This week at iLounge: Everyone owns a pair of earbud-style headphones. Have you ever wondered why professional musicians pay up to $900 for custom-fit, in-canal earpieces? We take a look through the labs at Ultimate Ears to show you how $550-900 canalphones are made.
Hit the jump for all of the iPod goodies.
Like to sing along to your music? doPi Karaoke - the second karaoke accessory we've seen for iPods - debuted in a First Look this week, as CAVS' IPS-11G Karaoke Station received its full iLounge review. doPi's $60 system actually uses the iPod's on-screen video playback features to help with your singalongs, while CAVS' $240 system includes an iPod dock with on-TV photo and video features.
Also: We review Griffin Technology's BlueTrip LE, which at $100 is the most affordable iPod Bluetooth audio system for home stereos to date, plus two new speaker systems from Logic3: the $100 "does everything i-Station7, the least expensive portable sound system we've seen with a good Infrared remote control, and the cheaper, not quite as cool i-Station3, which drops the remote and also some audio quality to hit a $60 price point. Finally, we check out iSoundCap, an iPod nano or shuffle-ready series of baseball caps that eliminate tangled wires without totally geeking you out visually.
Apple will reportedly hold a special event for new products on September 12th. BusinessWeek says Apple's plans to soon offer full-length movie downloads on iTunes is worrying Wal-Mart, and that the iPod maker plans to charge $14.99 for new movie releases and $9.99 for older movies. Plus, Apple settled an iTunes patent infringement lawsuit and analysts say Microsoft's Zune digital media player is "underwhelming" and appears to be "another classic case of overpromising and underdelivering" by the software giant.