Soulra Solar Powered iPod Speaker
Company: Eton
Price: $180 to $200 online
Superpipe Battery Powered iPod Speaker
Company: Skullcandy
Price: $70 to $100 online
Eton’s Soulra is the most innovative portable iPod speaker/dock and audio player we have evaluated at MyMac. Charge its Li-Ion battery with the included AC power unit and play Soulra anywhere and everywhere for four hours. Flip open the built-in solar panel charger and continue trickle charging while enjoying your music. When inclement weather dampens your picnic, or when you are at the beach, fold closed the hinged solar panel and listen to the weatherproof sealed unit.
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Since the introduction of Apple’s new iPod lineup on September 1st, there has been a lot of commentary on the internet about the new iPod nano. While most people seem to view it as a worthy update that creates a very nice, focused music player, some people are upset with Apple for removing features that were in the previous generation of nano. I think they are wrong to perceive the changes negatively. Apple’s decision to go against conventional wisdom and remove features from the new nano makes sense, in my opinion.
v-JAYS over-ear lightweight clear-bass folding headphones
Company: JAYS (of Sweden)
Price: $98 US (not available until approximately November, 2010)http://www.jays.se/products/headphones/v-jays.html
Martin Taylor enjoys listening to music. But he doesn’t like headphones, any of them, because “they always color the sound in a way that is unnatural.” I asked him to help test the new v-JAYS from Sweden. He was impressed. (He is a MyMac reviewer, The Other Martin Taylor, not the famous jazz guitarist although our Martin does play a Taylor guitar. He also owns a Martin.)
“Bass is very strong and clear, Nemo,” he said. “Much more than I’ve heard before. These must be expensive headphones.” Not especially, I told him. They are priced under $100.
What about design, construction, and fit? “Really lightweight and comfortable,” said Martin. “I could sit and listen with them all day, both for pleasure and at work. The folding earpieces aren’t essential, but they’ll help with packing and travel. Is there a case provided?” No, I told him.
AmpTune — Dual Dock Stereo Speakers + Charger for iPhone/iPod/iPod touch
Company: Macally
Price: $70 MSRP ($51.22 U.S. from Amazon.com—good value!)
http://www.macally.com/
Audiophiles: stop reading now. This product is not for you.
Normal music listeners: pay attention. You may overlook this unusual speaker system, which would be a mistake.
AmpTune, just released from Macally, is a small, compact, versatile, affordable, portable or powered way to hear music and view iPhone/iTouch videos with style and innovation. A handy remote control unit allows users to switch tracks and adjust volume, plus a couple of other tricks, from across the room. Audio quality is concentrated on the midrange spectrum, but by setting your player’s equalizer to Bass Booster the audio response is fine for typical listening situations.
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Audio Hijack Pro
Company: Rogue Amoeba
Price: $32.00
rogueamoeba.com
AUDIO IS STILL KING Continue reading »
Without question, we have all observed the rapid movement towards video within and without the internet. Sadly, most video content producers are running up against bandwidth limitations which the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are working feverishly to improve. While bandwidth does present a problem for video content, there exits no such limitation for those who wish to produce and consume audio content. With the advent of the iPod, iTunes, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication), the foundation upon which podcasting was built, the production, distribution, and acquisition of all types of audio content has grown exponentially.
IDR350m Increased Dynamic Range Earphones with mic and tapLine™ control
Company: Scosche
Price: $54.99
http://www.scosche.com/
There are a lot of choices when it comes to earphones for your iPhone, iPod, or iPod Touch, so a company needs to do something just a little bit differently to get noticed, and the $49.95 IDR350m earphones from Scosche are worth a look.
I do not ask much from a set of earphones. They need to have good sound quality, play music fairly well, eliminate some outside noise, and be comfortable. Some might say they even need to look good. But that is about it. But these went a little further
So lets have a look at each of these requirements one at a time:
Mophie Radura iPod Cases
Company: Mophie
Price: $20.00
http://www.mophie.com/
I prefer iPod cases that are clear. I love the look of iPods in general and think it is a shame to cover them up with a case that hides the unit. Mophie’s Radura cases fit my iPod case criteria.
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A large cast this tackles the question: is the iPod generation killing Hi-Fi? Does high fidelity have a place in todays world of small MP3 players and online music stores? Also, All Over the Mac chats with Anne Bowden, and Sam Levin hits us with a new Cool Mac Picks. If all that was not enough, we have a new contest! Listen for your chance to win a $120 Essential Jacket from SCOTTEVEST.
Our MyMac.com rankings blend objective quality with subjective personal experience. Your audio signal mileage may vary a lot from mine. If you can try before you buy, or return/exchange if not completely thrilled, you’ll eventually be satisfied by one of these units.
Three FM iPod car adapters:
iTrip Auto SmartScan FM Transmitter and Car Charger for iPod
Company: Griffin Technology
Price: $80
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itripautoss
Download the show here, listen above, or rock it with iTunes
With Mac OS 10.5 right around the corner, Tim, Nemo, Russ, Tommy, and Guy chat it up. Also, the new iPods are discussed. David Cohen also returns with a new Fenestration.
As always, we would love to have some feedback. Send us an email here, or simply call 1-801-938-5559 and leave a message.
Links from the show:
Microsoft Office 2008 Site
Mac Mojo Blog
Whoomp! Earbud Enhancers
Company: Comply / Hearing Components
Price: $20 US
http://www.hearingcomponents.com
If the Apple earbuds that are included with your iPod or iPhone sound tinny, or if they let in too much ambient noise, or fall out of your ears while you are actively using them, Comply™ / Hearing Components has a solution. Whoomp!™ Earbud Enhancers are angled foam tips attached to a form-fitting earbud cover, with improved bass response, sound isolation, and in-ear stability. At $20 for two sets, how good can they be, and how bad?
Whoomp! ships in two sizes, with two pairs per package. You can order them in a package with four standard, four slim, or two each standard/slim. A very nice black fabric/leatherette zippered case is included, along with ear placement and fitting instructions.
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I need an iPod.
Well, I don’t really “need” one. I still have my iPod mini–what I need is a NEW iPod. An iPod with a LARGER screen. Of course, I could buy an iPhone, but I don’t need a phone. Besides, the iPods have much more storage space than the iPhone. I don’t like the screens on the current crop of iPods, I think they are too small.
When is Apple going to offer up a large screen iPod??
Or not….
Many people use Apple’s iSync every day. I am not one of them. I thought it was pretty cool when it came out. Finally, I could sync all my personal data between my work and home Macs, Palm handheld, and iPod! For me, it just didn’t work as advertised, especially between the Palm and Mac. Some phone numbers and email addresses were duplicated, some disappeared! Even with my iPod, iSync was telling me changes were made on the iPod and would overwrite what was on my Mac! I followed every piece of advice I could find from Apple and other sources, but I just couldn’t tolerate data loss. It took me a couple days to get everything back in order. Most of my calendar was in triplicate. My contacts had tons of duplicate and missing phone numbers and email addresses. I had to reconfigure Palm Desktop to the way it was originally. It was a mess. I haven’t tried it again since.
Before iSync, I simply synced my Palm and iBook with Palm Desktop. Since I brought my work iBook home with me every day, I had no need for an up to date Address Book on my home iMac and I didn’t care if that stuff was on my iPod. That all changed when the iBook was replaced with a Power Mac G4. Now I needed my contacts at home. I had to figure out some simple steps to make sure I was able to do what iSync was not. After some research, I came up with what has been an excellent iSync substitute for me: the Finder, with a little help from Palm Desktop.
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Unless you have joined some scientific experiment, and been frozen for the past two and a half years, you might have heard about the iPhone, and I am not talking about Cisco’s iPhone I am talking about Apple’s iPhone.
What surprised me the most about the Apple iPhone’s announcement is how hard the news hit us here in Saudi Arabia. It created an enormous buzz, a shock. People were going to corporate meetings and talking about the iPhone instead of business. The iPhone showed its beautiful face on the front-page of almost every leading newspaper in Saudi Arabia. It eclipsed all the bloodshed news we have been used to reading the last half century.
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It is that time of year again when many MyMac.com readers received new iPods for gifts. Last year I wrote Macspiration 18 and covered ways to troubleshoot your iPod. The iTunes/iPod world has changed a little in a year, so hear is Macspiration 68 updated for today’s iPods and iTunes.
#1. Reset the ipod. Resetting the iPod will solve most of your problems, especially freezing. If you have any iPod model, except the shuffle, resetting the iPod is a matter of holding two buttons. Push and hold the MENU button while pressing the SELECT button (the round button in the middle of the click wheel) until the Apple logo appears on the iPod screen. This usually takes about ten seconds. Once the Apple logo appears, release the buttons, and the iPod will reboot.
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I was listening to the September 11th episode of the This Week in Tech podcast last week, TWiT 68, and not quite half way through I heard Cory Doctorow say some things that kind of surprised me. I expect to hear inaccurate statements from mainstream media, but not from the TWiT übergeeks. They were discussing bit torrent vs. easier solutions like iTunes for downloading media:
Cory Doctorow: “When you do get these things that are slightly milder, although you know still have restrictions downstream, that’s actually in some ways more problematic ’cause you get these people who end up sinking a lot of money into a platform – not realizing how locked in they’re getting. So you know…”
Wil Harris: “Like iTunes?”
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To beat Apple at the iPod game you need to start with a complete system. The problem with all of the other MP3 players and cell phones on the market today is that they are all missing one of the following key ingredients:
• An intergraded music store to make your purchases. (lacking for most MP3 players)
• An application for your PC to easily manage your music library. (lacking for most cell phones)
• An easy to use, seamlessly intergraded, and well designed player.
The reason iPod sales are so good is because they have built the entire system and made it easy to use. Since Apple has a tremendous lead that means many people have a large investment in their players already. To make existing iPod users switch to a new system would require some radical new functionality users desire. Microsoft is the only possible company that has the clout to compete in Apple’s MP3 playground. So how will MS kill the iPod? To date the list of rumored functions include wireless connectivity as well as a free migration path that allows users to obtain the music they’ve already purchased from Apple.
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Many MyMac.com readers probably got new iPods over the holidays, and my guess is many of you may be experiencing freezing issues, or other problems. You might be ready to return the iPod to the store, say some unprintable words about Apple, or even throw the iPod out the window. Before you do that, there are a few steps you might want to try.
#1. Reset the iPod. Resetting the iPod will solve most of your problems, especially freezing. If you have any iPod model, except the shuffle, resetting the iPod is a matter of holding two buttons. Push and hold the MENU button while pressing the SELECT button (the round button in the middle of the click wheel) until the Apple logo appears on the iPod screen. This usually takes about ten seconds. Once the Apple logo appears, release the buttons, and the iPod will reboot.
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Tim and Chad talk about defragmenting the iPod, FireFox 1.5 for Mac, Intel’s VIIV and the Mac mini, PowerBook Trackpad troubles, and the latest news from MacMinute.com.
This episode sponsored by SmallDog.com
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If you spend anytime on online forums about technology (like I do), you’ll find certain constants in anonymous comments in the forum/replies section of most technology websites. Tech Fanboys. Just what is a Tech Fanboy? A Tech Fanboy is an individual that is so in love with a particular piece of hardware or software that they disparage anyone who might have a difference in opinion, usually with lots of off-topic remarks about a person’s parentage or sexual preference.
Typical online battles have included Intel vs. AMD, Gameboy vs. whatever company was foolish enough to make a competing product (this is too long a list to do here) vs. PSP, VHS vs. Beta, Marvel vs. DC (nothing to do with technology, but it’s a battle that’s lasted a long time), and the Granddaddy of all tech battles; Apple vs. Microsoft. What is it about these two companies that inspire normally sane people (open to interpretation of course) to yell, rant, and rave about systems that they don’t use as compared to systems that they do? I mean in some ways, it’s not a fair fight. On the PC side you have upwards of 80-90% of the marketplace with thousands of companies all building Windows compatible computers and on the other you have….Apple. On the PC side you have hundred of thousands of IT pros all dependant on MS to make a few mistakes so that they (as IT pros) can look brilliant and on the other side you have ….Apple. On the Apple side you have ease of use, exceptional technical support, incredible included software (iLife), first class content creation software only available for the Macintosh, and on the other side you have….XP Movie Maker.
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