JBL On Time - Time Machine Dock for iPod

Reviews: Multimedia

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Mark Korff
Kurtis
JBL
May. 24, 2006

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Testing

Since I'm a bit of a sound nut, my first test of the On Time consisted of hooking it up to the iPod nano and blasting some tunes through it. Well, actually I kept the volume relatively low to begin with and at first I was quite impressed with what I heard. At low to medium volume levels the On Time is able to reproduce clean sound in the mid to high frequencies and even has a hint of bass that I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, the sound quality diminishes dramatically when the volume is pushed to about 75% or higher. Pushing the On Time beyond this limit muddies the sound considerably, and the "hint of bass" turns out to be distractingly non-existent. The sound quality of the radio is about what you'd expect from any clock radio, and as with the iPod sound test, will be best at low to medium volumes.

Many of the On Time's functions are controlled through the use of the menu system. Instead of setting the time by holding down a dedicated "time set" button, and an "hour" or "minute" button for example, you navigate through the menu system and set the time by using the arrow buttons to the right of the display. The time can either be set manually or by using a feature dubbed "Timecrawler" which will automatically scan your local radio stations in search of one that is broadcasting the time, and use that signal to set the clock. The Timecrawler feature was unable to find a time signal from the stations in my area so I had to resort to setting the clock manually. (When I was taking photos of the On Time and toying with it here in San Antonio, TX, I tried the Timecrawler feature and it successfully found a station with the time. Unfortunately, it wasn't the correct time, but it did find it, heh. - Ed) While the menu navigation system gets the job done, it does take a little getting used to and there were certain features like adjusting the display brightness that I wish could have had discreet controls.

As with most alarm clocks on the market today, the On Time has two separate alarms which can be set to go off on weekdays only, weekends only, or every day of the week. Each alarm can also be set to awake you from your sleep to a buzzing tone, the radio, or the big ticket feature - the music on your docked iPod. This last option is probably the biggest draw for most users since waking up to your own music selection rather than that of some radio DJ (or worse, that loathsome radio talk) or that annoying buzzing sound probably appeals to a lot of people, or at least I know it did to me. Unfortunately, this was also the feature that I could not get to work properly. When you set the alarm to use the iPod, the last song being played on the device is supposed to be what is played as the alarm. In my case, whenever the alarm went off, it would only play the first song in my iPod's music library. Essentially it would ignore my last played song selection or playlist, and instead play the first song (alphabetically) on my iPod. After a few mornings of waking up to the exact same song, and briefly wondering if I wasn't in some weird never-ending day kind of experience like Billy Murray in "Groundhog Day," I finally had enough and switched my alarm to the radio. I was able to confirm with a JBL representative that both JBL and Apple are aware of the issue and it is only a problem with the newest firmware release for 5th generation iPods. Hopefully a solution can be found soon because this is obviously a relatively important feature considering the nature of the device.

One of the best features of the On Time is that it can be used to charge your iPod without requiring you to turn on your PC and charge through the USB cable. You can just plop it down in the On Time cradle and forget about it until it wakes you up the next morning, all fresh and recharged. You can also synch the iPod with the music library on your computer while it is docked in the On Time. Instead of plugging in the USB docking cable into the bottom of your iPod, you plug it into the back of the On Time and functionally it works exactly the same. In reality I don't think most people will be synching through the On Time since you'll need to have your computer really close to the On Time for the USB cable to reach. Laptop users wouldn't have a problem, but unless your nightstand is right next to your desktop computer, or you want to have the On Time setup right near your desk for some reason, this feature may not be used all that often.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Impressions
Page 2: Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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12 User Comments

1 - Posted by Nick on May 25, 2006 - 12:47 pm

If I give that thing 1000volts will a portal open up and suck my nano into another dimension?

Does it make a comfy hat? Would you wear it with the display in front or in back if it did?

2 - Posted by Kalo on May 25, 2006 - 5:36 pm

Nice all-in-one, but bad name. :P

3 - Posted by Kurtis on May 25, 2006 - 6:36 pm

It's actually just called the JBL On Time; Time Machine Dock for iPod is like the catch phrase for the product - but yeah it's not a great catch phrase :-P

4 - Posted by Mark on May 26, 2006 - 3:38 pm

The only way it would be a fitting catch phrase is if it could actually perform time travel. If it could do that, they might actually be able to justify that ridiculous price too. :-p

5 - Posted by fr00zen on May 27, 2006 - 5:31 pm

I think the name is a bit silly. If anything, the name is a "turn off". I would not buy an item with that name. It just sounds stupid.

6 - Posted by Kurtis on May 27, 2006 - 9:31 pm

and someone once laughed at the idea of a "mouse" for a human interface device for computers :-P

I'm not defending the product in question, but to judge a product by its name is silly.

7 - Posted by Brian on May 27, 2006 - 10:40 pm

Yeah... just look at the Playstation...

8 - Posted by tiamat on May 28, 2006 - 5:22 pm

Nintendo named it's new machine Wiii, and people are still buying it.

I would not judge a product by the name. It would be like judging a book because of it's cover.

9 - Posted by kerma on May 31, 2006 - 11:53 am

A weird name can draw attention to a product. I think that is what Nintendo is doing.

10 - Posted by mheade on June 3, 2006 - 4:29 pm

You know, for about 1/2 the price, you can get an iHome which has near all the same functionality. With a name like JBL, I'd expect the extra $$$ to go towards the sound.

11 - Posted by Kurtis on June 3, 2006 - 5:05 pm

lol... funny you mention that. we got one for review. keep your eyes out for it :)

12 - Posted by DirtCrashr on September 26, 2007 - 10:16 am

We got this, we hate it. The iPod is continuously going on the fritz and the clock-display goes to bit-salad and everything has to be re-set. Since it does it even without the iPod I'm not sure what the problem is - something in firmware - it's unreliable as an alarm-clock and doesn't catch the automatic time-set.
But mainly you can't set the alarm volume at a level of your own choice. It comes on loud and gets louder and louder as the alarm proceeds until it's too damn loud, whether it's the radio/iPod/beeper. It's loud enough to wake the neighbors through three layers of insulation and sheetrock. There should be a cutoff volume.
This is meant for a 17-yr old slumber hog who could sleep through a nuclear blast, not an adult with neighbors.

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