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CES 2011: Zeppelin Air Speaker, SnapStick Web on TV

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Apr 12, 2001
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Bowers Wilkins announced an AirPlay revision to their Zeppelin speaker system. The new Zeppelin Air offers the traditional dock connector to attach your iPhone, iPad or iPhone touch directly, but also allows you to stream via AirPlay wirelessly. The Zeppelin Air will debut in March 2011 and cost $599.99.

Those looking for more inexpensive AirPlay speakers, iLounge reports that iHome is planning on releasing other AirPlay-compatible speakers targeted at the $200 range.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geCZFdiUeek

Meanwhile, SnapStick is offering an interesting approach to computer-TV integration. They have developed a hardware device that connects to your television that allows you to view videos and other web content through your TV. What makes it different is that you first find the content on your iPhone or computer, and then "snap" it to your TV. The process of spanning content involves transmitting the URL to the SnapStick device which is itself a web browsing device.

The use case seems to be for those who regularly find themselves browsing web content on their mobile devices but wish they could easily transmit it to their TV. Pricing has not yet been announced.

Article Link: CES 2011: Zeppelin Air Speaker, SnapStick Web on TV
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/06/ces-2011-zeppelin-air-speaker-snapstick-web-on-tv/
Those Zepplins sure are ugly...I'll stick with the ol' trustworthy Bose Sounddock.
 
puma1552 said:
Those Zepplins sure are ugly...I'll stick with the ol' trustworthy Bose Sounddock.
Click to expand...

Ugly is a matter of taste.

I can guarantee ANYTHING from B&W outperform the what Bose offers for the same area of product.

But hey, everyone has a choice and I like Bose too. :)
 
I still don't get the point of these small iPod speaker-dock things. Why not just buy awesome speakers for your computer, and play the music form there? It would cost 20 times less and sound 200 times better, with a subwoofer and all.

If I want to listen to music, I just press the Play button on my Mac, it's that simple. I don't have to get my iPod and fiddle with it. Or better, I can plug in those speakers directly into my iPod, via the Stereo Jack, and it will do the same thing.
 
baryon said:
I still don't get the point of these small iPod speaker-dock things. Why not just buy awesome speakers for your computer, and play the music form there? It would cost 20 times less and sound 200 times better, with a subwoofer and all.

If I want to listen to music, I just press the Play button on my Mac, it's that simple. I don't have to get my iPod and fiddle with it. Or better, I can plug in those speakers directly into my iPod, via the Stereo Jack, and it will do the same thing.
Click to expand...
Never heard of portables?
 
MrSmith said:
Never heard of portables?
Click to expand...

Exactly. I gotta say I'm very interested to see what iHome has to offer in the $200-300 price range. They won't nearly equal BW in the quality category, but the battery-powered option is enticing for me. I have numerous high-quality speaker setups throughout my apartment (one in every room, each is AirPlay capable) but I'd love to have something to take camping etc.

And bose.... meh. I'll take BW any day.
 
meeksdigital said:
Exactly. I gotta say I'm very interested to see what iHome has to offer in the $200-300 price range. They won't nearly equal BW in the quality category, but the battery-powered option is enticing for me. I have numerous high-quality speaker setups throughout my apartment (one in every room, each is AirPlay capable) but I'd love to have something to take camping etc.

And bose.... meh. I'll take BW any day.
Click to expand...
Good point, but actually I was referring to portable computers. I don't have a permanent setup, with attached speakers. I use my computer on the living room table and it sits in my bag when I'm not using it. In other words, I can't connect anything to it.
 
Few people have a sense of interior decoration that would suit the Zepplin and display it appropriately, but few people have the $600 to drop on such a device.

Snapstick looks incredibly useful and convenient. It's amazing what these portable devices are doing.
 
baryon said:
I still don't get the point of these small iPod speaker-dock things. Why not just buy awesome speakers for your computer, and play the music form there? It would cost 20 times less and sound 200 times better, with a subwoofer and all.
Click to expand...
I simply run a cable from my computer to my home stereo receiver, which is even cheaper than buying a separate pair of speakers for my computer and the speakers themselves are much better then, too. :rolleyes: iTunes in cover flow interface makes a nice "jukebox-like" display when it's playing by itself. I even programmed my TV-tuner card's remote to interface with iTunes so I have some rudimentary control over it.

Or, to take a more Apple approach, if my computer was in a separate room from the stereo I would probably just buy an AppleTV then. $100 and I would get all my iTunes on the main audio rig with an Apple interface on the big screen to navigate it with.

Either way, it only makes more sense to buy a dedicated wireless speaker system if you have some overblown "santuacy" with minimalist decor so you can sit all by yourself and listen to bombastic classical scores with your eyes closed. :D ;)
 
B&W Are total sellout's... they've always maintained a 'exclusive' type of aura about them, not being able to buy online and from only certain dealers.

I for one (as a histroical B&W Loudspeaker owner) won't be buying their equipment again.
 
That Snapstick presentation/commercial sure reeks of amateurism.
From the Nokia Tune ringtone on the iPhone, to the improperly cropped screens of the app logo, the oily screen on the iPhones and the unshaved guy in the creased shirt as a presenter plus shots of the app performing on the iPhone screen not visible at those angles... They were surely in a hurry.
BTW, they don't even show how the device itself looks like in the video.
Cool concept though.
 
garybUK said:
B&W Are total sellout's... they've always maintained a 'exclusive' type of aura about them, not being able to buy online and from only certain dealers..
Click to expand...

Isn't that the opposite of a sellout.

P.S. You can buy the Zeppelin at the Apple Store.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

garybUK said:
B&W Are total sellout's... they've always maintained a 'exclusive' type of aura about them, not being able to buy online and from only certain dealers.

I for one (as a histroical B&W Loudspeaker owner) won't be buying their equipment again.
Click to expand...

Why not?
 
garybUK said:
B&W Are total sellout's... they've always maintained a 'exclusive' type of aura about them, not being able to buy online and from only certain dealers.

I for one (as a histroical B&W Loudspeaker owner) won't be buying their equipment again.
Click to expand...

They've spread out into entry-level audiophile markets with their made-in-China diffusion line. Their 800 series and Nautilus speakers are still phenomenal designs and competitive with other speakers that cost as much as a small car.

I'm looking out for airplay-equipped monitors like the Amphion Argon2.
 

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Well, SnapStick sounds cool. But that video and their website is horrid. They told me nothing about the physical product or how it works, except for "flicking" my wrist. IMO.
 
baryon said:
I still don't get the point of these small iPod speaker-dock things. Why not just buy awesome speakers for your computer, and play the music form there? It would cost 20 times less and sound 200 times better, with a subwoofer and all.

If I want to listen to music, I just press the Play button on my Mac, it's that simple. I don't have to get my iPod and fiddle with it. Or better, I can plug in those speakers directly into my iPod, via the Stereo Jack, and it will do the same thing.
Click to expand...

You drag your iMac and its awesome speakers to the other rooms when you want to listen to music through your iPod? ;)
 
I've always loved B&W (just got a pair of CM5's) but I never understood the design choice for the zeppelin. It doesn't seem to "fit" anywhere.
 
I'm a DJ, and while my Orb Audio system is taking a break, my current home living room sound system consists of a 2.1 stereo system from sears ($39.99) that sounds better than even the most expensive Bose-anything.

Just saying. Don't but Bose unless you love wasting money. Same with Monster.

Also, I love my Apple TV. Best Apple product ever made.
 
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