iPersonal

Alpine Mobile Multimedia Solution

Yes, this is not meant only for music, but it’s a beauty. This is Alpine’s new touch screen IVA-W505.

What it does: It is basically a hear unit, i.e., a 7-inch LCD screen with hands-free Bluetooth connectivity geared towards being a one-stop solution for your in-car entertainment needs. It plays all kinds of media files from DVD to CD to MP3 to DivX, and many more.

Price: Currently available only in North America, it costs $1,100 (Rs 44,000).

Check out: www.alpine.com/

InMotion IM7 iPod Speakers

The Altec Lansing InMotion IM7 is a great little loud audio peripheral that is a great iPod player. This one gives you sound as good as a standard home music system and at a much lower price.

What it does: Its futuristic-looking cylindrical body houses quality Neodymium drivers and tweeters, as well as a subwoofer. The iPod slots into the front bay and the sound you get is great for a music player of this size. It comes with a remote as well as a video output if you want to watch movies on your iPod. Finally, like all other iPod music systems, it charges your iPod when docked.

Price: Rs 17,999 (MRP)

Check out: www.alteclansing.com

Creative X Dock

The X Dock from Creative is the ultimate home iPod device. With this baby, you can wire your entire house for sound without any wires. It is powered by the Creative X-fi 2.4 GHz wireless transmitter.

What it does: Its key USP lies in the fact that the X Dock gives you the option of morphing the audio signal of the iPod to give it a surround sound, restoring the detail that is lost while compressing music into MP3 files. The speakers can be attached in the same room or elsewhere in the house using Creative’s X-Fi Wireless Receiver.

Price: $200 (Rs 8,000) for the dock and $100 (Rs 4,000) for the receiver.

Check out: http://us.creative.com/products

Meat Is Murder

If you like your prime cuts, then chances are you’ll like the Mosquito Ruby Pod Rare. It is a very stylish iPod skin, which looks like, um, red meat. Yes you’re right. Its definitely not meant for the vegans, and perhaps more than a few meateaters. But you could try to think of the design as denoting something else—like lava, or a florid sunset. Made by the Japanese company Rakuten, these skins are nicely designed, and definitely stand out.

Price: The skins are available for 6,980 yen (Rs 2,690).

Check out: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/sastore/krb-3n-r/

Logitech iHome

With iPod accessories, speakers and docks getting more and more specialised, it’s no surprise to come across this one from Logitech. If you’re the kind of person who likes to go to sleep (and wake up) to the sound of music, then this one’s for you.

What it does: You can programme the various sleep modes and alarms. It also has a “Gentle Sleep” mode that gradually decreases the music volume while you waft off to sleep. Apart from this, it plays your iPod, charges it, and also includes a patch cord with which you can connect other MP3 players and audio devices. Apart from this, the iHome works as a radio tuner with both AM and FM.

Price: Rs 9,999 (MRP)

Check out: www.logitech.com

The future music player? Afew months ago, Sony literally rolled out its latest music player, the Rolly, in Japan. Priced at 40,000 yen (Rs 15,400 approx.) this egg-shaped player has one gigabyte memory, can be plugged into a computer and can connect to other devices using Bluetooth. Nothing really fancy there, but we haven’t told you the entire story yet. The Rolly has flashing light strips that change colour depending on the music, but its party piece is the internal gyroscopic sensor-controlled motors. Now that sounds fancy, but what it really means is that the Rolly doesn’t just pump out music from its two “ears” but that those ears and the Rolly itself move about with the music with its ears flapping about. For example, play the sound of a helicopter and the Rolly will whirl around like a chopper’s blades. Play a rock track, and though the Rolly won’t do the air guitar, it will move about pumping out the volume and though you can’t join it, you will have fun. Crank up the volume and the Rolly will become the best dancer on the floor. You may think that this is all a bit excessive, after all, you can get yourself a far-higher capacity iPod for a lot less. But c’mon a dancing music player? This beats those wind-up clapping monkeys you had as a child. This is the present you want to buy yourself. Come on, Sony, get this to India.