Car, play me Eminem's latest hit

Gracenote says it's developing voice-recognition software that will help drivers maneuver though hard drive-based car music systems that hold thousands or even tens of thousands of songs. It's aiming the tool initially at markets in Japan, where it has had early success with dashboard music products, but it will ultimately be geared for other large markets as well.

"Pushing buttons can be challenging when you're driving down the road at 80 miles an hour,' said Ross Blanchard, Gracenote's vice president of business development. 'The reason we thought we could do this now is that they've worked out the problems with voice recognition in the navigation and telematics market.' "

One less distraction ...