Brier Dudley's Blog

Brier Dudley offers a critical look at technology and business issues affecting the Northwest.

January 8, 2008 2:49 AM

CES: A new generation of boombox

LAS VEGAS -- I did a double take when I passed the booth of Lasonic, an Irwindale, Calif., company that sells stereos and other gadgets manufactured by a sister company in Taiwan.

I had to learn more about the giant boomboxes that dwarfed the iPods docked where the cassette tape used to go. New at the show is the $169.99 i-931 Boom Box, which in addition to docking and charging an iPod also accepts memory cards, in case that's where you've got your funky tunes saved.

The Nikes and iPod aren't included.

I wonder if we're moving out of the headphone phase and into another amplified music era, just like the rise of boomboxes after the Walkman.

Check out Samsung's interpretation of the BFR, circa 2008.

Samsung calls the $499 system going on sale in the second half of 2008 the "Media Center."

Don't be fooled by the name -- it's not running Windows. But it does have a 4.3-inch touchscreen DVD player that uses gestural inputs, such as skipping ahead with the flick of a finger. It also has an 80 gigabyte hard-drive, Bluetooth and a 16x CD ripper.

Its technical product name is the Samsung RTS-A1100.

Euro design types may prefer to tote the B&W Zeppelin when they go breakdancing outside the downtown Seattle library. The $599, 100-watter won a design award at the show.