Who can forget the
Apple Hi-Fi's, shall we say, inauspicious introduction? A product
Steve, an audiophile himself, proclaimed Apple developed so he could throw out his system, was introduced along side the
infamous $100 leather iPod case to deafening silence amidst a room full of hopeful tech journalists summoned to Cupertino in the fair spring of 2006. Although Apple never released sales details on the product, for the next year and a half it was nary heard about again -- until yesterday when it silently fell off of Apple's online store. A flood of emails came in from curious readers asking whether it died, or was merely temporarily pulled from the site for unknown reasons. Well, here's your answer; you may want to usher the young'ns from the room. We finally got word back from Apple HQ, who confirmed the Hi-Fi's death:
"Apple has decided to focus priorities on the iPod and iPhone and will not be making more iPod Hi-Fi units. There are over 4,000 accessories in the iPod ecosystem and hundreds of speakers systems designed specifically for the iPod, which provide customers with a wide variety of options."
Goodbye Hi-Fi -- for some you'll be missed. Just not so much here.
P.S. -Although they're officially not being made anymore, it's likely you can still pick one up on store shelves if you act quickly. Might be a good way to reinvest that
$100 store credit Steve is giving you.
posted Sep 6th 2007 7:45PM
R.I.P You will not be missed
did you ever actually hear one? they were alright actually. if i had the dollar i'd be getting one right now.
Yes, and I've also heard what my Logitech's do for less than $150 (400 watt system). I can literally shake walls with it and bring down objects from shelves.
Can Hi-Fi do that?
that thing was A POS. 2 mids and a woofer? it's the opposite of bose!
I have no idea what Apple was even thinking of when they made this?
Well at least it was white!
For the same price, I'd much rather have gotten the bose, but at that price range, I'd rather get a real speaker system than a glorified iPod dock.
The biggest problem with the HiFi was that it was a POS.
So are they going for like $100? And what stores? Because i'm definitely getting one in Chicago next week if those things are $100. The only reason I didn't get one before is cuz they were hella expensive.
i believe Ryan meant you could use the $100 iPhone store credit towards the entire price of the hi-fi, which is still $349
Ah, damn. I was all excited at the prospect of getting the Hi-Fi for $100. So it's STILL $349? ...-sigh-, Its bound to get cheaper sooner or later though from stores trying to get rid of excess stock. I'll wait.
After Christmas they were in the clearance section of Target for about 150$ if I remember correctly.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Sorry, I just had to laugh. I knew this was coming sooner or later. I always walk by the display model for the Hi-Fi and honestly, it was always too expensive for my taste. $299. I never took a chance with it, but maybe if they discount it, then maybe, just MAYBE, I'll get it. Who knows though? ;)
good ridance.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3ZuJIr_uW3M
:)
One less Apple gadget to have to skip articles about when browsing Engadget.
Yet... you didn't skip this one.
Pick. Skip them all or read them and don't complain. You can't have both.
Well I couldn't resist entering an article with both the following keywords present: Apple, RIP.
Thank god it's dead. It was nothing but a product for blind iPod fanatics who thought it was FANTASTIC.
It uses the same drivers as Altec Lansing speakers. For 120 dollars you can buy a 2.1 Altec Lansing system, add 50 bucks for a dock with a remote and voila!! You have a system offering more clarity and power than the Apple HiFi for less than half the price!!!
For those who badly want an all-in-one solution there are other alternatives. It would have been alright if it was priced at 200 dollars but $350 is waaaaaaaaaaaaay over what it's worth. Don't me wrong, it's a good product but in my eyes over priced. Then again we have seen how Apple are good at gouging their most loyal customers who fall for anything Apple sell.
I bet that we will see an Apple HiFi G2. I hope that it will be more price worthy though, because the whole solution is very convenient.
I have been longingly passing this many times and for $200 I might have gone for it. But $350 always was beyond the pain barrier no matter how pretty it is. Was, I should say.
I mean, come on, they couldn't make it cheaper than $350??
I will snap one up if I can get it for cheap tho.
Goodbye you ridiculously overpriced mediocre piece of electronics you.
who died, the iphone? "ridiculously overpriced mediocre piece of electronics" I could have sworn you were talking about the iphone/ipod/icrappycomputer/steve hitler jobs/ifans.....there is a bunch more.
Great satire, Moe. It was hardly heavy-handed at all.
