iPod Hi-Fi (2006)
An all-in-one high-fidelity speaker system for the iPod, announced on February 28, 2006. Apple described it as the first iPod accessory to add true high-fidelity sound.
© Teófilo Ruiz Suárez · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗ Resized, no crop or retouching.
Specs
| Connectivity | Dock 30 pines · aux 3,5 mm |
| Price | $349 (2006) |
| Key feature | 6 × D-cell |
Launch
Apple announced the iPod Hi-Fi on February 28, 2006, the same day as the first Intel Mac mini, at $349 with the Apple Remote included. It was an all-in-one unit that plugged into the wall or ran on six D-cell batteries, with side handles, touch-sensitive volume buttons, a removable grille and a built-in power supply with no external brick. The iPod docked on top with one of ten adapters and charged while playing; a 3.5 mm auxiliary input accepted analog or digital signals. The announcement was a press event ("fun new products") on Apple's campus, and the recording survives in an archival copy on the Internet Archive.
Marketing
Steve Jobs presented it as a reinvention of the home stereo, and Apple stressed its acoustic performance: an isolated enclosure with two wide-range speakers and a tuned, ported bass system designed to reduce vibration. With compatible iPods it showed its own features such as tone control and large album art. Sound & Vision weighed it at 14.5 pounds without batteries and put battery life at 5 to 15 hours on alkaline cells.
Flaws and fixes
Documented criticism was the price, with Macworld collecting period complaints about spending $350 on it, and a limited remote: according to Sound & Vision, it raised and lowered volume and skipped tracks but did not navigate the iPod's menus, and its Menu button only switched between the dock and the auxiliary input. Apple pulled the iPod Hi-Fi from its store without an announcement on September 5, 2007.