iHome's iH5 iPod dock alarm clock radio

Ever asked yourself iPod dock or alarm clock—or the same and both? Looks like your wait might be over, but iHome's iH5 (no no no, not that iHome) doesn't leave you hangin' without a buzzer, AM/FM radio (what, no Sirius or XM tuner?), and line-in jack to start that day off right by kicking it out first thing AM however you like to do it—after all, what could be better than waking up to mad deep psych jams on a sunny summer morn? Sure, the iH5 is a little big and clunky looking, but it should be available for a Benny this August, which is a lot less expensive than some of those other speaker/docks out there that couldn't care less about making sure you're punctually up and at 'em.

[Duane @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Ah, my dreams of a personal smart alarm clock inch closer every day. Maybe this thing could play files from a chosen playlist as an alarm? And, if so, could I not stick a bunch of news-related podcasts into that folder, like sports and weather?

Now I need the next two pieces to come together -- I need somebody to start doing small (like < 5 minute) podcasts that can be reasonably listened to while still in bed, and I need them to be as current as possible. If there's one bad thing about podcasting right now it's that when a major news story breaks, you end up hearing about it over the next week as you work your way through your timeshifted podcasts.

After that all I need is voice recognition so that I can say "skip" or "repeat" or other things, and I'm all set. But that ends up being the easy part, it's getting the content feed right that's trickiest.

[Lou Griffith @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

More reason not to bash your alarm clock in the morning.

[deuce @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Why don't they just speed up the process and make ipod 'jacks' a standard in every electronic device known to man? Cars, tv's, pacemakers will all attach to iPods in some shape to play smart playlists and the 'scrollwheel' will adjust them all.

[Bob S. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Good start, but I hate LCD alarm clocks (hello, I'd like to be able to see what time it is even if it's dark), and unless it comes with a remote and a sleep function that lets me listen to one source at night and wake up to another in the morning, it still can't do what a seven-year-old boombox can.

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Good start, but I hate LCD alarm clocks (hello, I'd like to be able to see what time it is even if it's dark), and unless it comes with a remote and a sleep function

-------

first of all.. it's gonna be backlit to math the iPod.. of course.. why the fuck would they make a clock that you can't see at night!?

secondly, A REMOTE? For an alarm clock..

that's idiotic.. you put it beside y our bed.. OMG.. i can't believe you just said that..

lastly.. since the iPod has a sleep function built in.. (which i'm sure hundreds of thousands of people use, sleeping with their earbuds on) you can scratch that question off the list..

having said that.. my biggest complaint...

do i really want my bedroom looking like steve job's playhouse? No. I much prefer what bose did with their iPod integration.. don't try to make everything look like an ipod.. please..

[funnelbc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

@ 4.

The 3/4" Audio jack that ipods connect to are standard in most devices anyway... So err. Yeah. Pretty much everything with a line in can take a 3/4" jack or you can get convertors down at your local electronics shop.

[Ogre @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

I read somewhere that this thing definitely had power supply issues and was prone to starting fires. But you know, through an "i" in front of any product and nobody will care....

[James Wolf @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Where did you hear that it has power supply issues? I'd love to know. Mine has been working perfectly since I picked it up from Target last week. And it sounds terrific.

[madbard @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Who cares if it sets the house on fire? How does it sound and how good is the radio reception?!?!?

[@ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Bought one this evening at best buy. works great. wish the remote came with it, but for 20 extra bucks I can get one on the website.

Controls are ok, not necessarily intuitive, but simple enough

Used the radio as well as the ipod. It sounded fine in both cases. I haven't played with the eq settings on the ipod to optimize the sound just yet, but it sounded ok out of the box. the monks of santo domingo doing chants sounded eerily good on it. pink floyd stressed it a bit.

Hey this is a stereo clock radio with ipod control and connectivity. BTW the endgadget podcast sounds fine on it too, although I would n't use that with the alarm or sleep features...:-)

[t von rueden md @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

i like the ih5 but there are 3 problems
1. way to bright even at lowest setting
2. no way to control alarm wake up volume-comes on loud
3. can't read clock

[Nootebook Review Blog @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

only that iPod that i love...

[Notebook Review Blog @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

i should not buy it

[fhall1 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Got one a couple days ago...only minus so far is the radio alarm volume....it's called "gentle glide"...supposed to start low and ramp up...well, it ramps up to earsplitting in a bout 3 seconds - no too gentle

[Placido Meirelles @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

I bought this product 3 days ago and it is broken, only with 3 days after i start to use.
It is an absurd! I think this is a bad quality product. After 3 days using I can�t decrease the volume. Now I'm in Brazil and there isn't a place that fixed it. I have a sensation that I threw away my money.

[Joshua @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Major functional-design issue... this looked like a slick iPod-enabled alarm clock, just what I was looking for. Greet looking design, and compatible with likely all iPod models, but the first time I used it I was scrambling to turn the blasted thing off!! The volume semi-gradually ramps up to 19, and at that point the little bugger is far too loud to be breaking the silence of morning�and IT CANNOT BE ADJUSTED!! Searched the manual, searched the iHome site, fiddled with it for far too long in vain. I don't know how something so simple could have been overlooked in designing this unit! It's good as garbage.

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:54AM]

Doesn't the iPod have an alarm built into it already? I must admit I don't use it, but whats to stop someone from just using the built in function with any pair of speakers?

[Matt @ Dec 25th 2005 8:27PM]

Eh, I got mine for christmas, sound is great on it, I got the remote too, so i can sit at my comp and change the song. (see, I just did it right now!!) I wonder who said it starts fires tho, cuz if it does, I'm stickin the little bugger in a box or something....Oh yeah, dont try heavy base on it, it doesnt sound that great

[Pipemajor @ Dec 26th 2005 9:59PM]

Apple must have updated the features on the iHome 'cuz I just got two - one for each of the kids. The remote is included and the backlit display has high, medium and low brightness settings.



I've only played with it a bit (one of the 2 is being returned for a black iHome). Yes, the Nano inserts are also now included.



Compared to the Realistic clock radio (AM only) I've been using for years, this unit is pretty cool. The sound is above average and the radio reception, well, it's better than my Realistic.



I'm thinking of getting one for me now.

[Woody @ Dec 27th 2005 2:11AM]

I just received this for Christmas. So far, I love it. It not only is an aesthetically pleasing clock/alarm clock, but it also acts as a wall-charger (so incredibly useful I can't even begin to describe it). The sound quality, as far as I can tell, is really flawless.



The only issue I have so far is that there are no directional arrows or anything to navigate through the iPod interface using the remote. One must go to the actual iPod and change it that way. Small thing, but still.



I really like it, and from what I hear, it's relatively cheap.

[ECLIPSE14 @ Dec 27th 2005 3:04AM]

i'v been thinking about geting one but,is there a way to select what song i want to wake up to and do i have to buy the dock for the mini......plz tell me