USB retro wooden speaker escapes the crap pile by the slimmest margin

Try if you wish, but you'll never convince us that the masterpiece you're peering at above should be lumped in with every other crapgadget out there. Sorry, it just ain't happening. The wondrous USB Retro Wooden Speaker / MP3 Player Cube does mostly what it says: you insert a flash card or USB drive, and it plays back MP3 files through the pair of 3-watt stereo speakers. Those vintage buttons can skip tracks and pause things for a brief moment of silence, while the bundled remote keeps your nates planted after a hard day's night. There's even a 3.5 millimeter auxiliary input in case you're short on flash, and the built-in rechargeable battery ensures that this bad boy will be showcased at your forthcoming tailgate parties. There's a whole lot of awesome here for $29, wouldn't you concur?

[Zangetsu Posted Aug 5th 2009 2:11PM]

I have a very small face.

[MDJCM Posted Aug 5th 2009 4:47PM]

yeah, i dunno why but this is appealing, at just $30, i'd probably buy one and justify the need for it

the battery feature sells me

[TheTall Posted Aug 5th 2009 5:58PM]

Does anyone know anything about USBGeek.com ?
There isn't much to their Contacts page.
Shipping $3 ?? Nothing says where it's shipping from.
http://www.thethingsiwant.com/site/usbgeek.com/ has some comments on the company.
I think I'll try to find something similar somewhere else.

[Wwhat Posted Aug 5th 2009 8:33PM]

You are right in wondering, a site with no address whatsoever and not even an email but just an reply page, here's some info on the whois though, and although not very informative it does show they are in hong kong and they've been around a bit I guess, since 2004 it seems.

Registrant:
Hepta Consultants Limited
P.O. Box No. 80576
Cheung Sha Wan Post Office
Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon 852
Hong Kong

Domain Name: USBGEEK.COM
Created on: 01-Apr-04
Expires on: 01-Apr-11

[Wwhat Posted Aug 5th 2009 8:36PM]

Incidentally, why the hell do censorship script always choke on the word su-spi-cious, you can't even use regular normal words anymore, it's bad enough when they censor 'bad' words on sites but listen engadget, that's a freaking normal word.

[MDJCM Posted Aug 5th 2009 8:42PM]

hah, its tiny!

Dimension: 107 x 110 x 113mm (approx.

i mean, its a cube so its not the best shape for portability, but its much smaller than i thought

[Wwhat Posted Aug 5th 2009 9:21PM]

I would have estimated it 150x150, funny since the cardslots should have given us a reference.

[SkonOfVulcan Posted Aug 9th 2009 10:04PM]

I'm ordering one right now. This would be perfect for in the bathroom to listen to while taking a bath. Or out in the yard on the hammock. Small enough that it's no hassle to take it anywhere.

[ibisum Posted Oct 1st 2009 2:06PM]

I got one this week, it finally arrived after two tries by USBGeek to ship it to me in Austria .. its a lot smaller than I thought it was, but yeah .. big "duh!" moment when I saw the size of the SD slot in the picture and compared it to real life.

Its a great little speaker system - for $20 you can't complain about the quality, because it *IS* cheap, but for what you get out of that - speakers, portable, battery-power, SD and USB-stick compatible, "Just Plain Works", remote control .. well .. its a good deal imho. I like it!