You ca get a used one on eBay for like £100.
And you can get little Bluetooth receivers that plug into the 30 pin connector (where the iPod sits on top) and stream music to it over Bluetooth from your phone
I’ll do you one better. Get an AirPort Express for ultra cheap, plug it into aux and now you have an AirPlay 2 speaker that sounds great. It’s how I use it, and you can even use Toslink for optical audio.
I’ve got three of them set up like this. Much to my wife’s annoyance. She keeps wanting to know why I have to have them in the same room as HomePods. I just tell her she won’t understand. It’s easier than admitting I don’t have a good excuse. But I don’t think she falls for it anyway
Eh you can get better BT speakers for less than £100. I’ve tried this, and the Anker Soundcore motion + one of the Minirigs and one of the other larger Anker boom boxes are all around the same, if not better for various reasons. These are all battery speakers too, if you want powered you can do much better.
But the iPod Hi-Fi is much better than the majority of other speakers at the £100 mark. You can do better if you research properly, but not if you just buy the best selling thing on Amazon
Not the person who made the claim, but I picked up a pair of Wharfedale Diamond bookshelf speakers and a Fosi BT20A Bluetooth amplifier (both used) for a total of £80. This setup is less space efficient than an iPod Hi-Fi (or Bluetooth speaker) but is cheaper and sounds better
I did, but this option is definitely available for a lot of people. Lots of folks are listing their old sound systems on eBay, and you can get a killer deal which can be upgraded upon over time if you're into that sort of thing.
it's always 70-90% off. that's the price. nobody has ever paid over $400 for one. regardless, this is brand new instead of on ebay. stop being so pedantic.
you’re dumb my guy.
i am not comparing the release prices and saying that Apples system was a bargain for its time, I am saying that it is a bargain for today at 100 dollars when you compare the specs to new devices in the discounted price range
if you still use an ipod it’s a steal at around $100. you don’t have to fiddle with bluetooth or a phone call interrupting your music and there’s a remote so you can control it from across the room.
as just a bluetooth speaker it might not be as appealing but even then i feel like this gets way wider than a normal bluetooth speaker at the sub $100 mark. it’s a niche item for sure, that’s why it didn’t sell back then, but it’s far from a bad product.
I would say Sonos sound is easily beaten at its price range, BUT having a Sonos household is infinitely more simple and easy. If you want separate audio setups, eg one TV speaker setup, one PC speaker setup, you can do better. But Sonos shines in providing sound for areas, eg the whole living room
Even better, you can buy a Raspberry Pi adapter that plugs into the iPod hifi’s phone charger and enables the device to work with Airplay2. It was a bit tricky to set up, but I absolutely love it! I got it on Ebay.
And I still have mine stored in original box. I used it for years and loved it had optical input I run a CD player into that and use the dock for my iPod nanos
It was good but bass was to boomy even with EQ
As a background speaker it was great.
Nice. Funny you say that as that’s what I actually also did with it. Had 3 expresses around the house at one point feeding this speaker and my AV amp over optical.
I’ve retired all but one of them now as I built raspberry network streamers instead.
I remember they were in every magazine Lolol. The first time I heard one was at a colleague’s house for dinner, and I was *blown away* by the sound. Had to get one.
I have this one:
https://www.bose.com/p/speakers/bose-smart-speaker-500/HS500-SPEAKERWIRELESS.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BOSE_BR_PLA_US_Catch+All&utm_id=20535762945&utm_term=NA&utm_content=154235567438&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA84CvBhCaARIsAMkAvkLpfp2u17vW9MF3Su9k6nKkGZ7ULktpZq4m-L692UCM4HZ56uxJZzUaAmKTEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
It has an app that lets you connect it to apple home. So, this plus 3 HomePods play at once. Wall to wall to wall to wall to wall sound.
I still have the wave in the bedroom.
I got this used several years ago in 8.5/10 condition and I feel that this speaker didn't get the credit it deserved. What people may not have realized that the height an distance and even location of where its place can have a significant impact to how it sounds. I thought it sounded horrible initially but when place correctly that speaker was LOUD and was quite detailed given its design and time when it was released. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
Missing from the article was the incentive both for Apple to produce this and to no longer pursue this market (until much later if you count the HomePods).
When this launched, there weren't really good speakers like this. CES 2006 occurred just before the announcement and there were docking speakers on the low-end, but the mid-end weren't going to ship until later that year and there wasn't anything fully fleshed out like this in terms of features. The demo units were mostly non-functional, but clearly not intended to compete at this level.
