This little device allows you to use your iPod Dock (not included), not for playing music from your iPod, but from your Bluetooth A2DP mobile phone. Plugging into the standard iPod dock connector, it transforms that dock into a Bluetooth compatible dock.
This is available now for £33 from Amazon, either direct, or through our Amazon Store.
It looks like at some point in 2008 Amazon will move to a new music selling model, offering DRM free 256kbps mp3 files that can be played on any device. Amazon MP3 Store has 3.3million songs from over 270,000 artists, and in the last week Amazon has announced this store will be available across it’s International sites during 2008.
JBL have announced an iPhone speaker dock, the JBL OnStage IIIP, which is similar to previous OnStage docks, but is for the iPhone. It comes with a remote control, and a mini stereo jack for other music devices, and is powered from the mains or from batteries. It will charge the iPhone, and has connections to allow you to sync your iPhone with your PC / Mac. No details of UK availability yet though.
Logitech, who recently bought Slim Devices, have announced a new device in the range at this year’s CES show. The Duet controls your musical devices with a wireless controller in a similar style to the Sonos controller. The wireless controller (a 802.11b/g device in its own right) should be able to additionally control any of your existing devices, although you’ll need to be running the latest version of the server software. The pair cost $400, with additional music devices costing $150, and additional controllers $350, although we’re still awaiting UK prices.
Update from Slim Devices: The Controller also has a small built-in speaker and headphone jack which are used for sound effects for the user interface. Future software updates could make the Controller a player itself, streaming your music (or any of the internet radio or music services on SqueezeNetwork) to the headphone jack. If and when that software update happens, the Duet bundle would be like getting two players in one box.
There’s also an SD card slot in the unit, an IR transmitter, a 3-axis accelerometer and an expansion port on the bottom. What software features get added depends largely on what the community comes up with, there’s already a bunch of neat applets and other software that have been created during the beta program.
We’ve already covered the Revo Blik range here, but Revo have also created the Mondo, an Internet (WiFi) radio designed to link into your existing HiFi. The unit includes a remote control, and connects to your stereo via RCA cables (included). It has a digital alarm clock built in, and that subtle white on black LCD display. As well as over 7,500 internet radio stations, it also supports Listen Again facilities, like those provided by the BBC. It also has WMA and MP3 support, and can play music wirelessly streamed from your PC or Mac.
It’s available now for roughly £100.
As we first mentioned back in November, Nokia has today announced a deal to allow free access to the Nokia Music Store from all The Cloud WiFi hotspots. Although it only provides access to the Nokia Music Store, this brings Nokia’s offering inline with the iPhone.
There have been plenty of options for connecting your mobile phone to your Windows PC to allow you to control it, either music, or full remote control, but historically, Linux users have been a little left out. There are two components, a server component for the Linux PC, and a client for your Symbian Series60 phone. Although early days, it looks interesting…
Nokia today has launched a new innovative program, Comes with Music. This offers unlimited music downloads for a 12 month subscription, but the interesting proposition is that at the end of the 12 month period, you can continue to access and play the music. Similar to the current Nokia Music Store, downloads will be available on both your mobile phone and your PC. At the moment it’s limited to Universal Music Group music, but Nokia are in talks with others to expand their portfolio before the service is actually available in the second half of 2008.
Nokia has recently released a new client for a number of it’s phones. The Nokia Internet Radio client allows you to connect to many internet radio stations, and works on a number of Nokia S60 phones (so far they have released a beta client tested on: N82, N91, N95 and N95 8Gb) over both 3G and WLAN networks. More phones should appear in time. IN time, Nokia are planning to include the Internet Radio client in new phones (and new firmwares for existing phones).
This shows Nokia’s commitment to it’s new Ovi services, which already include the Nokia Music Store.
If you own an N95, whether the original version or the newer N95 8Gb version, you should keep an eye on the Nokia Software Updater to see if a new firmware is available for your phone (it depends on the product code of the device). Last week, Nokia released v11 for the N95 8Gb, and today released v20 for the original N95.
