Calling all iPod owners

[andrewducker]

I have an iPod nano and want to purchase a device for listening to its music via speakers. Am I best off picking up a pair of cheap speakers, or is it worth getting a dock of some kind? Any recommendations?

Comments

[miramon.livejournal.com]

A dock. Recommend the Altec Lansing InMotion im500, but it depends what you want to do with it.

[andrewducker]

Nice look to it - what's the sound quality like?

All I really want is something I can use to listen to the iPod in a different room. If it also looks cool then that's an advantage.

[sterlingspider.livejournal.com]

I have the Sonic Impact I-Fusion dock and I LOVE it.

Supposedly there's a newer one with a remote now too.

[andrewducker]

Oooh, that looks good.

I'll have to see how much they are, but it's tempting.

[sterlingspider.livejournal.com]

The iPod (4g nano) in combo with the dock is pretty much everything I've wanted out of portable music devices my entire life... tiny to the point of ridiculous and skip proof for private listening, and true portability (compact speaker case, no plugs, cords, or expensive batteries!) for when I want to play music out loud.

The only thing that could make it better is having a larger capacity iPod (which will work with the same dock) and the remote version (not that it's necessary, just neat).

[avatar.livejournal.com]

I wanted to get some speakers which I could attach to my ipod that wouldn't have to be plugged into power or require batteries - and I managed to find some for $5. I don't need something that blares out sound, just something for work. While the quality obviously isn't CD quality, it's better than radio, and it's damn good for the price.

I doubt that's what you're after though? Also, I've never been able to find another set again - I bought 3 at the time because they were so good. You'd probably be able to find something similar on Ebay.

[azalemeth.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd get a really good pair of speakers and a chunky 3.5mm jack, but that's just me :-).

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

You need to define your requirements further. Stand Alone speakers are good but you're running off battery power. Docks with built in speakers are equally great with the added bonus of charging whilst you listen although also you could get a dock which just connects directly to your amp or even cheaper a lead. Of course there is always the third option as I'm guessing you have a few radios round the house - an iTrip which means you can use your ipod to listen to music absolutely anywhere you have access to a radio - juts tune to the appropriate frequency..
I have all three of these options and use them in different ways - good thing about the iTrip is you can use your iPod when round at a friends house to play through their stereo. Docks with built in speakers rock - I've one in my bedroom(it's built into a radio alarm with remote control so I can waken to radio or iPod) also on in K's room which she uses. Plus the stand alone cdock attached to my amp lets me crank the sound up to max when I'm doing my housework!

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Do you want portability and take-anywhere-ness, in which case you need something battery operated? If you want to use nano in a different room, then you have three options...

...something you've already got. In particular, most computers come bundled with speakers, and the speakers last longer than the computers do. We use old active computer speakers all over the house with our iPods. This is cheap. And if you bought expensive computers, your speakers might be very good. Or not.

...active speakers, and you can spend amounts from £5 to £500. Go listen to some.

...a dock. Docks are better than speakers because they are neater and look great, and charge your iPod when plugged into the mains. Some also have remote controls, which is good. However, they're fairly iPod specific (though they normally also have a minijack socket) and they can be expensive if you trade in your iPod for the Next Big Thing in a couple of years time. Again, go listen to some with your ears. What you want depends on the room size; for example, we have no room in our house large enough to make the iPod hifi a sensible choice.

If you want a portable solution then your choices are more constrained; all these products are very battery-hungry so you will want a rechargeable solution. We use a little set of nothing-special portable speakers for environments such as bathrooms and tents.

And today is a momentous day for us; we bought a brand new car a little over a year ago in the belief that we would quickly be able to retrofit it with an iPod dock. That proved wrong (it's more complicated because we wanted both an iPod dock with stalk control, and an auxilliary input so we could listen to live recordings of the weekend's festival while sitting in queues on the M1 every Sunday evening all summer approx) but Renault have finally launched a product that does the job and it's being fitted today. We hope. Possibly also with some extra power points because our car has one and we think that four in the front and four in the back would be a reasonable number to be going on with.

[andrewducker]

Wow. Thanks for all the info. I've picked up a cheap FM transmitter for the moment, but I'm going to work out which option works best for me. Picking up a battery-powered dock is tempting for having outside music in the summer, but I'm still undecided...

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

I have an iPod nano and have a pair of small cheapo unpowered speakers (about £10 IIRC) for general use and a pillow speaker (£15 from Maplin) for going-to-sleep. The great advantage of these is that they're cheap and don't require batteries or power. The disadvantage is that the sound is pretty rubbish, but it's good enough to bop along to.

I also have one of those nifty iTrip FM radio broadcaster thingummies to plug in to the bottom. This lets you listen to your iPod on any FM radio - e.g. my main stereo and my car system. The sound quality on these is fantastic (except on tiny, tinny FM radios, obviously). Only slight downer is that it uses the battery much faster than headphones - so I plug it in to a charger if I want it for any length of time.

Never been tempted by a dock - too much money IMO. To get decent sound quality you need to spend a frightening amount and it just doesn't seem worth it given that I have radios around the house anyway.