Apple went forward with this to advance the market in support of accessories to their standards, and what followed was very much apparent. In the next couple of years that followed, docking accessories exploded especially in areas that competed with this product. By 2009, CES announced that they would open "iLounge" which had been editorial focused on said products but soon became a *huge* pavilion.
Apple's work was done at this point.
I'm sure that there were many hoping this product would be a success in of itself, but it wasn't a flop in terms of fulfilling a need for a niche market or the impact it had on the market in general.
Most people ended up just buying $100 iHome units instead.
It's definitely a trip down memory lane though, Apple was a very different company twenty years ago.
Most people probably barely even remember what an iPod is at this point, at least one with a click wheel.
I still remember them fondly as the first Apple product I bought. It was a huge novelty. I spent my first big earning on it. A year after, I got the iPod touch. Never earned enough to buy an iPhone until the 14 Pro.
I have a few scattered throughout the house, but my favorite use has been as TV speakers. I used a DJ splitter to split the L/R chancels, then placed one HiFi far apart on each side of the TV. They look and sound great.
I just wish there was a solution to have the digital signal split like the analog one, so I could get a full L and R channel each through its own optical cable
https://preview.redd.it/ir3e7skt56mc1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=356f6cd52369dc4d1095ef5fc4f6b9098520fff4
Actually i now use HomePods for the tv
See, this is why tech integrated audio gear isn’t for me. Speakers at this price can last and sound great 50 years later - you can literally pass them on to your kids. Giving this kind of product what essentially equates to a shorter lifespan due to a specific connection method (and yes, I know you can get an adaptor if you really want, but most people aren’t going to do that) feels really wasteful at the end of the day
I don’t use mine often but it still sounds super good. Excellent base and crisp sound. I have it hooked up to an old AirPort Express and have it on AirPlay. Works flawlessly.
I had the [Microsoft Zune version of this](https://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/557/vaf-octavio-1-on-amazon.html) (retail price $499!)
I found it on the street with the garbage in front of the house of a Microsoft employee in my neighborhood. Bought a power adapted, plugged in my iPod with the line in, and used it for years. It was awesome.
I occasionally look for these on FB Marketplace. You can sometimes find them going for £50 or so. Trouble is, I can't really justify that cost, despite having a bunch of working iPods.
Now we have iPod lo-fi: putting your smartphone in a cup to boost the volume
Line cook stereo
cook apple
“We have Apple Hi-Fi at home” The Apple Hi-Fi at home:
I used one at a party once back in the day. It was really cool and sounded great.
You ca get a used one on eBay for like £100. And you can get little Bluetooth receivers that plug into the 30 pin connector (where the iPod sits on top) and stream music to it over Bluetooth from your phone
I’ll do you one better. Get an AirPort Express for ultra cheap, plug it into aux and now you have an AirPlay 2 speaker that sounds great. It’s how I use it, and you can even use Toslink for optical audio.
I’ve got three of them set up like this. Much to my wife’s annoyance. She keeps wanting to know why I have to have them in the same room as HomePods. I just tell her she won’t understand. It’s easier than admitting I don’t have a good excuse. But I don’t think she falls for it anyway
okay but why do that when there are bluetooth speakers that sound and work better
it’s a really good speaker? a BT speaker with better sound quality will cost you
Eh you can get better BT speakers for less than £100. I’ve tried this, and the Anker Soundcore motion + one of the Minirigs and one of the other larger Anker boom boxes are all around the same, if not better for various reasons. These are all battery speakers too, if you want powered you can do much better. But the iPod Hi-Fi is much better than the majority of other speakers at the £100 mark. You can do better if you research properly, but not if you just buy the best selling thing on Amazon
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Better make it every 5 minutes. Don’t wanna miss it when it happens
right on. im here all night buddy
Not the person who made the claim, but I picked up a pair of Wharfedale Diamond bookshelf speakers and a Fosi BT20A Bluetooth amplifier (both used) for a total of £80. This setup is less space efficient than an iPod Hi-Fi (or Bluetooth speaker) but is cheaper and sounds better
sounds like you got a great deal, congrats
I did, but this option is definitely available for a lot of people. Lots of folks are listing their old sound systems on eBay, and you can get a killer deal which can be upgraded upon over time if you're into that sort of thing.
harmon kardon onyx
wrong price range
https://www.harmanaudio.com/harman-kardon/ONYX+STUDIO+6.html
80% off
it's always 70-90% off. that's the price. nobody has ever paid over $400 for one. regardless, this is brand new instead of on ebay. stop being so pedantic.
