I watched the Macworld best of show video this morning and one of the first products they touted was the George.

This is a speaker box, alarm clock thingie that you drop your iPod onto as the primary source. Having viewed the product demo online it does indeed look like a nice device. The big reason it was chosen best of show was because it had a remote control so that you could choose your tunes from across the room.

Here is my issue with this. The iPod has, arguably, the best interface going when it comes to selecting music. With products like George you hide that intuitive interface behind a big remote control. Manufacturers need to come up with better solution to get my vote. Some sort of wireless interface that gets your tunes from the iPod to the box would be way more elegant. Yes, it would also be more expensive but iPod owners don't buy these things to lock them in a box and use a crappy interface.

The ipod is already the ultimate remote control for your music.

I have two dock/speaker systems and from what I've seen, George (http://www.chillsound.com/flashvideo/index.html) combines the best of them both and adds visual navigation to the remote.

I agreed that navigating on the iPod itself is the best, but when I've docked my iPod to play through a sound system, I don't want to have to un-dock it so I can find what I want to listen to next. Not only is that extra wear on the docking mechanics, it's a pita if the dock is across the room and you're in the middle of stirring the soup.

Could it be better - sure it could, but if they made it right the first time, what would we have to look forward to.

It would be great to squirt the sound from the iPod to the speakers wirelessly - maybe next year.

Margaret

Why not put the navigation display system on the remote, then?

You *need* the iPod or this thing that costs more than $500US is simply a remote radio/alarm clock?

I mean... the music is stored entirely on the iPod and if you loose it/leave it at work/somehow misplace it then it renders George... songless?

I dunno - for that kind of money, I want the music IN THE BOX at all times and not dependent on a, say, $140 2G Nano that does double duty as my portable music thingy.

And I don't get why you'd want to prolong the usefullness of a 'legacy' iPod by buying something that equals or exceedes the original price of purchase of said legacy iPod.

Yes. I must be missing something here. I'm such a lousey consumerista :yikes:

Why not put the navigation display system on the remote, then?
It is on the remote of the George. Follow the link in my first post to see a demo of the thing.

Margaret

It is on the remote of the George. Follow the link in my first post to see a demo of the thing.

Margaret

Wow, that's the remote?

At least it solves the problem of the remote being too small to find.

Now take George, make it WiFi enabled and allow me to access my iTunes library on any connected PC or MAC with that fancy shmancy remote. Now we're talking.

Now take George, make it WiFi enabled and allow me to access my iTunes library on any connected PC or MAC with that fancy shmancy remote. Now we're talking.

Now take the iPod, make it WiFi enabled and allow me to access my iTunes library on any connected PC or Mac with that fancy shcmancy iPod. Now we're talking. I say enable the iPod to shine, don't hide it behind someone else's interface. Nobody does it like Apple and these products are nice but they tarnish the experience.

Now take the iPod, make it WiFi enabled and allow me to access my iTunes library on any connected PC or Mac with that fancy shcmancy iPod. Now we're talking. I say enable the iPod to shine, don't hide it behind someone else's interface. Nobody does it like Apple and these products are nice but they tarnish the experience.

Lol,

I suppose that would work as well.