The Gadgets Page

We just got out of the Panasonic press conference. Sadly, they spent the entire time trying to convince me that plasma televisions are better than LCD televisions. They completely ignored their audio technologies and only mentioned their awesome cameras in passing.

I am the closest thing Panasonic has to a fan. I’m their one passionate user, but their press conference didn’t speak to me. It sounded like they were talking to stockholders.

Their press kit came with these earbuds. I have a particularly hard time with earbuds. After trying these ones out, I’m pretty impressed. The bass sounds great and they actually stay in my ears. I didn’t give them the jogging test yet, but for casual use, they’re perfect.

Too bad the press conference didn’t tell us anything about them…

The only voice of dissent gets to have a megaphone today. Lisa, from Learning the Lessons of Nixon, thinks that iPods just aren’t worth the money anymore. Give her a listen.

• Learning The Lessons of Nixon » iPods: Just not worth the money anymore

She has a good point here:

“Sure, it’s a nice form factor. But who cares about a nice scroll button if you can’t put anything on it?”

I had so much trouble trying to get music on my Treo that when I started using the iPod Nano, I was so grateful at how easy it was. I never put the music on our old iPod (Mike took care of that). I haven’t had any trouble getting my music on the Nano and the Nike+ running pack has made my exercise life strangely fulfilling.

Sorry the iPod isn’t working for you, Lisa. Nice to know that not everyone has drunk the koolaid.

When we were in Vegas last week, we saw this Skullcandy Link Backpack at Fry’s Electronics. Remember that image I had of walking down the street with a ghetto blaster on my shoulders sharing my music with the world? Yeah, this backpack does that and I don’t even have to hold the ghetto blaster on my shoulders. It just blasts out of my shoulders, filling the neighborhood with my own personal soundtrack! You can also hook up your phone and have a handsfree conversation using the speakers and built-in microphone.

The beauty of this music sharing comes from the speakers in the shoulder straps. You can see them clearly in this picture. You can also control the music from the controls on the shoulder straps. I wasn’t able to actually try these out to see if you would get good sound from them, but audiophiles aren’t the sort to wear a singing backpack. These speakers aren’t for refined sound. They’re for fun times and sharin’ your tunes.

If I was fifteen years old again, I would be begging my mom for this backpack for Christmas. I can hear her response now, “Why is this backpack any better than the one you already have?” I don’t have the heart to tell her it’s because I want to annoy the world with my music.

When you read this article from the LA Times, you don’t need to delve deep to realize that Microsoft was planning on Zune being a failure.

• Zune music player’s sales on target, Microsoft says – Los Angeles Times

This is what they have to say,

Initial sales “indicate we are on track to meet our internal business projections,” Zune Director Jason Reindorp said.

The tell-tale indicator that it’s a failure however is this:

Microsoft has refused to disclose sales or projections. A survey by Piper Jaffray & Cos. analyst Eugene Munster shows that few retailers are recommending the device.

What are they up to? If they planned to sell as few Zune as they have, why did they even bother? When you look at the advertising that has been done for Zune, it makes it even MORE obvious that they wanted it to fail.

Who uses Zune? Fat losers in basements? When you compare it to the Nano commercial, it is really obvious:

When you take into account that the only thing that they are really advertising as cool is the fact that you can wirelessly share music, it might have been pretty cool, but the sharing is purposely crippled. You can only play a shared tune three times before it’s deleted from your drive. Maybe Microsoft is trying to teach the RIAA a lesson. Cripple us and you won’t make any money off us. That just sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s the only thing that makes sense to me.

It looks like Sirius is going to start broadcasting live television soon. You’ll be able to watch the game on your GPS screen in your car with the right equipment and a pricey monthly fee. Does anybody want this?

• Sirius CEO sees live TV in cars by the end of 2007 – Nov. 30, 2006

On another note, this is a surprising addition to programming competition. If satellite radio is able to attract big radio people like Howard Stern, will satellite TV do the same? Should the networks be worried?

