iPod Touch Gets an External Microphone

[MacRumors]

Apple introduced the new iPod Touch yesterday which contained a couple of minor hardware tweaks over the previous model. Most notably, this included a built-in speaker and volume control buttons which were both absent on the 1st generation iPod Touch.

One item we failed to report, however, was that Apple appears to have also added external microphone support (via accessory) into the iPod Touch as well. Apple introduced two new earphones accessories yesterday: Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic and In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic.

The microphone feature of the headsets was advertised as allowing you to record voice memos on the new iPod Nano, but Apple's product page indicates that the Mic also works with the iPod Classic as well as the new iPod Touch:

The remote and mic are supported only by iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (120GB), and iPod touch (2nd generation). Audio is supported by all iPod models.

Adding convenient microphone support into the iPod Touch opens up the possibility of Voice Over IP (VOIP) applications such as Skype which would allow you to make telephone calls from your iPod Touch over Wi-Fi networks. Apple has said that they would not restrict Wi-Fi VOIP applications as long as they did not run over the iPhone's cellular networks.

The microphones portion of the headsets will not work with the 1st generation iPod Touch.

Article Link

[NightFlight]

Skype on a Touch??? Awesome.

[Full of Win]

O Boy...here comes the S--- storm over old hardware left out in the cold.

[bigmc6000]

So does anyone know if these will work w/ the iPhone? I'd like to have the ability to adjust the sound without touching the phone as well as triple clicking to go previous. Would also be nice to get those high-quality in-ear headphones...

[m4c1nt05h]

Originally Posted by Full of Win

O Boy...here comes the S--- storm over old hardware left out in the cold.

the 1st gen and 3g iphone are hardly old.

from the apple store:

"*Compatibility Information

The remote and mic are supported only by iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (120GB), and iPod touch (2nd generation). Audio is supported by all iPod models."

apple really is doing some weird stuff lately.

[.:R2theT]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

So does anyone know if these will work w/ the iPhone? I'd like to have the ability to adjust the sound without touching the phone as well as triple clicking to go previous. Would also be nice to get those high-quality in-ear headphones...

Exactly. These better work with both generations of iPhone!

[i0Nic]

Yes the In-Ear headphones better work with the iPhone, including the mic/buttons.
Or I'll be so freakin pissed.

[Fabio_gsilva]

The iPod touch is even closer to the iPhone without the phone that a lot of people were asking.

I think that Apple did a great job with the iPod line up.

[madrag]

it's about time!
I'm glad the touch is "growing"

[born4sky]

So ... Do you think new headphones for $79 will work with an iPhone?

[Poff]

I'm feeling I find it hard to choose between an iPod Touch or iPhone. Until yesterday I was set for an iPhone, but now I'm not sure.


..and the Touch looks sleeker, too. But no GPS and no internet over 3G might be a deal-breaker for me..

[Veri]

Conjecture: The iPod nano 3g (inter al.) supports an external mic, but that's an acessory which uses the serial "Apple Accessory Protocol" to chat with the iPod, whereas the range released yesterday needs nothing but a dumb mic plugged in to record. The connection moves from intelligent data port to dumb 3.5mm port, sort of the opposite to TV out moving to the data port. Likely right/wrong?

I wonder how uniform the protocol spec is across iPods/iPhones? A small electronics shop could build something that implements as many of the "modes" for an all-in-one-fun accessory, in theory. Although if you wanted to join up with Apple as an accessory provider, I guess you get complete and official docs (how much does that cost?)...

[arn]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

So does anyone know if these will work w/ the iPhone? I'd like to have the ability to adjust the sound without touching the phone as well as triple clicking to go previous. Would also be nice to get those high-quality in-ear headphones...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/appl...-you-didnt-get

The new headsets' Audio and Next/Skip controls will reportedly work on the iPhone but not the volume controls

The headphones, which let you skip/pause/play with a click just like the iPhone headphones, also let you adjust volume up or down. I asked whether they would work with the iPhone, and the Apple rep said the company doesn't claim that they're supported. "It will work with skipping, pausing, etc. but I don't think the volume will change. That's not supported on the iPhone." He pointed out that iPhone headphones will work with the iPod touch and iPod nano, however.

[imcquill]

Is there any word on whether skype is going to make a native app for the iPhone/iPod? That would definitely be cool.

[mattwolfmatt]

It's worth noting that this is NOT on the actual ipod - it needs the special headphones plugged in. I had to read this several times to understand that.

I'm excited by the lineup. A lot of little improvements to the touch; I'm not sure if I'm willing to spend $400 for them though (I'd HAVE to get the 32GB; this would actually hold my entire music library - with some room to spare - which is something I'm missing with my touch.)

Ok I convinced myself, I'm getting it! I just hope a 64GB doesn't come out after Christmas...

[rld1971]

iSkoot is not really fully VOIP since it uses the regular voice network for over the air conversations and then switches over to Skype! I jhave it on my Nokia e61, it's awesome.

[Lesser Evets]

One word:

....BUWAHAHA!

I saw a load of haters on the forums bitchin' 'bout how Apple would NEVER allow that to happen. NEVER!! NEVARRRR! Yet they made it happen. Heck, they'll integrate the mic, camera and bloot'th over time. It just didn't happen this year.

[arn]

Originally Posted by mattwolfmatt

It's worth noting that this is NOT on the actual ipod - it needs the special headphones plugged in. I had to read this several times to understand that.

Sorry, I see where the confusion lies. I reworded the article.

Also, it should be noted that there is no support for the Mic yet as far as I can tell. And there is a small possibility that this is a mistake on Apple's part, though the wording is specific.

arn

[danyadd]

I own an Ipod Touch 1G (firmware 2.1).
I would like to use this new headset to skip songs and set volume.
Any news about that?

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by arn

http://arstechnica.com/journals/appl...-you-didnt-get

The new headsets' Audio and Next/Skip controls will reportedly work on the iPhone but not the volume controls

Hmm, that would lead me to believe that the triple-click doesn't work either.

I wonder if maybe the 2.1 firmware might add this functionality? I mean, would Apple seriously continue to make two different sets of mic-in-line headphones just because they don't want to enable the adjusting of volume and triple click on the iPhone?

[thecartoonguy]

Originally Posted by Full of Win

O Boy...here comes the S--- storm over old hardware left out in the cold.

You took the words right out of my mouth. And they thought IKE was a problem. Snort

[koobcamuk]

Well, they haven't said which ipods the mic and remote work with, so it'll be good when people test it. I would love skype on the iPhone (for wifi areas).

[Tomaz]

So do they ship the Touch with the 29$ version of those headphones with mic and vol-control (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB770), or do they ship the new Touch with the plain old headphones and we have to buy the mic ones ?

[JAYGEE]

Does it allow you to listen to game play while playing games, but not allow you to listen to your music playlist?

[Pandaboots]

Anyone know why the in ear headphones wouldn't fully work with the 3g iPhone? Seems the new iPod Touch is identical to the iPhone now. This seems very strange and a huge oversight on Apple's behalf especially since these are reproduction of the headphones developed for the iPhone.