iPhone virtual radio announcer app?
November 16, 2010 8:36 PM   Subscribe

Is there an iPhone app that acts like a virtual radio DJ, announcing artists and songs as they play?

I ride my bike to and from work, and I listen to my iPhone on the ride. Quite often I'd like to know what song and/or artist is playing, because I shift my iTunes library a lot and I'm not intimately familiar with everything I have on there. However, looking at the screen while I'm riding is not feasible.

Is there an app that would read the name of the artist and song before playing each song? Is that even possible, or is this a really non-trivial task?
posted by starvingartist to Computers & Internet (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not sure of any apps out there that do it, but it does drive me nuts that the iPhone/iPod touch doesn't have this ability natively, especially since the Shuffle does. So, I guess you could ride with a shuffle if that the price is right.
posted by General Malaise at 9:13 PM on November 16, 2010


Best answer: Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver will read out the name of the song and artist, but it does it over the song rather than before it.
posted by Paragon at 9:16 PM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Is it now possible to interact with the user's music library if you are using the iPhone SDK 3.0 or greater, so what you are looking for is not technically impossible (background). The application would have to duplicate all of the normal music player functionality, parse the song's tag information, and then add in the text-voice voice announcing before each track. I don't know of any applications out there right now that do this.
posted by sophist at 11:11 PM on November 16, 2010


Best answer: Just checked, VoiceOver is only available on the iPhone 4 and GS models.
posted by sophist at 11:25 PM on November 16, 2010


Response by poster: It didn't even occur to me to look into the Accessibility settings. I have a 3GS, and lo and behold! it's right there. Thanks, guys/gals.

Now, is there a way to automate that menu setting to a one-touch button on my home screen so I don't have to go 4 layers deep to toggle it?
posted by starvingartist at 6:35 AM on November 17, 2010


Best answer: You can triple-tap your home button to bring up an accessibility menu. Then you can turn VoiceOver on and off easily.
posted by Magnakai at 6:52 AM on November 17, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. AskMeFi wins again!
posted by starvingartist at 10:06 AM on November 17, 2010


Even without the VoiceOver turned on, if you hold down the center button on the headphones (or the home button) for a few seconds to bring up the Voice Control feature, you can say "What Song Is This?" and it will identify it for you. That way you won't have to hear identification before EVERY song, just the ones you want to identify.
Voice Control is awesome. You can also say stuff like "Call So-and-So" or "Play songs by Such-and-Such." One of the iPhone's best unsung features.
posted by raygan at 8:36 PM on November 17, 2010


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