4th generation and later iPods (including the iPhone, excluding the Shuffle) are able to play back audiobooks at a 25% slower speed without changing the pitch. I started looking for some way to convert my existing .mp3 files into audiobook format, found this little shareware Windows utility that does exactly that:
After you convert your file to the .m4b format, you’ll need to copy it over to your iPod using iTunes by first importing it to your music library, then copy it from your library to the iPod.
On the iPod, find the options menu, where you should be able to set the playback speed to slow/normal/fast. The slowed down quality isn’t pristine, but certainly good enough for learning tunes.
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Another way is to use a program like Audacity to slow down the tune then save it as an mp3 file and load it directly to iTunes and you iPod. Audacity also lets you edit the tune so, for instance, you can slow down and save just the whistle part of a tune. Audacity is available free for download here.
If you’re using your computer, not your ipod, there’s a couple of programs which play back directly from a CD at any speed. I use “Transcribe.” Another is “The Amazing Slow Downer.”