The N95 8Gb v11 update is mainly bug fixes, although it may well be worthwhile applying to your device.
The N95 v20 update, however, brings a number of new features to the N95 bringing it into line with the N95 8Gb. These include:
It’s recommended to sync all your important information, and then apply the update, and then resync your data. Performing backup / restores is not recommended when you change firmware versions, in case some applications have changed which results in incompatibilities between the software.
Update: Symbian-Freak have listed a fairly comprehensive changelog for the v20 N95 firmware here.
Philips have recently announced this £100 bedside clock radio which is also a 7″ (non touch screen) digital photo frame. The unit has both an SD/MMC slot and a USB socket for attaching USB Flash Drives and will play videos (DivX, MPEG4), Photos (JPG), and Audio files (MP3, WMA). It also has a nice feature whereby it gentle increases the volume of the music / buzzer / radio station in order to awake you kindly.
Thanks to AutomatedHome for alerting us to this device.
If you want to download Kylie’s new album a week before it goes on general sale, it will be available for download exclusively from Nokia’s Music Store from today for £8.
Venturi Mini is another feature rich Bluetooth Handsfree kit recently launched. As well as including support for A2DP to allow you to stream your music from your Bluetooth Mobile Phone to it, it also has an FM transmitter for easy connection to your car stereo. It also has a USB socket to allow you to charge your phone / mp3 player, and like the Gear4 BluFM we covered before, you can connect your iPod / mp3 player via a cable to play music too. As with many of these devices, it also supports a wired connection to your car stereo if you don’t want to use the FM transmitter.
However, the Venturi Mini also uses some of the advanced features of the RDS data specification to display information on the car stereo (where supported) - eg the Caller ID is displayed when an incoming call occurs. Menu items and the phonebook can also be displayed. If your car doesn’t support this (although most do), the Venturi Mini has a OLED display on the device itself too. This RDS feature sets it apart from other FM transmitter-based devices we’ve seen, although the price seems to reflect that too.
It should be pointed out that the device itself has no speaker.
Available now from Venturi’s website for £79.99.
If the Intempo iDAB didn’t quite suit you, or you want to save a couple of pounds, how about the Roberts Robi, which is an iPod remote (allowing you to control the iPod) that also incorporates a DAB radio. Compatible with the iPod and iPod Nano, it is shipping this month at £49.99.
At some point this week, Nokia may announce a WiFi deal linked to their OVI portal (including the Nokia Music Store). This will be aimed at the N81 and N95 8Gb phones and be seen as a response to the iPhone’s UK deal with The Cloud (which offers free WiFi access). It’s likely to be a major WiFi provider, but there is little more detail at the moment.
Of course for those who have other phones, or can’t wait there are plenty of other options for fixed rate or free WiFi.
Intempo has just launched the Intempo iDAB, a DAB radio player that connects via your iPod. It has it’s own screen, and buttons to control the unit, but it has its own docking connector, so can also be docked into your iPod dock to play the music through your dock’s speakers. It is compatible with the whole range of iPods, except the Shuffle. It will be available in a range of colours, and cost around £59.99.
Gear4 has recently launched an intriguing device. If you weren’t sure about the Pure Highway, which provides DAB radio and ipod / mp3 music via an FM transmitter, the BluFM provides ipod music via a built in FM transmitter, but also acts as a Bluetooth Headset for your mobile phone, which will nicely interrupt your playing music when you get an incoming call.
More details and pricing in the rest of the article.
Pure Digital, a well respected maker of DAB radio equipment in the UK, have just announced their new Pure Highway DAB in-car radio. What’s unique about this, compared to the previous in-car DAB addon radios is the easy self-install design…
More details in the rest of the article.
Nokia launched their Nokia Music Store this morning, with the UK being the first country it is available in. Lots of music at prices to rival the iTunes Music Store.
More details in the rest of the article.