•GPS receiver with voice prompts •MP3 music and JPEG photo player •Optional travel and language guides •3.5-inch touchscreen •Text-to-speech synthesis •3.875 x 2.875 x 0.875 inches •5 oun
We've added five products to The List this month. The Sony and HP rear projectors in this issue are both highly recommendable. The Qsonix Digital Music System, while pricey, is so distinctive and lovable that we had to include it despite its being a work in progress (at least it's upgradable). Garmin's nüvi Digital Travel Assistant is also expensive but beautifully executed.
"Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" was my favorite track on Led Zeppelin II. Maybe it was just teenage hormones, but the way the song took off like a shot appealed to me. Like you could OUTRACE society. And I've always been about playing outside society.
The maker of the world's most deliriously successful music player offers these words of advice: "If you expose your ears to excessive sound pressure, you can harm those small hair cells in your ears." Whether this has anything to do with the class-action lawsuit filed in Louisiana alleging hearing damage from iPods is, of course, just so much irresponsible speculation. According to my colleagues at Stereophile, a recent poll indicates hearing loss among the young is a real problem. What is certain is that Apple has announced a firmware upgrade that sets a top volume level deemed safe with Apple's supplied iPod earbuds and other products with similar sensitivity ratings.
