Speak & Spell

[remember]

Speak & Spell looked like a giant calculator with a handle, and not many kids I know were lucky enough to have one bought for them. My parents obviously though it could help me and I was fooled into believing that education could be made fun. I was gutted when a friend dropped mine!Speak & Spell was another electronic toy made by Texas Instruments and was a more refined version of Mattel's See & Say toy. Speak & Spell was the first in a series of toys like this, followed by Speak & Read and Speak & Math. I believe Texas also released a compact version of the Speak & Spell in the early-80s.What I find bizarre is that the opening noise the Speak & Spell made when you turned it on has been picked up by a number of musicians and samples in their songs, such as Pet shop Boys. Depeche Mode even named their debut album Speak & Spell in honour of the toy! Speak & Spell also featured in the film ET as a communicator.

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[Star Attraction]

Re: Speak & Spell

Someone led me to believe Speak and Spell was bad by teaching children American spellings. Wouldn't they have had different models for marketing in the USA and UK?

[robbieboy]

Re: Speak & Spell

Yeah theyre worth quite alot of money to certain music producers

[Richard1978]

Re: Speak & Spell

It sounds like one was used on Kraftwerke's Computer World.

[steveffisher]

Re: Speak & Spell

It sounds like one was used on Kraftwerk's Computer World.

The band approached maker Texas Instruments who let them use the speech chip, with better preset words like 'communication' and 'entertainment'.

I love my Speak & Spell. I've also collected 'Speak & Maths' and 'Speak & Music', as well as the 'Super Speak & Spell' which has proper buttons rather than the ZX80-ish touch-sensitive ones.

[smurfie1]

Re: Speak & Spell

I wanted one so much or the soldier thing that was similar? My mum tried to get me that for christmas one year but it had sold out so she got me a "sound fazer" instead.

[Heather74]

Re: Speak & Spell

I wanted one so much or the soldier thing that was similar? My mum tried to get me that for christmas one year but it had sold out so she got me a "sound fazer" instead.

Major Morgan?