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iPod Is the iPod Hi-Fi doing well?

P

p0intblank

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 20, 2005
2,548
2
New Jersey
Last I heard it was doing okay and that Apple is continuing development. However I just noticed AppleTV took its place in the iPod Store on their Web site. Also it's nowhere to be seen on the store's main page. You have to directly link to www.apple.com/ipodhifi to find it.

Any word on this?
 
p0intblank said:
Last I heard it was doing okay and that Apple is continuing development. However I just noticed AppleTV took its place in the iPod Store on their Web site. Also it's nowhere to be seen on the store's main page. You have to directly link to www.apple.com/ipodhifi to find it.

Any word on this?
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I don't know about anything that Apple might have to say about it, but it was on clearance at Target one weekend for 30%. They had them stashed in the back wall aisle with orange clearance stickers on them. I took this as a bad sign.
 
I heard it was doing OK as well - but for £220 i don't know how well - I guess apple TV is the newest thing so that has to take priority - if you haven't bought a iPod hi-fi by now then you probably won't buy one now
 
Warbrain said:
I don't know about anything that Apple might have to say about it, but it was on clearance at Target one weekend for 30%. They had them stashed in the back wall aisle with orange clearance stickers on them. I took this as a bad sign.
Click to expand...

I saw the same thing at Target here.

It looks too big for someone's shelf and I don't believe that people realise that you can use it outside on battery power.
 
I had read somewhere that it was the best selling speaker for the iPod. But it is odd that it doesn't show up until the second page in the speaker section of the store.
 
wordmunger said:
I had read somewhere that it was the best selling speaker for the iPod. But it is odd that it doesn't show up until the second page in the speaker section of the store.
Click to expand...

That might be that Apple are trying to promote third party products since they've been seen as eliminating competition, real or not.
 
I had also heard/read that the hi-fi was doing well. From what I had read and heard it provided very good quality sound. If it is on the way out, that's too bad.
 
Mine's doing well, thanks. :)

Sitting on top of my fridge in the kitchen, it is largish and it's pretty heavy, especially with the batteries installed, but to me that's a sign of a good cabinet which contributes to its outstanding sound quality for something of that size and form.

Sounds superb outdoors too. Not weedy in the slightest. ;)
 
The Apple TV and iPod HiFi overlap in functionality to a small degree. Both allow you to play music from iTunes with higher quality speakers and in a more social area than a computer with built in speakers, which is more likely to be in an office than a living room.

The Apple TV would be worse for playing music for our family than my iMac with attached 2.1 speakers though as we have a very old school 27" tube TV with built in speakers.

So if anyone in my family were interested in playing music from iTunes elsewhere in the house they would be more likely to buy an iPod HiFi than Apple TV, especially since I have very limited video content from iTunes and I think our TV is incompatible with Apple TV anyway.

So, it's a product that looks nice to me, but too expensive, I'm not saying it's too expensive for what it is (I've never heard it), just too expensive for my budget.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Mine's doing well, thanks. :)

Sitting on top of my fridge in the kitchen, it is largish and it's pretty heavy, especially with the batteries installed, but to me that's a sign of a good cabinet which contributes to its outstanding sound quality for something of that size and form.

Sounds superb outdoors too. Not weedy in the slightest. ;)
Click to expand...

With all that electromagnetic energy happening, does your fridge door open when the timpani play? :D
 
bousozoku said:
With all that electromagnetic energy happening, does your fridge door open when the timpani play? :D
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No, but the bass in the drum and bass provides motion in the ocean. :D
Thinking of moving it next to my bed and connecting the DAB tuner to it. ;)
 
I think the market for iPod speakers is big, but for some reason the iPod Hi-Fi hasn't taken off in the way Apple wanted. I don't really know why, but could be because it's quite expensive and there are cheaper iPod compatible speakers available... could be because the size/design is a bit off putting... no display, stuff like that?

They had a golden opportunity to integrate AirTunes etc. and they missed out. But that's water under the bridge now with the Apple TV unit.

I went for a JBL set of speakers and they look much better than the Hi-Fi and were cheaper too :)
 
Jeonat said:
I think the market for iPod speakers is big, but for some reason the iPod Hi-Fi hasn't taken off in the way Apple wanted. I don't really know why, but could be because it's quite expensive and there are cheaper iPod compatible speakers available... could be because the size/design is a bit off putting... no display, stuff like that?

They had a golden opportunity to integrate AirTunes etc. and they missed out. But that's water under the bridge now with the Apple TV unit.

I went for a JBL set of speakers and they look much better than the Hi-Fi and were cheaper too :)
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The iPod Hifi is woefully inadequate. Since this is coming from Apple, they should have combined the functionality of Airport Express with a small display with what they have right now for the same price. That kind of product will have no competition (other than the Roku Soundbridge Radio).
 
Don't think it's doing all that well here - at $519 I can't think of a reason why... :rolleyes:

It's really expensive - more expensive than any iPod on the market - and that's definitely holding it back. Apple don't seem to want to discount it though.
 
Chundles said:
Don't think it's doing all that well here - at $519 I can't think of a reason why... :rolleyes:

It's really expensive - more expensive than any iPod on the market - and that's definitely holding it back. Apple don't seem to want to discount it though.
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You should check out the nearest MYER Store. In Brisbane they are selling iPod HiFi for AUD $420 and the Bose Soundock for $399.
 
Sol said:
You should check out the nearest MYER Store. In Brisbane they are selling iPod HiFi for AUD $420 and the Bose Soundock for $399.
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My local Myer has it for $519, Soundock is $399 though.

Mind you my local Myer is shoite.
 
Well, I'm temted to get one. Do you think I should wait and see if they realese a new version or would that have been said at Macworld?

thanks
 
For its price, I always thought it should've had an Airport Express built right into it to provide Airtunes compatibility right out of the box.
 
I would still favour the Bose or more so the IM7 speakers over the iPod hi-fi, (although the IM7's look fairly bad, they sound brilliant).

Bose Sound Docks fly off the shelf from what i've seen, but people have to be told and hear the iPod Hi-Fi to become interested. They do take batteries and have an aux in though, and the Bose can't claim either of those.
 
Blue Velvet said:
No, but the bass in the drum and bass provides motion in the ocean. :D
Thinking of moving it next to my bed and connecting the DAB tuner to it. ;)
Click to expand...

Must... ignore... wandering... imagination... :D

Whew - back on topic:

At $350 (US) for an amplified speaker, that's a bit too expensive I think. I know that I was interested when it was announced, *until* I heard the price. That's just simply too much unless you use it as your primary stereo IMHO.

And, for a primary stereo, it's not big enough. For use on a desk to listen to podcasts or background music, it's too large physically. In my eye, it's somewhat straddling categories and will only appeal to a certain user with dedicated shelf-space and who feels they want to spend that kind of cash on a secondary stereo.

For $200, I'd probably grab one, but even that is high when you can get the Logitech mm50 and some other very nice, optionally battery powered, speakers for $150ish and under. Granted, they won't pound the bass out like BV is hoping ;) but they do fit nicely on a desk and fit better into an expected category of use.

Mike
 
for the money that they want for an ipod hi-fi they had better update it with airtunes, there are LOTS of ipod speaker sets now. from grossly budget, to staggeringly high end. but if apple built airtunes functionality in, i think it could give it some edge against its competition...
 
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