This week, we'll be taking a look at using Apple's Voice Control on the iPhone and iPod touch while listening to music. This feature was introduced on the iPhone 3GS and recent iPod touch models, works on the iPhone 4, and can be used with the included Apple earbuds with a remote and mic, or any other compatible earbuds and headphones. Get ready to start telling your iPhone or iPod touch what to do, but be prepared to listen once in a while because the device might have something to say back. Sorry iPad users, you'll have to sit out on this one--again.

Activating Voice Control

There are three ways you can activate voice control: holding down the Home button, holding down the the center button--in between the plus and the minus signs--on the iPhone earphones, or pressing the equivalent button on a Bluetooth headset until the Voice Control screen appears and you hear a beep. Press Home again to cancel and return to the iPhone home screen.

Basic Music Playback Controls

Activate voice control and say "play" or "play music" to begin playing music. If you need to pause your tunes, say "pause" or "pause music." Or skip to the next song in the shuffle list by saying "next song" and hear it again by announcing "previous song. "


Select Music to Play

It's easy to get the music started using the last tip, but if you want to play a song by a specific artist, simply say "play" followed by "album" and "artist". For example, if you're aching for some Madonna, say "American Life" and "Madonna" to bring up that album. Similiarly, if you want to listen to a playlist, say "playlist" followed by the name, such as "Top Five," to play your very own top five music playlist. Feeling brave? Tell voice control "shuffle" and it will shuffle the available music and play it in random order.

Get Info About the Current Song   

Sometimes, we have songs floating around our iTunes that we have no idea about. That can get a little peculiar when we're trying to figure out the song name and artist. If this happens while you're walking home with your ear buds in, tell voice control any one of the following: "What's playing," "What song is this," "Who sings this song," or "Who is this song by." Then, voice control will tell you what you want to know.

Put a Little Genius into Your Music

Sometimes, we get into a mood. Sometimes we're in a Radiohead mood, othertimes we just want to groove along to Daft Punk, and most of the time we just want to revel in the nostalgic feeling of The Smith's Greatest Hits. Fortunately, the iTunes Genius caters to our needs with the simple touch of a button--or a simple voice command. Activate voice control and tell it "Genius," "play more like this", or "play more songs like this."

Bonus Tip: Current Time

We know how engrossing smooth jazz is. So much, in fact, we've found ourselves not knowing what time it is after the fact. Fortunately, you can just ask voice control "What time is it?" or "What is the time?" and it will tell you the current time.