Apple Trademarks 'Jam Box'

[iKnezek]

My Description

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT IT DOES?

From what I can remember of the rumors about it, it was supposed to be an audio breakout box. My interpretation was that it woudl be able to plug into the firewire port on your mac and give you 8 line in, maybe surround sound out, and other common outlets such as midi, 1/4" jacks, and analog jacks. It would basically let you turn your mac into a recording studio with garageband. I've seen other products like it, and I think m-audio makes one.
Anyway, that's just my impression

 

[Oryan]

So is it like a simplified Mbox? I'm not really an audio person.

http://www.digidesign.com/products/mbox/

 

[h'biki]

The likely candidate for "Jam Box" is the rumored Asteroid audio box which has been the subject of Apple's recent lawsuits.

Or a box which collects all their jam packs together... "the jam box".

 

[~Shard~]

Glad to hear about this, it makes the rumor a lot more likely - and I prefer the name to "Asteroid" actually.

 

[840quadra]

hmm,

I am curious to see this. i will soon be in the market for an Audio interface for my guitar. Since pro tools appears to be moving more into the direction of the PC market, this may be the way to go!

 

[Poff]

The name Asteroid was way cooler. Jam Box sounds like its something straight from the 80s. Asteroid atleast carries the 90s. So what is it, software or the little "iHome" deal?? Don't scream at me, I'm unfamiliar. Weeeeeeee...............

It's just apple trying to be cool with the 10 year old kids. Asteroid would be a name that could attract more semi-serious musicians, but obviesly that's not the market they will market this towards. I like the fact that interactive groove allready has software named jambox.

 

[revjay]

The name Asteroid was way cooler. Jam Box sounds like its something straight from the 80s. Asteroid atleast carries the 90s...

:-/-:
Two things:
1. I seem to remember cutting class in the '80's to play an amazing video game called "asteroid" .
2. Jam Box is what I do when I ship eBay packages.

But seriously...here's hoping that this is indeed an 8 track (at one time) interface that comes in at a more consumer friendly price...as opposed to a professional price. Also...Firewire support is a must.

 

[FlyNolJ]

sooo...

:-/-:
Two things:
1. I seem to remember cutting class in the '80's to play an amazing video game called "asteroid" .
2. Jam Box is what I do when I ship eBay packages.

But seriously...here's hoping that this is indeed an 8 track (at one time) interface that comes in at a more consumer friendly price...as opposed to a professional price. Also...Firewire support is a must.

So do you like the title or what???
Anyways, I posted a joke on here, concerning "boxes" and that someone said Jam box seemed "feminine." My post didn't have any swear words at all but It got cut though. C'mon macrumors....what's wron with boxoffice????

 

[The Truth]

Lets stop speculating so hard....

This is according to the original rumor that got Apple angry:

Asteroid will include two XLR/ TRS audio input connectors, two RCA analog output jacks, and a standard headphone jack. The device reportedly will draw power through a single FireWire 400 port and include a phantom on/off power switch. Asteroid will require Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later, iLife 04 or later, and a computer with a built-in FireWire port.

The device will retail for approximately $129 - $149 and will aggressively target similar products such as M-Aduio's Mobile Pre and Edirol's UA-5 USB Digital Audio Capture device. But even at $149, Asteroid will represent one of the lowest priced FireWire breakout boxes on the market, selling for $250 less than M-Audio's more sophisticated FireWire 410 audio interface.

 

[AtHomeBoy_2000]

Lets stop speculating so hard....
Asteroid will represent one of the lowest priced FireWire breakout boxes on the market, selling for $250 less than M-Audio's more sophisticated FireWire 410 audio interface.

However, I believe M-Box comes with Pro Tools LE so, that makes the M-Box worth the $500. If it were alone, it too would be $150. If the JamBox comes with nothing, then it is worth exactly that. Granted most Macs come with Garageband, but that is just not the same as ProTools.

 

[shooterlv]

They obviously don't want to get sued

Apparently Steve is worried that Hannah Barbara would come after them for trade mark infringement. Because using the name Asteroid would push all the Jetsons search results down to 958 from 952.

 

[camomac]

Since pro tools appears to be moving more into the direction of the PC market, this may be the way to go!

ummm... yeah when did this happen? pro tool was one program that was always lacking on the PC side. The mac version was always released before the PC version. i don't know though, with the digi 002, thing might be changing.


PS- i like the name astoroid better.

 

[Roy Hobbs]

Apparently Steve is worried that Hannah Barbara would come after them for trade mark infringement. Because using the name Asteroid would push all the Jetsons search results down to 958 from 952.

Asteroid??? are you referring to the Jetson's dog?? His name was Astro.

 

[PCM]

hmmm...I wonder if they'll consider releasing something down the road aimed at logic pro users (breakout box with ADAT, SPDIF, AES/EBU) or something of that sort.

 

[geeyesgee]

Quick, somebody trademark Peanut Butter!

 

[andy89]

I think i found out how to open the asteroid file

If you open the asteroid file in text edit it says right at the very top:

"This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0"

I might try to see if I can convert it and open it.

 

[FFTT]

It's just apple trying to be cool with the 10 year old kids. Asteroid would be a name that could attract more semi-serious musicians, but obviesly that's not the market they will market this towards. I like the fact that interactive groove allready has software named jambox.

Your post just made me think how cool it might be for those "now" 10 year old aspiring musicians to have all this creative technology at their fingertips.
I think it's great to inspire them this way.

I hope that Apple will eventually take the best features
of Logic, Garage Band and ProTools and come up with something even better.

IF Apple is working on a custom interface, I hope it will be at least as good as the M-Audio FireWire 410.

Something in the catagory of the The M-Audio 1814 and the MOTU Traveller
would be even better.

 

[The Truth]

I'm guessing it will be a fairly simple breakout box compared to currently available units. The appeal will be that it's a cost effective firewire device with phantom power.

 

[jmurray]

hmm,

I am curious to see this. i will soon be in the market for an Audio interface for my guitar. Since pro tools appears to be moving more into the direction of the PC market, this may be the way to go!

Digidesign, a division of Avid, has always, and will always be a Macintosh-first environment for the high-end stuff, e.g. HD systems and the now single generation removed TDM Mix and Mix+ systems. The M-box and 002 are afterthoughts, for the musician/amateur audio recording consumer. The company ships tens of millions of these units but doesn't quite care about "leading edge" hardware at this price point. MOTU, RME, Metric Halo, Steinberg, Lexicon, Apogee, PreSonus, Lynx, Focusrite, ECHO, M-Audio, ART, et. al. vary from quite good to silly in terms of quality analog to digital conversion, which is the heart of any computer audio system. The idea is that one has to somehow convert acoustic energy into 0's and 1's. Easy to do, but expensive to do well. Like most products that have a tier structure of quality, you get what you pay for. My guess is that from a professional audio perspective, "Jambox" will be just this side of silly. But it'll look cool, with a couple of XLR mic-level inputs [yes, with 48V phantom power], a couple of line-level inputs, maybe instrument-level inputs, and a couple of line-level outputs. No rotary knobs to control gain, this will be done inside with software. The box will be completely appropriate for GarageBand. The codename is perfect by the way, GarageBand and Jambox are to Missle Command and Asteroid as Nuendo and Pro Tools HD are to Halo 2 and Quake 4.

 

[The Truth]

GarageBand and Jambox are to Missle Command and Asteroid as Nuendo and Pro Tools HD are to Halo 2 and Quake 4.

Nice analogy.