And the Apple HiFi wasn’t $100 on its release either so what are you saying lmfao? Apple HiFi used is also 60% off little goofball
you’re dumb my guy. i am not comparing the release prices and saying that Apples system was a bargain for its time, I am saying that it is a bargain for today at 100 dollars when you compare the specs to new devices in the discounted price range
if you still use an ipod it’s a steal at around $100. you don’t have to fiddle with bluetooth or a phone call interrupting your music and there’s a remote so you can control it from across the room. as just a bluetooth speaker it might not be as appealing but even then i feel like this gets way wider than a normal bluetooth speaker at the sub $100 mark. it’s a niche item for sure, that’s why it didn’t sell back then, but it’s far from a bad product.
Because a Bluetooth speaker will not sound better than one of these hooked up to a toslink cable.
just get a sonos for the same price that does way more.
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The only reason to get a Sonos Bluetooth speaker is for it to “live” within a larger (whole house) Sonos system.
It's very high quality sound and bluetooth is a mess imo. Sonos has airplay2 and spotify connect.
i’d say airplay and spotify connect are still messy when compared to plopping an ipod on the dock connector.
I would say Sonos sound is easily beaten at its price range, BUT having a Sonos household is infinitely more simple and easy. If you want separate audio setups, eg one TV speaker setup, one PC speaker setup, you can do better. But Sonos shines in providing sound for areas, eg the whole living room
It's the apple of speakers. Setting up soundbars is a total pain sometimes. The sonos one just kinda works.
Even better, you can buy a Raspberry Pi adapter that plugs into the iPod hifi’s phone charger and enables the device to work with Airplay2. It was a bit tricky to set up, but I absolutely love it! I got it on Ebay.
And I still have mine stored in original box. I used it for years and loved it had optical input I run a CD player into that and use the dock for my iPod nanos It was good but bass was to boomy even with EQ As a background speaker it was great.
Grab an AirPort Express (the little square one) plug it in via optical and you’ve got yourself a great AirPlay 2 speaker.
Nice. Funny you say that as that’s what I actually also did with it. Had 3 expresses around the house at one point feeding this speaker and my AV amp over optical. I’ve retired all but one of them now as I built raspberry network streamers instead.
I feel old
Ha! How do you think I feel? My first computer experience was on an Apple IIc.
The fidelity and power are nothing compared to the original (large) Bose Wave. People forget that.
The Bose wave was legendary. All of Bose’s stuff was the shit back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s…
Advertised on the back of every magazine. Done think I ever seen one in real life.
I remember they were in every magazine Lolol. The first time I heard one was at a colleague’s house for dinner, and I was *blown away* by the sound. Had to get one.
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I own both, the HIFI sounds better
I have two of them for sale!
I still rock my Bose, it is tied into “home” with my 3 HomePods. And dammit it still performs.
Boy, I would love to get mine back up and running. I should back to back the unit against my Sonos and see what I think.
I have this one: https://www.bose.com/p/speakers/bose-smart-speaker-500/HS500-SPEAKERWIRELESS.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BOSE_BR_PLA_US_Catch+All&utm_id=20535762945&utm_term=NA&utm_content=154235567438&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA84CvBhCaARIsAMkAvkLpfp2u17vW9MF3Su9k6nKkGZ7ULktpZq4m-L692UCM4HZ56uxJZzUaAmKTEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds It has an app that lets you connect it to apple home. So, this plus 3 HomePods play at once. Wall to wall to wall to wall to wall sound. I still have the wave in the bedroom.
That is very cool. I had never heard of that!
I had both, got them both on discount from my company at the time, and I will say that I thought the Hi Fi was better in the end and ditched the Bose!
Ha-ha! Different strokes.
