. Apple introduced a new music player Small Talk - iPod Shuffle (3rd generation) with a new sleeker bar shaped version. Apple claims this music player as “world’s smallest music player” also happens to be the world’s first talking one. The new iPod Shuffle version features 4GB memory which can store up to 1000 songs (128-Kbps AAC format) and offers 10 hours of non-stop music.

The new iPod Shuffle sizes only 1.8” tall and 0.3” thin, much smaller than your car keys. To create the world’s smallest music player, Apple has moved the controls from iPod Shuffle. Now new iPod shuffle has no controls or click wheel on it; the controls are now on below the right earbud.

This new iPod Shuffle also supports multiple playlist for your ease. You might have created different playlist for different moods on iTunes and now you can sync them to this new iPod Shuffle.

This new iPod Shuffle also board new VoiceOver feature that gets around the lack of display by telling you which song is playing and who performs it the touch of a button on the earbud cable. It also tells your playlists and let you navigate to others songs. Apart from this, new VoiceOver speaks multiple languages. Apple claims this tiny infant can speak 14 different languages (including English). The actual speech is produced by iTunes and then schlepped across to the Shuffle when you sync. This means that if you are syncing with a Mac running OS X Leopard (the latest version) you get to hear the rather good robotic voice of Alex. If you are running an older version of the OS, or using a PC you get a rather crappy voice. Find it at the Apple site.

The 2nd Gen iPod Shuffle is still available. This new Small Talk - iPod shuffle currently costs $79 on the US Apple Store. Expected the price to be roughly Rs 4600/- in India. The new shuffle can be seen in two colors, Black and White.