Thanks esther for this really nice review. I learned some things
about the
headphones while reading and examining them. I got them yesterday
and have
used them a bit but need to spend more time with the remote to
get a
better
handle on how it works which was helped emmensely by the article.
For those wondering about recording, the nano manual provides a
clue
as to
its opperation but the rest of the puzle is that when you plug in
the
headphones, There is a spoken menu for "voice memos". In this menu
we hear
two items, start recording and recordings.
if you press the center button while sitting on recordings and
there
is
nothing there, you hear nothing when you move the wheel. if you
click start
record, the nano begins recording and you do not hear anything till
you
stop. If there is an item in the recording menu or two, you will
hear a
click for each item as you move through the recordings menu.
labeling them
is not accessible. I suppose you could count through the labels to
label
them but don't know how you would find them once labeled. You can
transfer
them to the computer though and even convert them to mp3.
Recording is stopped by pressing the menu button and then moving
left once
to "stop and ave" and pressing the center button, to pause
recording, just
press the center button and to resume, just press it again. you
can
also
resume a stopped recording.
This is all I have to add to the review unless someone has
questions
that
aren't hanswered.
Thanks!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Esther" <[email protected]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS
X by
theblind" <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2008 11:15 PM
Subject: iLounge Review of new Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote
and Mic
Hi,
Those of you who have been following the accessible iPod Nano 4G
may
be interested in the in-depth review of the new Apple In-Ear
Headphones with Remote and Mic accessory ($79.95) that appeared at
iLounge. This is the more expensive of the two headsets that can
be
used as combined headset, remote player control, and mic for voice
recording with the new iPod Nano 4G (and other late 2008 iPods
such as
the 2nd generation iPod Touch, and 120 GB iPod Classic). The
$29.95
headset option is still a few weeks off from release. The basic
result
is a recommendation, with a statement that while they preferred
other
in-ear headphones for their sound qualities, particularly for bass-
heavy music, all these these alternatives cost considerably more
(by
at least $40 to $100). They were particularly positive about the
voice recording mode, which only works for the late 2008 iPods
(via a
new sound-chip), and also gave good marks to the remote player
control, with the caveat that because the mic and remote player
controls were integrated, some people might find the placement of
the
remote controls less convenient (e.g. higher on the cord) than
would
be desirable for a remote in the absence of a mic.
I prefer to save the iLounge reviews directly to TextEdit, because
their web pages are busy with animated graphics ads and multiple
advertisement links. (They do typically have many images of the
products in the articles, so users who want to view these
photographs
should stick to the web pages.) There are also links to sample mp3
recordings comparing the mic's recorded sound with those of other
microphones in different settings. You can access these from the
selection saved to TextEdit by doing a search and find on
"sample" (Command-f and type in "sample" for the first instance;
use
command-g for all successive "find-next" instances), and using VO-
T to
check the text attributes of each word "sample". Instances of
"sample" in regular text will be announced as "gray" after their
font
type and size, while the text that is part of links will be
announced
as "a shade of dark orange". If you interact (VO-shift-Down arrow)
and VO-space where "sample" or "samples" are parts of links in the
TextEdit document, the linked mp3 file will start playing in Safari
and you'll be able to listen to the sound comparison clips.
I used the following settings:
Verbosity setting in VoiceOver Utility: When text attributes change
<Do Nothing> (keeps me from having to hear "align left", "align
center", etc. as I go through the article in TextEdit).
TextEdit is used with its default format setting of Rich Text.
To save page to TextEdit:
1. In Safari, navigate to iLounge page for review of "Apple In-Ear
Headphones with Remote and Mic" by Jeremy Horowitz, December 12,
2008:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/apple-in-ear-headphones-with-remote-and-mic/
2. Select all (Command-A)
3. Navigate to the Services Menu (VO-M, Right Arrow to
application,
Down Arrow to menu, press "S" to go to "Services")
4. Navigate to TextEdit submenu (Right Arrow to services submenu,
press "T" for "TextEdit")
5. Navigate to and select "New Window Containing Selection" (Right
Arrow to "New Window Containing Selection" and press return)
6. Switch application from Safari to TextEdit with Command-Tab
Note: you can also automate this process by assigning a keyboard
shortcut to "New Window Containing Selection" using "System
Preferences" and the "Keyboard Shortcuts Tab" of "Keyboard &
Mouse".
Press (VO-space) the button to assign a new keyboard shortcut
when you
VO-right past the table. Leave the popup button for Application
set to
"All Applications", type or paste in "New Window Containing
Selection" (without the quotation marks) in the text space for Menu
Title, then type in your selected keyboard shortcut in the text
area
for that input and press VO-space) the "Add" button to make your
assignment take effect. You'll need to restart your computer for
your
new shortcut to activate. If you have a keyboard shortcut
assigned,
you can replace steps 3 through 6 with your keyboard shortcut for
"New
Window Containing Selection"
Hope this is of interest.
Cheers,
Esther
