Speculation: Talking iPod Forthcoming?

Apple's not talking, but the company has filed a patent that shows a next-gen iPod with speech capability, telling you what song will play next in a variety of celebrity voices.

This won't be your run-of-the-mill robot voice, either. Apple is reportedly working on a system that uses famous actors' voices to perfectly pronounce even the weirdest song titles and band names. Imagine, fanboys, having the voice of your god Steve Jobs telling you which song will play next.

The heavy lifting for this voice work is done using the computer's processor, which then creates audio files that are also loaded onto the iPod. Then when you use the clickwheel, you'll hear the titles and artists of each song without needing to look at the iPod's screen. Neat.