There are a lot of special deal sites out their for purchasing things on the cheap, but this one I have really begun to enjoy. I am a big audo book listener fan, currently my library over at Audible is over 1500 strong, and this is a new upcomer that also offers an inexpensive method for obtaining your very own audiobook library.
You can find this site at: www.chripbooks.com and begin your seach for bargain basement books to listen to. They have a wide variety that will open up your listening options. They have their own book listening control app for iOS and Android or you can listen to your selection through a browser as well. The app is not as extensive as Audible's but is quite functional.
So, if you are well versed in listening to books or just thinking about trying it out, this is a great way to get started.
This is a buy direct deal but if you have been on the edge thinking about jumping into Sonos for your home this might be the time to do it. These speakers individually cost $199/each but if you buy them in the two pack starter kit you only pay $349 plus tax. Here’s your link.
LG is planning on showing their Wireless Multiroom-Audio System at September’s IFA show in Berlin. Called the LG Music Flow System it will include a 70-watt H7 Speaker, 40-watt H5 speaker and their R1 network bridge that connects to a home router to synchronize music among multiple speakers in different rooms. They will add a 30-watt H3 speaker and soundbar soon after.
The products incorporate mesh network technology and dual-band Wi-Fi. Although the company promoted it as the first system of its type to offer high-resolution 24 bit/192kHz playback, a wireless multiroom-audio system from Lenbrook Industries' Bluesound brand also offers such a capability.
These products are slated to enter the US market late Q2 or early Q3. The system used iOS and Android mobile devices that need to be equipped with an LG App that makes them a system controller to stream music from the mobile devices or PC’s to the speakers. The app also accesses Internet radio stations, recommends songs and playlists, and functions as a smartphone music player when the user is on the go.
A song can be directed to all the speakers simultaneously, or different songs to different speakers at the same time. If you have two speakers in the same room you can join them for stereo playback. There are many more features available in the app to give you more versatility.
This seems to this year’s hot new product area so keep looking at other companies coming out with similar products. Sonos has been the leader for years but Samsung (probably Sono’s closest product rival), Panasonic, BlueSound, Voco and Pure Audio to name a few. While Sonos has had this area all to itself for years we may be seeing some products that will give them a run for their money just like LG.
WhisperSync will now link an Audible audio book with it’s Kindle counterpart file. You can try if for free on the link list to the left. You will need a Kindle and the free audible app. You can listen on audible for iPhone, Android or on the Kindle Fire and read with any Kindle E Ink Reader, Kindle Tablet or Kindle reading app. If you have the latest generation Kindle you can read and listen on that device at the same time.
The free trial is for some of the old classics that you probably remember from when you were growing up.
It appears that the cost for this is only going to be about $3.95 or less to add the audio book to your library. Both files show up in their respective libraries so you can listen or read individually or together. Your choice. This will go over big in my house because I am an avid audible book listener while my wife would rather read it on the kindle. Now we can have the best of both worlds.
Amazon also announced 3 new kindle fire’s in 7inch, 8.9 inch and an 8.9 inch with LTE priced from $199, $299 and $499 respectively. All of these devices will allow you to use the new Whispersync voice option and kindle book at the same time on the same device.
There were quite a few new wireless speaker products that were introduced at this years CES show. In this post I will be highlighting some of the ones that have caught my attention that have a particular interest to me. There is a mixture of connectivity methods so you will need to look at your particular needs to see which device fits your particular budget, sound quality and connection type.
Altec Lansing Live 5000 and inAir 5000 WiFi music systems
One of the many new high end speaker systems that now support network connectivity over your WiFi network you can have iOS connectivity through AirPlay®. The inAir™ 5000 allows iOS devices to stream music wirelessly over a Wi-Fi network to any room, and with iTunes® multiple devices can be linked throughout the home or office, providing a seamless listening experience. Enjoy your music the way the artist intended with Altec Lansing's legendary sound quality. Your ears will hear the difference with this high-performance, all-in-one, networked speaker.
Altec Lansing has also created another device that uses its own separate networked ecosystem that will support a variety of devices. Connected to your network using WiFi connectivity, you can use any Android, iOS device or computer running the company's Live controller app to setup up a central playlist of your tunes. The music isn't sent to the cloud, but rather, streamed directly from each device's local catalog of music. This saves you from aggregating your files to one central storage hub. There is also support for services like Rhapsody, ensuring you'll be able to load up your music from wherever you normally would.
We checked out an early build of the iPhone app (on an iPad), and the interface was simple and intuitive, but we're told to expect more polish in the final edition -- along with that missing tablet-sized version. Notably, the app allows playback to multiple speakers, giving you the option to set up various linkable "stages" to stream independent playlists to. We gave the unit a quick listen on the noisy show floor, and while it got plenty loud, the bass was on the anemic side, despite its 4-inch woofer. Highs and mids were alright, although, at times things felt a bit tinny to our ears. Of course, the hustle and bustle of CES isn't exactly the best spot for hearing how speakers like this sound, so we'll have to reserve final judgement until the unit ships this summer (not to mention that the testing material was streaming from Rhapsody). For now, hit up the gallery below for a closer look, and you'll find a press release past the break with more details.
These devices should be available in the early part of this year. Rumor puts the price at or around $500.
In the summer my wife and I enjoy each other’s company outdoors on sunny days floating around in the swimming pool. Behringer has introduced a spherical wireless waterproof speaker that floats in your pool. It is called the Splash 100 and will be priced around $99. Scheduled for release later this year it will be interesting to hear more about this product once it is released. This $99 speaker has a 230-foot range from the sound source and 3.5-hour rechargeable battery. They were not showing a working model at CES so I don’t have any reports on sound quality at this time.
