Altec Lansing inMotion iM3 Portable Audio System

Reviews: Multimedia

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Bradford Day
Kurtis
Altec Lansing
Dec. 8, 2004

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Conclusion

Altec Lansing continues to churn out innovative and worthwhile products. The iM3 is no exception. Falling in line with other iPod aftermarketers, they have struck upon a stylish and effective design for external speakers. And this isn't their only design; two other Altec Lansing inMotion portable audio systems can be found at their website.

The smart iPod inspired design, lightweight construction, wireless remote and handsome and protective carrying case are all unexpected extras graciously added to an already excellent product.

For the shelf-space conservative iPod fanatic, an iM3 would make a great audio addition. For students heading off to that first space-constrained dorm room, an iPod, iBook and iM3 would pretty much do it for total media immersion. As long as you aren't looking to completely blast your neighbors' windows out of their frames, then the iM3 should be suitable. It can be a little on the under-powered side when blasted at full volume, but the sound quality it produces is pretty amazing considering its small size. For a speaker system no bigger than a typical paperback novel, you can't do much better for room-filling sound.

Pros

Big sound, small size
Stylish, perfect match for an iPod
Wireless remote
Lightweight
DC or battery powered
Accessories!

Cons

Sound distortion at high volumes
Weak bass (imagine that!)
Picky remote

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Testing
Page 3: Testing, Cont'd...
Page 4: Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by Kurtis on December 19, 2004 - 2:56 pm

"White plastic is everywhere! Seriously, you can't toss a dead video card out your window anymore without hitting someone with an iPod strapped to his or her hip. Apple's ubiquitous hard-drive-based personal music player is now intricately woven into the fabric of pop culture. And this fact has, of course, spawned a wave of aftermarket add-ons and clip-ons... in oceans of pristine bone-white PVC.

Altec Lansing has not excluded themselves from jumping on the bandwagon with the likes of Belkin and Bose. Should you find yourself in need of a set of external speakers for your precious palm-topped musical gigabytes, take a gander at Altec's inMotion iM3 portable audio system. But is it worthy of wearing the white?"

http://www.thetechlounge.com/reviews/altec_lansing... (http://www.thetechlounge.com/review.php?directory=...)
http://www.thetechlounge.com/review.php?directory=...

2 - Posted by Guest on April 22, 2005 - 9:37 am

I absolutely love!! these speakers. I just can't believe that they can so great when they are so small and compact. I love the way they look, work and sound. Everyone who hears them is impressed and can't believe that they are so small. They are great on the go as they are so compact, light and easy to set up. It is very good to have the choice of battery or power. I have found the volume levels to be very satisfactory considering that if I wanted speakers to fill a huge space I would buy speakers to suit that application. If you are looking for compact, portable yet great sounding speakers then these certainly do the job.

3 - Posted by jamielockhartgiles on April 24, 2005 - 8:23 am

Is this compatible with the 60GB ipod Photo?

thanks!

4 - Posted by Guest on August 20, 2005 - 1:17 am

battery life is relevant. ppl want it to last longer than the ipod battery as it indicates the cost to run the speakers without dc power.

there are lots of situations where this would be relevant. when backpacking you might not want to lug rechargeable batteries and charger and prefer to just use regular batteries. you might be charging your ipod during car travel and be reliant on non-rechargeables for the speakers.

i'd certainly prefer 24 hrs from a set of batteries compared to 6 hrs.

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