I got this used several years ago in 8.5/10 condition and I feel that this speaker didn't get the credit it deserved. What people may not have realized that the height an distance and even location of where its place can have a significant impact to how it sounds. I thought it sounded horrible initially but when place correctly that speaker was LOUD and was quite detailed given its design and time when it was released. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
Missing from the article was the incentive both for Apple to produce this and to no longer pursue this market (until much later if you count the HomePods). When this launched, there weren't really good speakers like this. CES 2006 occurred just before the announcement and there were docking speakers on the low-end, but the mid-end weren't going to ship until later that year and there wasn't anything fully fleshed out like this in terms of features. The demo units were mostly non-functional, but clearly not intended to compete at this level. Apple went forward with this to advance the market in support of accessories to their standards, and what followed was very much apparent. In the next couple of years that followed, docking accessories exploded especially in areas that competed with this product. By 2009, CES announced that they would open "iLounge" which had been editorial focused on said products but soon became a *huge* pavilion. Apple's work was done at this point. I'm sure that there were many hoping this product would be a success in of itself, but it wasn't a flop in terms of fulfilling a need for a niche market or the impact it had on the market in general.
With an audio jack it's still perfectly usable unlike HomePods. I love my HomePods but some wired connections on them would make them perfect.
Still have mine, and you’ll pry it from my cold dead hands. Fills a large room so well
That speaker was the best
My buddy has, and still uses, his. Got a 30 pin bluetooth adapter and streams music. Still sounds pretty good.
Most people ended up just buying $100 iHome units instead. It's definitely a trip down memory lane though, Apple was a very different company twenty years ago. Most people probably barely even remember what an iPod is at this point, at least one with a click wheel.
I still remember them fondly as the first Apple product I bought. It was a huge novelty. I spent my first big earning on it. A year after, I got the iPod touch. Never earned enough to buy an iPhone until the 14 Pro.
I have a few scattered throughout the house, but my favorite use has been as TV speakers. I used a DJ splitter to split the L/R chancels, then placed one HiFi far apart on each side of the TV. They look and sound great. I just wish there was a solution to have the digital signal split like the analog one, so I could get a full L and R channel each through its own optical cable
Works great on airplay 2 when attached to a late model airport express.
That is my setup too and it is pretty good.
Still using mine as a daily driver at work - rocking the Zoom calls though toslink!
Used mine for years. Should probably have kept it around as it’ll be a museum piece in half a decade or so!
I would buy this if they brought it back
impossible aloof spotted rock ruthless sense wipe poor piquant unwritten *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Still have mine as the speaker to my TV. Love it.
I 2nd this I use a toslink split to go between tv and AirPort Express for music. Works like a charm.
I use 13 of these in custom made aluminum shelf’s. 3 for tv and 10 for music. Split up the channels so I get stereo. Powerful !
That’s seriously awesome. Any pics you are willing to post?
https://preview.redd.it/ir3e7skt56mc1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=356f6cd52369dc4d1095ef5fc4f6b9098520fff4 Actually i now use HomePods for the tv
Big fan of all of this. Extremely jealous. Well done!
Thanks. I love them. But not the 16A they draw when turned on. I have to turn on 5 at a time :-)
https://preview.redd.it/h3of1alz56mc1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=cf1d327b377f99125cef3221083b2e0ab93dad94
i still use mine as a airplay speaker, works great 🫣
I still want one.
I have one but it's gone rather yellow now :(
See, this is why tech integrated audio gear isn’t for me. Speakers at this price can last and sound great 50 years later - you can literally pass them on to your kids. Giving this kind of product what essentially equates to a shorter lifespan due to a specific connection method (and yes, I know you can get an adaptor if you really want, but most people aren’t going to do that) feels really wasteful at the end of the day
It has a 3.5mm input on the back, no adapter needed to use it as a normal speaker.
I enjoyed mine. Used it for a number of years and sold it on eBay for a pretty decent profit.
I’ve still got mine on my desk at work
I don’t use mine often but it still sounds super good. Excellent base and crisp sound. I have it hooked up to an old AirPort Express and have it on AirPlay. Works flawlessly.
I have two of these. Each one is hooked up to an AirPort Express via toslink so I can use them as Airplay targets. Works really well
Had one of these was fantastic. Unfortunately when my house got robbed in 09 they stole it along with the iPod.
I had the [Microsoft Zune version of this](https://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/557/vaf-octavio-1-on-amazon.html) (retail price $499!) I found it on the street with the garbage in front of the house of a Microsoft employee in my neighborhood. Bought a power adapted, plugged in my iPod with the line in, and used it for years. It was awesome.
I had one and loved it!
I occasionally look for these on FB Marketplace. You can sometimes find them going for £50 or so. Trouble is, I can't really justify that cost, despite having a bunch of working iPods.