That $100 bucks can go to a decent pair of headphones.... those earbuds are such crap
So... Did I just enter this contest or what?
lol - 'ecosystem'
Yup, Apple certainly failed here. They opened up a market of competitors who solidified iPod sales and they opened an entirely new high end market for iPod speakers. Poor Apple. They should learn how to really fail-- billions lost because of crap hardware and software. Oh, but I guess that's just the luxury of the predominant platform...
If there is a follow it should be a Sonos killer. It needs to have Cat5, Wifi, Processor, and Memory so that you can send it songs from a WiFi enabled iPhone, iPod Touch, or iTunes.
At one point they were $75 at Target. THAT helped them fly of shelves.
Apple is coming out with Ipod x-fi for xtreme audiophiles. 1K and it is a bargain! digital out, hdmi, barfbag, youporn capability, etc. no one knows about it yet, it is still very underground and in the works. jk i love apple products SJ missed opportunity to use "You're the one for me fatty" by Morrissey for the ipod fatty hahah
correction:
u can add x-fi to your damn iPod...
but it will not be integrated.
X_FI belongs to CREATIVE DAMNIT!
Honestly the Apple Hi-Fi is the most ridiculous looking thing Apple has ever released especially considering Apple's focus on intelligent design and interface. I would never want that thing in my house. Good riddance.
I disagree, I own one and it sits quite happily atop a white IKEA Expedit Bookcase, http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50103086 , in my front room.
It looks fantastic.
I'm unsure about the US prices, but here in the UK the iPod Hi-Fi was approximately £10 (approx $20) cheaper than the Bose SoundDock. A product which in my opinion was/is way overpriced. Yet the sounddock carries quite a lot of weight due solely to the fact that it has 'BOSE' written on it.
I have a 2.1 Altec Lansing system as well - and it is absolutely brilliant. The iPod Hi-Fi is by no means my sole audio system, but for ease of use / design / ability to just shove an iPod in and blast out some tunes with NO distortion at max volume.. I cannot fault it.
Good.
It was a complete waste of money.
and ugly to boot!
Price killed this product. Sound and Build quality ?. A lot of people put the IPod HiFi down because of this when it came out, they still do now. I had doubt's myself, but my friend brought one and when I heard it I was impressed. This thing could pump for it's size and without distortion. As for the weight, yes it was heavy, but that to me shows a quality build, Quite rare in today's products. I reckon Apple should keep selling It but chop the price in half.
Not sure why this became the whipping boy for Apple, but have at it. In reality, this was a nicely designed, albeit pricey, product. In many ways it was and is much better than the oft mentioned bose/altec options. For example
> great sound. bass was really good for the size
> integrated power supply. Who wants a luggable speaker when you have to lug the power brick too? HiFi needs only its (thoughtfully extra long) power cord.
> battery option
> Worked with the Apple Remote
I think they sold plenty of these things and made plenty of cash. Only to Apple would that business look weak, because the iPod and Mac business is so phenomenal. I would also guess that they got complaints from accessory makers that Apple should leave their segment alone.
> great sound. bass was really good for the size
Bass was really mediocre for the size and the price.
Altec Lansing inMotion was way superior cheaper and smaller. Only it was not white :-)
They should have made one with integrated WiFi so that you could stream music to it from iTunes. It would have saved me having to get four separate amp/in-wall speaker systems for the four audio zones in my house.
HAHAHAHA! Steve Jobs, an audiophile? If he is one, has he ever actually listened to an iPod's (or for that matter, every other portable device's) headphone-out? Absolute shit. If you make/get a line out dock, and an amp, it's actually not so bad. Still, not too great. Then, of course, there is the iMod, and the gmod...
I can't help but smile when I remember how pissed were apple fanboys when the H-Fi was announced ^_________^
Have you guys even heard the iPod Hi-Fi in action?
Great sound
Portable (potential to bring it to a picnic or a day out)
Nice design compared to other iPod speakers.
High price.
Price killed it, not design or sound quality. If it was priced at $250, it would be worth the price. Too bad. It died because Apple got greedy.
RIP Apple Hi-Fi. I never cared to know ye.
Goodnight sweet prince. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
@ ScOObyDoo
Yeah, I bought the last one at my Target at 50% off. Not a bad deal :)
I am soooo jealous...
Interesting that they discontinued the Hi-Fi on the day Pavarotti died.
