Altec Lansing inMotion MAX

[ Music ] ^M00:00:02 >> I'm Donald Bell, and today we're taking a first look at Altec Lansing's inMotion Max. This is a $199 portable speaker system for the Apple iPod or the iPhone. The inMotion Max is an iPod speaker that can live in two worlds. You can set this up somewhere like your living room and plug it into a wall and leave it alone, or you can take this thing on the go and run it from its internal rechargeable battery, which lasts around three-and-a-half hours. Now there are hundreds of rechargeable iPod speaker systems out there that are smaller and cheaper than what we see here in the inMotion Max. What makes this guy special is it sounds very good for a speaker this size, blowing away comparable portable speaker from Logitech and Griffin. Plus, you get an FM radio that has RDS song info that displays on the orange LCD screen. And you also get a remote control. And the remote control is pretty cool because it gives you four station presets for the FM radio, and also has a nice little hiding place in the very top of the system. Another cool thing about this system is it's iPhone compatible. So that means that you can play your music from your iPhone. If you get a call coming in while you're playing music, your ring tone is going to play through the speakers. It's also shielded against the iPhone, so you're not going to get that cell phone interference you get from other systems. There's some stuff that's missing, though. On the back of the Max you'll see an ox input, and that's about it. You don't get any video output, line or sub out put, USB pass through or advanced features like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi streaming. We're also a little bummed about the fact that the Max's FM antenna is this dangly, detachable thing instead of a retractable antenna. All things considered, Altec Lansing has made a great all-around portable iPod speaker here that's not too big, not too small, not too expensive, not too tinny-sounding, and not too ugly. Although some people might have some issues with the Max's unique industrial design. I'm Donald Bell, and that was a first look at Altec Lansing's inMotion Max.