When You Care Enough to Say It

Hallmark Cards is introducing a Christmas ornament that will be the first in a planned line of products allowing the user to record a personal message on a tiny voice chip.

The Messages of Christmas ornament, available Oct. 1, depicts a chipmunk wearing headphones perched on what looks like a personal tape recorder.

The ornament, which retails for $35 including the four tiny “button-cell” batteries that power it, is about the size and shape of a cigarette pack.

To record a message, the consumer inserts a wire or paper clip into a hole and speaks into a tiny microphone for up to 15 seconds.

To listen to the message, the recipient simply touches a button. A company spokesman said the ornament is meant to be a keepsake that will continue to play back the message even 20 years or more later, although the batteries probably will need to be replaced every few years.

He said Hallmark intends to expand voice-chip technology into greeting cards “soon.”