I bought one for my mother, and it's been great. It's the best sounding all-in-one iPod dock I've heard. It works flawlessly with the iPod and Apple remote. And it's portable and battery operated. The HiFi achieved a good compromise between sound quality, portability, and ease of use. Obviously it can't touch my 5.1 system, but I can't exactly pick up my 5.1 and take it with me!
Sorry to see it go. It was actually a great speaker set up. Very powerful!
They should have made it a tad easier to use in the car, or out and about.
Glad I have one!
No wonder the thing is dead. Last weekend I went to BestBuy and almost bought a JBL system that cost two times less and sounded two times better, at least in that environment. Oh, and it was four times smaller, too.
Actually.. this thing had great potential.
If they let 'em go through Costco, I'm all over it
My parents actually bought one... it's a fun thing when you're not the one who paid for it. Sound quality is reasonable. Not too good, not too bad.
I'm not so sure it is being retired. A tipster on The Apple Blog noted that there is now a photo of the iPod Hi-Fi with an iPod classic perched on it on the main iPod/iTunes page.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
It is portable, unlike most/all the other units people here are comparing it to.
My students gave me one last June. The dock part started to malfunction in March. My 1st gen Nano stopped working in it. Then my 60 Gb wasn't making a good connection. I finally took it in for a repair this june to discover that it was out of warranty as they had actually purchased it in April of 2006. I said , no problem the school will pay to fix it, How much? They wanted $269 to repair it!!!!! It only cost a $100 more and a Bose or other Brand could be had for less. I said, thanks but no thanks as it still works with the auxiliary plug connection. Boy am I glad it was a gift and I am getting a $100 back on my iPhone. Some time s Apple can really suck.
I doubt Jobs will ever read this review. For such an industrial design powerhouse...this was a bleak entry into the home audio realm.
Here is a list of its design problems.
1. The shape. The very worst shape for a speaker is a cube- (one of Steve’s favorite shapes) the next worst shape is rectangular box. Many home speakers are made of wood and construction with wood cost considerations often end in Boxes being made. (Of course inside quality ones are have wooden baffles and perhaps non parallel walls to help break up standing waves. Why Steve Jobs (An audiophile?) would select Plastic and make a product with walls that can easily flex by selecting a rectangular shape is beyond me. Certainly an Ovoid shape or curved shape would have added rigidity to the cabinet.
2. Material selection. ABS plastic? Like.... what "HI-Fi" speaker in the world that deserves the moniker of "Hi-Fi" was EVER EVER EVER made of ABS- or whatever that junk plastic they made it out of ..Polystyrene? Who knows? It is far from acoustically inert.
3. The interior design. Was there any internal bracing...I doubt it. Minimal if any.
4. Acoustic deadening... was any attempt made to control speaker wall vibrations with even the cheapest of Asphalitic adhesive strips...NO.
5. Tuning.... was there any done at all? Like did they use a 1998 version of some speaker box building program to design this...it was pathetic. No attempt to figure out proper ratios. Apple had enough money to hire someone like Arnie Nudell (Infinity/Genesis) or Gayle Martin Saunders (Martin Logan), Dick Sequerra (Pyramid), Stuart Tyler (ProAc), Mark Levinson (Red Rose Music) hell even the guys currently working for Harmon International would have been a better choice- at least they have some Mark Levinson and Revel engineers. Too expensive? Well not with Apple's economies of scale. But if you want to talk cheap parts and scalable production... Steve Jobs best bet would have been to hire Shuji Yamamoto a former Bose and AR speaker designer out of Massachusetts who left to make designs he wanted to hear. He made the Aego 5 system for Acoustic Energy, which got rave reviews from Stereophile and anyone who encountered the system. If he wanted to really do something ground breakingly Hi-Fi in a small package.... he could have hired John DeVore, of DeVore Fidelity in New York- these last two designers are really onto something- and MAN can they ever turn out a well tuned product. The Apple Hi-fi made all expensive instruments sound like cheap $200 instruments.
If you haven't heard of these manufacturers- they are worth having a look. The make music- not just reproduced sound.
