News Archive for 05/01/03

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SportWrap armband colors

01/03, 2:10pm

XtremeMac offers SportWrap armband colors

XtremeMac today announced the addition of three new colors for its current line of SportWrap Armbands for iPod and iPod mini. The new SportWrap Armbands come in yellow, red and blue with black trim accents. The company's SportWrap is a popular protective armband that is designed specifically for the active iPod user. "We designed SportWrap to do one thing, and to do it perfectly," said Gary Bart, president and CEO of XtremeMac. "We researched all of the problems associated with sports type cases and designed the SportWrap to effectively eliminate them. Now, by popular demand, we are adding colors, giving our customers more choices for self-expression." The sport cases are made from neoprene for water-resistance and feature a built-in playthrough cover that allows you to control your iPod while it's in the case. They are available now for $30.

Monster iCruze for iPods

01/03, 12:55pm

Monster iCruze connects iPod to car stereos

Monster has introduced the iCruze, a new device for helping users connect their iPod to a compatible car stereo. The unique interface can directly connect an iPod to a stock car stereo using its CD changer port. Monster also says that certain Alpine brand aftermarket car stereos are also compatible. Users can control their iPod using the built-in CD player controls on the car stereo (as well as on the steering wheel, if present). The small device fits in the dash behind the stereo and has no wires to cut or splice; it charges the iPod, and also automatically turns the iPod on/off with the car stereo as well as remember the currently playing song when powered off. Monster also offers an iCruze LCD Display for an convenient larger view of the song title and artist information--similar to that of the iPod display. The Display, which puts the iPod into docking mode when connected (disabling the controls), plugs into the iCruze and includes 2 meter cable for flexible wiring options. It will ship early this year for $250.

Subscription music model

01/03, 7:20am

iTunes rivals push subscription model

Many of Apple's digital music rivals are pushing the music subscription model rather than the pay-per-song model offered by the iTunes Music Store: "Chris Gorog is convinced that people won't continue to pay $1 a song for online music.That is despite Apple's string of recent achievements, including 200 million songs sold at its iTunes Music Store, and nearly 4 million iPod digital music players moved into consumers' homes in 2004. Gorog runs Apple rival Napster, which offers digital downloads and a music subscription deal. Consumers get unlimited access to listen to 700,000 songs for $9.95 monthly. The hitch is that to move songs onto a portable digital device or to a CD costs extra: $1 a song. That's one of the reasons digital music fans have not taken to the subscription model — also offered by Real Networks' Rhapsody — in a big way. But Gorog thinks that will change next year. And he has other heavyweights such as Yahoo and Microsoft in his corner."