Bank & Olufsen is known for their wonderful home theater systems and related gadgets introduced its new B&O Play brand. Hoping to entice the younger crowd with money to burn ($800 to be exact) they showed off their Beolit 12 AirPlay-enabled speaker. It is configured in a portable Picnic Basket form with handle and tray to hold your iPhone.
The 7-pound wireless sound system features a swappable leather carrying strap (color options are planned for the future), and its soft-touch top section is molded to serve as a tray for you device when you'd like to set it down -- this is also where you'll find buttons for power, network setup and volume up and down. Behind the 120-watt mini-rig's aluminum grill, you'll find one 4-inch center woofer, along with a duo of tweeters for stereo separation, not to mention a rechargeable battery rated for 8 hours using its inline connection and half of that when streaming to it using AirPlay. On the bottom front there's an IR receiver compatible B&O's Beo remotes, while on back is hinged door that opens to reveal a storage storage compartment for its power cable, as well as an Ethernet port for wiring directly into your home network -- perfect for firmware upgrades. See Engaget video overview below:
On a slightly different note, NuForce was showing a product that allows you take advantage of your in-place audio system by providing a device you connect into one of you input ports of your receiver and provide connectivity of iOS devices over the air. Details were not made available but it looks like you can have multiple receivers being controlled by single or multiple transmitters. It is designed to allow you to control your audio output in a self-designed environment. Expected to be very reasonably priced we should see more information on this later this year. Again, a brief interview with NuForce’s Ceo is shown below.
When looking at a lot of these devices, I can’t help but remember that SONOS has been out there with Mesh based wireless speaker systems that have been working with iOS devices for several years now. Priced in the same range that we have seen above, these products are available now and allow you to plunk down a speaker in any room and begin enjoying your music instantly. Place a bridge unit on your network to connect your music locally stored on any of your systems as well as internet radio and streaming services. This device then allows you to connect SONOS speakers and place them where you need them to provide a great audio experience.
For those of you that want to be able to have a simple audio mixing device while on the road, here is a product from iConnectivity that will allow you to mix analog sound from several sources and digitize it onto your iOS device. Touted as the perfect product for the “garage band” on the road, this device can give you that extra capability from a very small and portable device. See the Press Release below:
LVCC North Hall – Booth #3922 Las Vegas, NV – January 12, 2012 – iConnectivity™, forward thinking developer of hardware accessories and applications for iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad®, announce its latest creation, iConnectMUSE™ at CES 2012 in Las Vegas.
For musicians looking to control their unique mixes through iOS or computer software while maintaining exceptional sound quality, look no further than iConnectMUSE™– a palm-sized personal mini-mixer that combines several music accessories into one iOS controlled product, perfect for gigs at home or on the road.
The end result? Studio-quality analog audio converted to digital. With iConnectMUSE™, the user will experience higher quality audio processing, improved audio latency and the ability to share and mix audio through an iOS device, and even charge the iOS device at the same time.
Featuring six stereo inputs and six stereo outputs, each with its own unique mix, this ultra compact device may be small on size, but huge on functionality and features. If you're a student musician exploring your own personal composition technique, a professional musician composing in a hotel room or on tour, or the performing musician who needs consistency moving from gig to gig, iConnectMUSE™ is the all-in-one, portable solution.
Additional features include two USB device ports, hub-able USB Host Port, two input and two output ¼" audio port jacks, a headphone monitor jack, Ethernet connection for network sharing, a MIDI pass-thru interface and limited DSP processing.
"iConnecMUSE™ is the future of audio mixing," said Michael Loh, CEO of iConnectivity™. "Its portability, expandability and enhanced functionality through software integration provides the conduit for music creativity for all musicians."
iConnectMUSE™, available Q2 of 2012, will retail for $229.99* (MSRP). For More Information, please visit www.iConnectivity.com.
With the release of Camtasia Studio 7 there are quite a few features that will make you video capture more streamlined. One of these features is the ability to capture audio directly from your system's speaker output as well as the video. I used to accomplish this by plugging my speaker output back into my microphone input. Now it can be handled with a simple on screen click
Here’s your chance to do it cost effectively. Buy.com has a special on today for $49.99 with free shipping for the Innovative Technology ITUT-201 USB Turntable. Here are the specs from their site:
Encode your Vinyl Albums to MP3's. The USB Turntable takes your favorite vinyl records and seamlessly converts them to MP3 digital format. Enjoy your music on your laptop or iPod, wherever you go! Easy to record with and use on any computer.
Records Vinyl to PC via USB connection
3-Speed Turntable (33, 45, 78 rpm)
One-Touch Play / Stop Control
Features
Records Turntable to PC via USB cable
3-Speed Turntable (33 1/3, 45, 78 rpm)
Ceramic Pick-up
One-Touch Play / Stop Control
Built-in Equilizer
RCA Line-out for Audio Amplifier
USB connection to enable Recording with PC
Transparent Dust Cover
Audacity Audio Editor and Recording Software
Turntable supports all version of Win 95, 98, 2000, XP and Vista as wells as MAC
Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 5:11AM 
These devices should be available in the early part of this year. Rumor puts the price at or around $500.
For those of you that want to be able to have a simple audio mixing device while on the road, here is a product from iConnectivity that will allow you to mix analog sound from several sources and digitize it onto your iOS device. Touted as the perfect product for the “garage band” on the road, this device can give you that extra capability from a very small and portable device. See the Press Release below:
