[nmskalmn]

Excerpts

Coming soon to a cell phone or iPod near you: hip-hop stars such as Mary J Blige and TI rapping in flawless German, French, Japanese and Spanish.

A proprietary new speech-conversion system can produce their voices in any language spoken in the lucrative global markets where their music - as well as the clothing, ringtones and other lifestyle extensions of their brands - is sold.

The system, called Voxonic, can replicate a specific voice in any desired language. It's already used in limited applications, including film dubbing and corporate communications.

"We think we're on the edge of something big," Harrell said last month in New York. "The amount of revenue this can generate is unbelievable."

Harrell then plugged his iPod into a speaker system and played Baby, by the rapper Fabolous, switching between English and French. Other than the change in language, there was no discernible difference between the two recordings. Harrell also played Bring 'Em Out, by TI, first in English and then in Spanish, to similar effect.

Read the article: Rap your earphones around this