The Legend of the BLogitech mm50

OK, all of you know that I’m quite the music freak. I have more music in my collection than it is possible for a human being to listen to in a year. Many of you share my ambition.

When something is good you give it praise. If something is really good you tell someone about it. If something is tremendous [or conversely as terrible] you blog about it. For instance, if you recently attended a convention of the magnitude that is 2500 persons and smells strongly of fandom you tell someone—that rocked. They bring their friends and so on. But guess what… I’m lazy so nearly nothing makes it to my blog unless I’m bored, looking for something to do and stuck in Mexico City.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I blog to you of the newest invention to grace my presence. Right now Microsoft’s ever so annoying grammar engine has told me that I’ve incorrectly used the word ‘blog’. Blog is a verb, Bill. Get used to it. Anyway, back to my original thought.

In addition to my love for music you all also know that I’m somewhat of a technology geek. I wear a watch that runs a demo of the legendary “Breakout” game invented by none other than Steve Jobs. My console video game collection exceeds that of any normal 34-year-old and I have a pension for anything with a tick, whirr or buzz.

Don’t get funny.

Recently, I went to a fabulous convention in Bloomington. It’s held there every Fourth of July Weekend and is rather the party. My wife Heather and I attended this year. You can see our photos here. But what I’m really excited to tell you about is not the convention.

It’s about time………. And relative space….. and the COOLEST INVENTION EVER TO GRACE THE WORLD OF THE iPod…

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you… the Logitech mm50.

But before I tell you about this fashionable little piece of technology let me please tell you of the circumstances under which I recently came to purchase such a device.

You see, my OLD piece of technology, a not-to-shabby-at-the-time portable iPod dock had recently broken. Oh it still plays music and all. That’s not how it broke. It broke because it’s an Altec Lansing In Motion On-the-go piece-o-crap. (BTW–The Wall Street Journal reviews it as “more like a large stereo system”–they’re full of crap.) Furthermore, it was designed poorly and broke on my last trip up north with my wife. How did it break? You really don’t care. But the plastic tabs inside that hold the iPod and its speakers in the correct position died. Now, if you’re not nit-picky like me this is perfectly fine. It still folded into its compact shape for travel. And when you plug in your iPod it still generates a vibration which in turn becomes music to your ears. My goodness, I can ramble.

Heather has that one now.

OK. To coin a phrase, ‘Here’s the deal.” I was tired of my old piece of techno-crap and I wanted a bigger, badder and most splendid piece of techno-crap to replace it. Think of me as the car collector who is never quite satisfied with his 1965 convertible GTO with original paint. Think of me as the—never mind. You get the picture.

The Logitech mm50 is the best iPod portable speaker accessory on the market at this time. A bold statement? Yes. But not exaggerated. Last weekend, for the convention I mentioned above, I went to Microcenter and made the salesman open every last portable iPod speaker accessory. Ironically, my first look was at the Logitech mm50. It sounded excellent. For the price-point, this unit was vastly superior in sound over any of its competitors. I only had a couple of complaints about it really. First, it was white. My iPod is black. Second, I noted it did not take batteries so you’d have to plug it in. The sales person agreed that was odd.

They were out of the unit.

Knowing I was going to need some RAD tunes for my “room party” I kept looking. I checked out DLO’s boombox–it was crap. I checked out iMotion’s boombox–CRAP. I checked out every portable device known to Microcenter and settled on a great sounding product called iRythms. It worked great over the weekend–and what bass response! It totally blew everything out of the water with bass. No batteries though–well who cares! The hotel had outlets.

Well, when I actually got it home to a controlled environment—next to me on my nightstand, I discovered that it had a horrible HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. The kind of hiss that keeps you up in the middle of the night. Literally. So I did what my buddy Hans does when he buys a new piece of technology that doesn’t satisfy his needs.

I returned it.

My buddy Rob and I shopped all day on Monday at various places. I tried Klipsch, Bose and every brand under the sun. Everything was either not portable enough, sounded like crap or too damn pricey. Until we reached Best Buy. They had the Logitech! It was in black!

I bought it.

Upon getting it home—much to my glee, I was pleased to discover that not only did it match my standards for portability in sound. But it has a 10 HOUR RECHARGEABLE BATTERY BUILT RIGHT IN. Is that not cool or what? It came with a remote and carrying case for ultimate portability. The case is one of those poly-styrene composites that is hard enough to protect it when it’s in your carry-on. The remote nestles in the case in an appropriate place and the AC adapter is not some monstrosity in multiple parts that you can’t take with you. No fuss, no muss–no hiss.

I sit here now listening to the first season soundtrack for a little sci-fi gem Time magazine likes to call: “The best show on television”. That’s right. It’s the season one soundtrack to “Battlestar Galactica”. The track playing is entitled: “Passacaglia”. The sound is amazing. It’s an experience not just a song. And with a good glass of Cabernet and New York Cheese Cake it sounds even better.

The moral of the story? Never give up, never surrender and never take the advice of a sales person at Microcenter. Always ask every sales person to open every device. Always go with your first instincts. Ultimately, live love and listen to music—with the Logitech mm50.