Downloading - iLounge

What’s New in iPod.
Though this Buyers’ Guide is focused on iPads, here’s a brief look at what’s exciting
and new in the iPod world since the end of 2010 - primarily accessories and apps.
iHome iA63
With more iPod alarm clocks under its belt than
any other major manufacturer, iHome’s biggest
challenge at this point is finding a new spin on a wellworn
theme. iA63 ($100) literally does that, using a
motorized rotating central iPod/iPhone dock that’s
capable of performing video in landscape mode with
just one button press. Below the dock is a simple
central clock with a single integrated alarm; iOS users
can also download the free iHome + Sleep app to add
additional alarms and features.
What’s particularly nice about iA63 is its inclusion of
features that aren’t always found together in a $100
iHome speaker system: twin stereo speakers, an FM
radio, and an Infrared remote control all are part of
this package, having all been left out of the company’s
$100 entry-level “app-enhanced” iA5 last year. While
the side-mounted speakers are sonically a little flat,
and not up to snuff with the ones in iHome’s similarly
$100 iP90, they’re better than the single speaker
found in iA5. And iA63’s a much sexier design, too.
Mixing a gunmetal core with a matte black body, it
has one of the smallest footprints of any stereo alarm
clock released by iHome, and the dock even adjusts to
accommodate iPod nanos with rotated video displays.
Monster Beatbox
As the latest member of Monster’s Beats by
Dre accessory family - and its first speaker -
Beatbox ($450) offers iPod and iPhone users
the ability to hear music as hip-hop producer
Dr. Dre thinks it should be performed. The
trapezoidal matte black system’s clean
lines and silver accents mask a powerful,
reasonably balanced set of four drivers that
do well with everything except low bass.
XtremeMac Tango TRX
Since 2006, XtremeMac’s Tango family of
speakers has offered iPod users attractively
minimalist designs with pretty good speakers
inside. Tango TRX ($180) is its best system yet,
using five drivers to deliver warm audio from
either the wired iPod/iPhone dock or wireless
Bluetooth streaming - very cool for this price.
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