Japan-based design and gadget company fu-bi has announced the so-called “Retro Cube Mini Speaker With MP3 Player” [JP] today, and as the name of the device suggests, it’s a one-unit speaker (3W×2ch) with a built-in MP3 player. You can connect it to your iPod or PC via USB 2.0 and listen to three hours of music after charging the internal battery for about an hour.
It’s possible to listen to music coming directly from a USB stick, MMC card or SD/SDHC card (up to 4GB), too. You can choose the tracks with a mini remote control that comes with the device.
fu-bi started selling the Japan-only retro cube speaker today (price: $50). I suggest you contact the Japan Trend Shop or Geek Stuff 4 U in case you live outside Japan and you’re interested in getting one.
Devices similar to this are available all over Viet Nam for reasonable prices. I picked up a stereo version for about $18. It actually sounds quite good–the presswood case gives it a bit of warmth and the unit I have has a downward firing cone on the base. Not sure if it’s a small sub or not.
One thing to note is that the USB input on my unit, and possibly this one (it looks so similar to mine and a bunch of others I’ve seen), only works with USB thumb drives. I connected my Sansa player in disk mode, and it was unable to read it. Also, the remote only works if you’re using a USB drive or SD/MMC card.
Jacking in the iPod or Sansa works well, and the USB port can actually lend a charge to the player. That shortens battery life on the speaker, though, which on my unit in playback only mode (nothing jacked in on USB) is about 3.5 hours.