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We’ve Got the Gigabeat
 Positioned squarely against Apple’s top-of-the-line iPods, Toshiba’s Gigabeat line of media players now tops out with the 60GB Gigabeat S, available in a natty piano black or white. With all that storage, it’s more than a competent music player — it’s a fully tricked out personal video player. Turn the pocket-sized unit sideways in your palm and watch full-length movies in widescreen format on a 2.4-inch LCD screen. For content, you can download shows from on-demand services like Starz Entertainment Group Vongo, which lets you choose from more than 1,800 movies for $9.99 a month. Better yet, with TiVo or a Windows Media Center–enabled PC, you can record programs yourself and watch them whenever you like.
As for music, the Gigabeat is fully compatible with services like Napster, Rhapsody, and eMusic and includes an FM tuner, in case you get bored with the thousands of songs you’ve stored. And since it runs on Windows Mobile, it’s also compatible with Microsoft’s Xbox 360. It’s all controlled with a cross-shaped five-way pad on the front, and through the screen. Batteries last 12 hours for music and 2.5 hours for video; charging it is as easy as plugging it into your PC. ($399; gigabeat.com) — Bryant Urstadt
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Free Phones |
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Altec Lansing’s AHP612 headphones free the roaming audiophile, with a signal that reaches up to 150 feet and a full range of audio response. With large, leatherette-covered ear pads and a comfortable padded headband, the AHP612 is perfect for relaxed listening just about anywhere — on the couch, in bed, or on the patio — but probably not in the pool. The transceiver easily hooks up to most media devices, including game consoles, stereos, and MP3 players and doubles as a stylish holder and convenient recharger for the phones’ NiMH batteries. ($150; alteclansing.com) — B.U.
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High Fidelity
 The future of yesterday is here tomorrow, or something like that. In other words, the SpeckTone Retro combines the futuristic stylings of the long-gone ’60s with the here-and-now of the iPod. Just drop your iPod in the SpeckTone dock, and enjoy the smooth hi-fi sound that only an avocado green unit with foam speaker covers can deliver. The hidden subwoofer helps too, of course, as does the 28-watt amplifier inside. ($149; speckproducts.com) — B.U.
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The Way It Works:
What’s the Difference in Sound Quality Between Wireless and Wired?
“Not all wireless is equal, so the answer is, it all depends,” explains Robert Heiblim, a senior vice president at headphone and speaker manufacturer Altec Lansing, based in Milford, Pa. The short answer is that a very advanced system can transmit perfect audio, but most consumer systems aren’t that advanced.
Much of the wireless radio available today is a version of analog, says Heiblim. The most basic systems, like your portable home telephone, send analog information over radio signals. “And you get a lot of interference this way,” says Heiblim, “whether it’s from your neighbor on his portable phone next door, your microwave oven, or your kid’s walkie-talkie. Pure analog is just a very noisy way to communicate.”
The next level of wireless sends digital information out, though it’s still over a radio signal, as all wireless communication is, at its base, radio. “Digital allows us to get around all that interference,” says Heiblim. That’s because digital communication allows the receiver to double-check the contents of the signal with the transmitter.
The next question becomes one of bandwidth, or as Heiblim puts it, “How big a pipe are you using?” A bigger pipe means you need less compression to send out your information, which means more information and better reproduction.But that improved reproduction requires a better, more powerful radio in your headset or other accessory, which means more cost. That’s why most current wireless headphones have some limitations on bandwidth, so they transmit digital information in a compressed format, like MP3. There is some loss in quality there, and hard-core audiophiles are eagerly awaiting true, uncompressed CD-quality wire-less sound, which says Heiblim, is just hitting the market. — B.U.
Click here for Go Gadgets/At Home.
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Photographs by: Brian Urkevic
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