6. Speaker transducer i.e. Driver quality. Were these drivers from China? Probably. Most of the worlds most respected speakers have drivers that are European in origin. Vifa, Scanspeak, Dynaudio (Danish). The drivers used in Apple hi-fi were not in any way Hi-fi with poor excursion control at XMax (the point of the speaker cone moving far away from the center of the magnetic flux). Looking at the wimpy magnet structure and cheap stamped basket just told you that you were getting a speaker on par with ones that come in Televisions. Most people bypass their TV speakers- just like you should with the Apple Hi-FI. Steve Jobs Cheapened Apples Image by producing this clunky plastic boombox quality speaker.
7. Uncool. it just was uncool looking. IS this the technology Apple is known for? Is it in ANY WAY "amazing" or "incredible"? (Steve's commonly used vernacular when introducing products) Well, no.... but it did sound "BOOM"y and sloppy. This was the sort of junk I would expect from Microsoft. With so much cool speaker technology.... Steve could have had an amazing product. He could have used designs from Gallo Acoustics (Base ball shaped speakers), Eminent technology (Flat panel speakers that could fold flat for transport that are true dipoles), Ribbon Tweeters and Midranges (former Apogee speakers), He could have designed a slot loaded floor firing subwoofer with KOI Audio, A see through electrostatic speaker (Martin Logan- heck wanna be really cool Steve? Project the Itunes info onto that see through diaphram like a "Heads up display" giving track info...or perhaps if the technology improves enough even video. Steve - you could have used NXT technology to make video screen with that vibrated over the whole surface- and even if the screen was not so great...you could have integrated the visualizer to make it a modern day LAVA lamp type display or laser light type display in a flat speaker panel.
So far the only iPod dock speaker worth any listen is the Harman Kardon Go+Play Boombox for iPod. Perhaps the FATMAN iTube would be decent...but far too fragile with tubes...unless it used a RCA Style military quality Nuvistor type of metal encased tube.
Steve could have done soooooo many things. And to build a good speaker ...well it could have broadened Apple's reach. Perhaps if Apple bought out Bang and Olufsen and used volume sales to bring down the price of the Beolab 3 system he could have integrated that speaker system and acoustic lens tweeter into a very small package that would have amazed people. The Beolab 3's can be within 18 inches of each other yet sound like they are 6 feet apart- yet with total room dispersion in the horizontal plane. A buy out of Bang and Olufsen would have made sense since it would have given more European market penetration, similar industrial design ethos, and good reliability and performance (this is only recent to 2002 + model year Bang and Olufsen speakers), hell apple sells tons of A8 earbud Headphones for B & O as it is.
8. Lack of Apple system integration. Why was there no built in dock or compartment for Airport Express? Why was it just another "Any Brand" iPod dock. Were we supposed to think it was Apple worthy because it was white? As far as I can tell...that was the only system integration I could see.
9. Not portable enough for Road Warrior use. Lets face it. You gotta be more than single purpose. The iPod hi-fi had batteries...but was not really portable. It also wasn't a portable party. Try toting one of those in your carry on luggage. Beach Worthy.....uh ...no. The plastic was also easily scratched and showed grime.
10. Value per dollar. IT Just wasn't there. You would be better off spending your audio money on better headphones or an Aego 2 system from Acoustic Energy, or the Harman Kardon Go+Play, or even...just buying used Sound Dynamics RTS-3 speakers off Ebay and fishing some junky old amplifier out of the landfill and tossing on airport express and calling it a day. You'd have $250 extra dollars in your pocket and VASTLY superior sound at any volume- as well as lots of volume. The Apple Hi-Fi was a huge waste of cash- its true value as a system , perhaps $110 at the far end. I wouldn't buy one NEW for myself for $30, at $20...yes, but just to use to connect to my TV and regift it to a tone deaf friend for Christmas. At least they would think they were getting something that was at one time...."expensive".
Harsh- no, just the truth laid out. If only Steve would read this. Maybe I would take him to some audio stores to hear real high end audio. billbaysick at yahoo
In all fairness an all in one system is never as good as a proper hifi system anyway. Apple were just diluting and bringing down the product line with this thing. http://www.sipedia.co.uk/HiFi/hifi.htm and http://www.sipedia.co.uk/mac/mac.htm shows a great list on using mac with a proper hifi system.
Best thing Steve Jobs could do. Go vistit the Rocky Mountain audio Fest.
Rent a small room. Let people schedule appointments to show him compact designs. Let them compete for an initial contract for 250,000 units.
Darn it. I actually wanted to buy one. The thing that I really liked about it was the fact that you could carry it anywhere with the battery option. It would be great to take to the beach. Anyone know where they still have it?.