The Sharper Image breaks my heart. When I was a child I used to take the catalogs from my grandparents’ home, thumbing through each page as the first flickers of gadget lust ran through my tiny, ham-engorged heart. Used to be, they were simply a collection of the shiniest new gear from a variety of sources, but sometime in the ’90s or so they started making a lot of their own products—I imagine the margins are a lot better—and it all sort of went to shit. Now walking through their stores is embarrassing, although there are a few occasional stand-out products.
This isn’t one of them. I’ll admit, I only looked at this Sound Soother Fifty because they had an iPod in the picture—it has a line-in minijack, so that means it’s now “iPod-compatible”—but if you pay $200 for speakers that don’t even have a dock, you better have a really good reason for needing 50 ‘soothing sounds’ like ‘Trout Stream’ and ‘Night Train.’
Sound Soother Fifty with Remote Control & Aluminum-Cone Speakers [SharperImage via MacMinute]
