iPod Hi-Fi brings music to the masses

With the number of rumors circulating about today's Apple product launches, at least some of them had to be right. And one was (no, we're not talking about the video shuffle). Apple has decided to go after the boombox crowd, as well as home listeners, with the iPod Hi-Fi, a $349 speaker system with built-in iPod dock that runs on D batteries as well as AC power. A rear-mounted auxiliary input works with the iPod shuffle (and third-party audio players, though you won't hear Apple mention that). That sound you just heard, by the way, wasn't the iPod Hi-Fi. It was the sound of a hundred iPod accessory makers moaning in agony.