iWake iMe iUp iBefore iYou iGo-iGo
Posted on | March 14, 2006 at 6:42 pm | 8 Comments
I’m a bit of an alarm clock radio enthusiast. I get a new one every year or so, even though they never really change that much. Don’t ask me why. I guess I’m like Ernie from the comic strip Piranha Club, who collects toasters. My basement is littered with the carcasses of old alarm clocks.
So, I just knew that ever since I first heard about it, I’d have to get me one of these iHome IH5 iPod Clock Radios. And I finally did this weekend. I was a little leery of taking the dive since I read all these negative comments about it after the iLounge review. But I have to admit that iHome did a good job of addressing those concerns and fixing the problems in later revisions of the product. I guess the trick is to make sure that you are getting one of the revised ones – supposedly the good ones are the ones that have an “R” as the penultimate character of the “date code” imprinted next to the barcode on the box. I bought mine at Best Buy, and searched through a couple before I found an “R” unit. Which was not easy, since the only thing near the bar code (which I think is actually a serial number rather than a date code) is hard to read. It is actually imprinted rather than written. But for all I know, things have changed so drastically that all units currently is circulation are the revised ones and that code means something different. (Note that some units seem to come with a remote control, but mine didn’t. Not that I would have any use for that anyway. It can be ordered separately.) There is also a newer black model available, and one would assume that since they came out with it after the revised white one, that all the black ones are okay.
At any rate, the complaints centered on two issues. The first was that the display was too bright on even the lowest dimmer setting and would totally bathe the room in light. My unit definitely doesn’t have that problem. In fact, the dimmest setting is even dimmer than the display on the Sony DreamMachine clock radio that this unit replaced. The other main complaint was that the lowest wake volume setting for the iPod was too loud, so that there was a good chance you would have a heart attack when the thing went off. Again, they seem to have fixed this, as the volume is settable down to almost inaudible.
I’ve been using it for a couple of days now with no big complaints. It definitely works as advertised. It would be nice if it had dual alarms, like my old Sony, but alas there is only one. The other thing that would be cool (but probably impossible) is if it would pick a song at random on the iPod when the iPod alarm goes off. Currently, it just plays whatever song you have in “Now Playing” (I think it plays the first song if you’re not Now Playing). So you can sort of simulate the random thing by putting the iPod in Shuffle Play and hitting pause, but then you know what song it’s going to play unless you’re really good at avoiding looking at the display while fiddling with the controls.
It has a battery backup, and comes with batteries, in case you have a power failure or if you’re unable to use the AC adapter. It was running, with the correct time, when I took it out of the box. The manual and box claim that the time is set automatically, but says nothing about it being radio-controlled and set by the radio signal from the atomic clock at NIST (like the atomic clocks in my house). So I’m not sure how that works, or if works at all. I only had to set the time zone after taking it out of the box. There is also a manual time setting which I haven’t needed. I have noticed that the time is slightly ahead, approx 45 seconds, of the times on my atomic clocks, which further bolsters the non-NIST theory.
The sound quality is not the greatest, but is adequate. Since I’m dealing with compressed MP3 files, I don’t expect that much in the first place. If you don’t have your iPod handy, you can wake up to a buzzer or the radio instead. It will accommodate most iPods, though it’s kind of kludgy if you don’t have one with a dock connector. It comes with replaceable inserts for the different size iPods, and could potentially accommodate future ones by the company releasing new inserts. I had no trouble docking my 3G 30GB iPod using the “thick iPod” insert. The unit charges the iPod (ones with dock connectors, at least), so it’s nice to wake up to a fully charged player. It’s also nice waking up to a song I like, instead of to one of the five songs they play on Radio Disney, which was one of the only English-language stations the Sony could pick up. It also has a “sleep” function so you can fall asleep to the tunes on your iPod and it will turn it off after a chosen amount of time. I haven’t tried that yet. It also has all the usual alarm clock radio functions, such as a snooze* button.
All in all, thumbs up, and probably worth the $$$. Time to find some space in the basement for the ol’ DreamMachine…
Latre.
* – Trivia Fact: I’ve never hit a snooze button in my entire life. When that alarm goes off, I’m awake.
Comments
8 Responses to “iWake iMe iUp iBefore iYou iGo-iGo”
March 15th, 2006 @ 10:22 pm
Regarding the fact that the correct time was displayed when you removed it from the box: that’s because each and every iHome IH5 iPod Clock Radio is personally built by Jesus. Jesus knows what time it is. Jesus really cares. Although I can’t imagine why.
March 15th, 2006 @ 10:38 pm
Hey, Jesus is just like me! I always know what time it is too!
So why do I need an alarm clock then? Just because I know what time it is doesn’t mean that I can automatically wake myself up at the proper time…
March 16th, 2006 @ 5:07 am
Hey, d’you think Sony will change the name to their clock radio to the DRM Machine?
March 16th, 2006 @ 7:57 am
They wish! It does only play copy-protected radio stations.
March 20th, 2006 @ 4:46 pm
First of all – why do you need dual alarms??? Is there someone sharing your bed you’d like to tell us about?
It’s Natalie Portman. Or her mom. I forget which.
Hey, even single people appreciate dual alarms. Especially if there are different times you wake up depending on the day.
How do you skip to the next song whilst flat on you back in bed?
I can reach over and find the “next” button on the iPod by hand. It’s another one of my superpowers.
So the Costco one had the remote, eh? Damn.
This is a family blog – no discussion of Naked Nanos, please.
March 20th, 2006 @ 3:53 pm
First of all – why do you need dual alarms??? Is there someone sharing your bed you’d like to tell us about?
Second, you didn’t get a remote? How do you skip to the next song whilst flat on you back in bed? Take it back!
Third, we got ours at Costco for $89. I’ve seen them elsewhere for $99. God knows what they go for at the Apple Kool-Aid Stand.
My only complaint is deals with the Nano insert. It’ll only work with a naked Nano. Who in their right mind doesn’t have a Nano tube or skin protecting theirs. Then again, who among us does not have a Dremel at hand to solve life’s inequities.
March 30th, 2006 @ 12:04 am
Okay, I just had to comment on this, even though this entry is old news by now. My alarm clock is 20 years old! I can operate all of it’s controls in my sleep – which is one reason I can’t get myself up in the morning. I’ve tried to replace it numerous times, but I’ve absolutely hated every replacement. The display is too bright, or the radio sucks, or the… well, it’s always something.
March 30th, 2006 @ 10:47 am
Dave, you’re welcome to my castoffs… if I can dig them out of the Graveyard. You probably wouldn’t be satisfied with any of them though.
Incidentally, my iHome freaked out last night and reset itself to some default date/time. Doesn’t look like I had a power failure, and even if I did, it has battery backup. So that worries me a little. Mysterious. Luckily it reset back to the brightest setting on the dimmer, which makes it noticable that something has changed. Still, if it happens in the middle of the night and I’m not awake to witness it, I could end up accidentally sleeping in!