That didn't take long. One manufacturer has already hopped on the talking iPod Shuffle bandwagon by announcing the development of replacement cans featuring the player’s control buttons.

Scosche Industries’ talking Shuffle-like earphones

The latest Shuffle ships with a pair of earphones that incorporate the controls taken off the player itself. They allow you to hear track and artist names, change tracks, adjust the volume and skip through playlists by clicking the in-line controller a specific number of times.

Scosche Industries’ earphones will also perform all these duties, wit the addition of noise-isolation technology for, it’s claimed, “brilliant highs, silky smooth mids and powerful bass”.

Coming later this year

There's an added bonus, albeit only for ipod Touch, Nano and Classic users: the cans will also have a miniature microphone built into the back of the control surface, allowing you to record voice memos.

Scosche has three models in development: the IDR350M, IDR450M and IDR650M. The firm’s yet to say what the differences will be between each pair, but has promised all three will be available this Spring for between $50 and $100 (£36-72/€39-77). ®