Sirius should be more worried about the Video iPod and iTunes downloads than the networks. I can already watch television in my car. I can even download the shows using my laptop and my cell phone. They aren’t planning on releasing this until the end of 2007. I’ve already got it. What’s taking them so long?

This comic says all I have to say about the Zune…

I’ve seen lots of advertisements for Microsoft’s new MP3 player, Zune. They all show the brown one turned on its side showing a picture, or maybe it’s a video, I can’t really tell from a print ad. I didn’t even bother looking at the price to see if it was worth it. Somehow, the Zune isn’t attracting my attention.

I feel like I SHOULD care… I write for a gadgets weblog. Shouldn’t I care about an MP3 player created by the most successful company in the world? Somehow it just seems wrong that I don’t.

To be honest, I wasn’t jumping up and down waving the Video iPod around when it came out. I looked at it and thought, “It’s about time. My Treo has been playing videos for months.”

Honestly, I don’t watch videos on my Treo anymore. I don’t even listen to music on my phone anymore. I just use it for contacts, calendar and answering calls. I listen to music on my computer more than anything else. I own an iPod Nano and use it for exercising, but really, I’m at my computer all day and out there running on the road for maybe 30-45 minutes a day.

Can Zune compete with iPod? I think a better question is can Zune compete with my laptop. Quite frankly, my little laptop has it beat. It has its own speakers, it can show video on a MUCH larger screen and it has far more usability and versatility than the Zune.

Plus, my laptop isn’t puke brown…

Last week, I blasted the JVC RAP10 for being a sucky iPod boombox, but what do I think is better? Honestly, there is nothing that is perfect, but the XtremeMac MicroBlast is the closest I’ve found. Here’s how it stacks up:

• It Only Costs 40 Bucks: You’ll have to look around for that price or wait until it goes on sale like I did, but at $40, I can risk it being stolen off my desk or from behind my back. Even then, I’m going to cry, but I wouldn’t even be willing to take that JVC RAP10 outside the house if I dropped over 100 bucks on it.

• It Sounds Okay…: I have to admit. The sound is nothing compared to the Logitech mm28 Speakers we have in the basement. At about the same size, the Logitech blows the Microblast out of the water, but the Microblast cost half as much. I get what I pay for.

• The iPod is SECURE: My Nano clicks into the box securely and it takes a little work to get it out. When I pick the thing up to walk down the street, the cover snaps over my iPod and it’s safe as can be.

• I Can Even Walk and Listen: Even with the plastic cover secured over the iPod and speakers, I can still listen to my music. The treble goes away and the sound quality is reduced even more, but I don’t care. I can blast my tunes while I walk around bringing the soundtrack of my life to everyone I meet.

• It Runs on Batteries or AC: That’s cool when I want to listen to my music at home on at my desk at work, I don’t have to wear my batteries down. When I’m out and about, I can crank it with four AA batteries.

• It Needs A Handle: It’s so small that it really doesn’t need a handle, but if I want to walk around town with it, I’m going to need to hack a cool handle. Anyone have any ideas, because all I’ve got is crochet skillz.

So, it’s not perfect, but it’s the closest I’ve ever found. Last summer, I sold my JVC CD boombox for ten bucks to the girl across the street. I realized that for the first time since 1986, I didn’t have a boombox. Ever since then, I have been searching for a good boombox that will work with Mike’s Nano. You can’t believe how disappointed I have been. When I saw the Microblast at the local music store, I didn’t buy it because I KNEW the speakers wouldn’t be the best.

I finally decided that sound quality isn’t as important as portability.

When I’m listening to my iPod with friends, I can offer them an earbud, but that is kind of gross. The iPod is amazing, but it isn’t meant for sharing music with buddies. It’s meant for personal listening. I finally caved and bought the Microblast and I’ve been happy with it.