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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Introduction

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?

First Looks

The product packaging for the iM3 is sleek, simple and monochromatic... much like that of the iPod. Six languages greet you as the box is turned over. Product shots and lily-white iconography are printed on both sides. Open the carton and inside you will find a multitude of goodies.

Included along with the iM3 portable audio unit is a plush protective carrying case, instruction booklet, connection cable, slim remote control, various iPod adapters and a power adapter with multi-national connectors. Altec Lansing must be betting on selling lots of these units overseas judging by the 4 included power outlet adapters.

Remove the iM3 from the packaging and you won't be hefting much in the ways of weight. The unit itself is fairly lightweight. With a little pull and flex you will unfold your new miniature speaker unit. The thin profile unit folds into a flat rectangle about 8" x 1" x 5.5" (H x W x D).

Now, the iM3 is loosely marketed as a multi-use portable audio unit. And by that I mean they say you can hook it up to multiple audio sources. While that may be true, let's face it, this thing was built for the iPod... right down to the iM3 model name. The iPod white finish is accurately mimicked and the included cradle adapters make sure that any and all of your iPods rest snugly in their new home. These adapters snap into the base of the opened unit and secure earlier generation 10/15 GB iPods, 30/40 GB units and even the iPod mini.

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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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