Word: mp3
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...these days of iPods, desktop stereos seem so 20th Century. Still, when I heard about RCA's new contraption, I was intrigued. Like VCR/DVD combos and camera-docking printers, it's an innovation designed not for early adopters but for late adopters. The stereo comes with a tiny 128MB MP3 player that connects at the top. Pop in a CD (or five), press Record and the songs load themselves onto the portable player as you listen to them...
...downside? Like a mix tape, the music isn't labeled when you record it to the MP3 player. The boombox has no way to identify CDs, and so it doesn't. Tracks, as they're recorded, are called things like "Disc2T13" (as in "disc 2, track 13"). You can see how that could get confusing after a while. Since you can only store about 2 hours of music on the player, I suppose you really just pick a few songs at a time, make your mix, get bored with it then spend time making another one. That's another thing...
...analyst with the NPD Group. The most successful new products are "consumer driven, not engineering driven," he says. Their benefits are obvious: whisper-quiet dishwashers or space-saving stackable washer-dryers rather than just machines with more powerful motors. That trend affects every consumer product, he says. Look at MP3 players. Before the iPod, they competed on how much memory they had. Apple figured out that the experience of the gadget mattered more and killed the category...
...more than 182 million cell-phone subscribers in the U.S., paying an average of just over $50 a month, according to CTIA, the wireless-industry association ? Plantronics' new Pulsar Bluetooth stereo headphones ($200) are phone savvy; they let you listen to music wirelessly from a PC or MP3 player, but when a phone call comes in, the music goes silent. --By Wilson Rothman
...wear in many situations and, also especially, ones that you suspect make you look dorky. How about $200? That's the lowest priced pair of the cheaper iZon Digital sunglasses (available at izonstore.com), which lack Oakley's reputation for eyewear but nevertheless have a decent-sounding integrated MP3 player that's just as easy to load up on your PC. Instead of adjustable ear phones, the iZon has standard earbuds dangling from short wires, but at a distance the two pairs of sunglasses are practically indistinguishable...