Spare me the expense. Please!
Apple announced some new products today, only one of which I really consider noteworthy. Ever since the iPod was released back in 2001, third party companies have been designing stereos or boomboxes, or whatever you want to call them, that allow you to plug your iPod in for what they promise will be “room-filling sound” (I think Bose was the first to use that phrase, but apparently they didn’t copyright it because every stereo-maker now uses it).
Now Apple has released their own product into this market, called the iPod Hi-Fi. It looks very much like something from 2001…the movie, not the year. With that sitting on my bookshelf, every time I got up to go to the bathroom I’d constantly be on edge expecting it to ask me, “What are you doing, Matt? I know you are planning to disconnect me, and that is something I cannot allow to happen.”
It really does have a retro look to it that I find appealing. If the sound is as good as a Bose, then the price would be worth it. $349.00 is expensive, but if you consider people used to pay that much for a true Hi-Fi system back in the day, then maybe the price isn’t so bad.
I haven’t had a stereo since I was in college. Whether I listen to music in my car or at home, I listen to my iPod. I currently have a standard analog AV cable connecting my iPod dock to my home theatre system, and thus my home theatre system functions as my “Stereo.” But it isn’t a great way to experience music, primarily because I don’t have the iPod connected with a digital cable.
If I were considering buying a home sound system–and suddenly, I think I am considering it–I would put this iPod Hi-Fi at the top of my wish list.
Other toys released by Apple today are somewhat less appealing. Other than the fact that it has a new Intel Core Duo Processor, I don’t see anything blazingly new about the new Mac Mini. It is not the DVR Home Entertainment center everyone was hoping for. You could buy an optional TV tuner and make it a DVR Home Entertainment center, but personally I think it’s inevitable that Apple will eventually build the Mini with an internal TV tuner. So I’ll wait. Come on Steve Jobs, you’ve made us wait long enough. Get on the ball, Folks!
The iPod leather case is also a head scratcher. I suppose some people want a leather case just for carrying around the iPod, but as I discovered with my new black iPod video, black really shows fingerprints and scratches. I wanted a case that protected the iPod 24/7 and did not require that I remove it from the case to play it or watch a video.
I bought a Homer Simpson iconz sleeve for my iPod for thirty dollars, and I love it. It fits the iPod very snugly. My son can now watch a Disney short film on my iPod and his fingerprints–plus any other, um, bodily excretions–wipe right off with a baby wipe. The only problem is, the sleeve makes it difficult to fit the iPod into my other favorite iPod acessory, the Griffin Road Trip. It fits, but the holder grips it very tightly, so that the sleeve puckers a bit, making control of the scroll wheel require more pressure. It’s a small downside to two great products: a Homer Simpson iPod sleeve and an FM transmitter that works so well, I never have to change stations.
If you consider that the iPod leather case costs $99.00, paying $29.99 for a Superman logo on your iPod doesn’t sound so extravagant.
What are the other two products Apple unveiled? I haven’t a clue. I’d try to find out, but I’m too busy trying to restrain my hand from reaching into my wallet and pulling out my Visa. That iPod Hi-Fi would look quite nice in the living room of our new home.
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Ah, how this makes me long for disposable income…let us know what you think of the iPod Hi-Fi since it sounds like you’re well on the way to getting it, and I can’t say I blame you. Good sound IS important. What impresses me is how small everything has become/is becoming, though we’re not there yet with our stacks of audio equipment, half of it as old as our marriage (i.e., ten years).
Comment by Dawn — Wednesday, 1 March 2006 @ 2:53 pm
There are a number of thigns holding me abck from buying it, but chief among them is the fact that you can buy the Bose Sound Dock for iPod for $299.00, compared to the $349.00 price tag on the Apple product. Both names, Bose and Apple, are quality brands, but Bose has a long history of making great quality sound products. It might be wiser to go with the Bose product. I’ll wait and read the reviews of the iPod Hi-Fi, before I make any decision. Hopefully, some reviews will compare the Bose and Apple products.
Comment by Matthew — Wednesday, 1 March 2006 @ 3:47 pm
Engadget has some more detailed pictures of the iPod Hi Fi. It looks a bit boxy. It certainly is not the small, sleek device that is the iPod. It is also supposedly very heavy, nearly twenty pounds.
That Bose sound dock is looking better all the time.
Comment by Matthew — Thursday, 2 March 2006 @ 1:00 pm
I … will … not … cave … in.
Dang it! Part of my indecision about buying an iPod is the array of choices, and the ways to spend even more money on the damned thing. I have a feeling it would take over my life the way the camera has. Except I can’t afford to give the camera all the nice things it asks for.
I am trying very hard to not spend a lot of money, paying down my credit card, paid for my plane ticket home for my trip at the end of this month in cash… The last thing I need is an iPod.
I’m reading Affluenza, a book about how we buy too much, consume too much, get into too much debt. I think about that book and how it would undoubtedly suggest that I not buy an iPod because I don’t really need it. It suggest simplicity, wiser spending choices…
And yet I want that damned iPod.
Sigh.
I’m not buying one unless I can pay cash rather than credit. So it’s going to be a while still.
And as someone that would really like to buy a condo, that may be never, as I should be saving up for a downpayment, but am not.
Comment by Mel B. — Sunday, 5 March 2006 @ 12:37 pm
I don’t look on the iPod as “unnecessary,” no more so than a TV or stereo, or any of the other equipment that makes a modern life, well, modern. An iPod is merely another update in a long progression of A/V devices stretching from the radio to the Hi-Fi. Sure, the average family in 1940 didn’t need that Zenith radio for the living room. But we don’t think ill of them for buying it. Sure, the average family in 1973 didn’t need that Hi-Fi system with the 8-track tape deck, but we don’t blame them for buying it.
I don’t see the iPod as part of the conspicuous consumer mindset. The iPod is simply another, better way to do what we’ve been doing for centuries: appreciating music.
Comment by Matthew — Sunday, 5 March 2006 @ 4:43 pm