Altec Lansing inMotion Speakers

*Reviewed by Mike Holley*

For the longest time you have enjoyed the freedom of listening to whatever music you want by listening to your iPod. No commercials, no breaks, and certainly not a single song that makes you think, I hate this overplayed junk! You are free to listen to what you want. But when you are with your friends you either seclude yourself by listening to your iPod, or give into the pressure and listen to the radio. This is how it use to be, but no more, there is a way for a group to enjoy your iPod, Altec Lansing’s inMotion ($149.00).
The inMotion is a portable speaker system for Apple’s iPod. It was designed to fit the look and feel of the iPod as well. When reviewing this device there are a few things that are important to look at: sound quality, portability, and connectivity.

test quality I played a song with my iPod and inMotion then played the same song on my computer with my harmon/kardon speakers. I also tried to listen to the same song on my iPod and my computer at the same time. The sound quality was amazing. The inMotion had just about the same quality of my desktop speakers. The inMotion was able to get loud enough to heard well in a group without volume distortion. The one downside of the inMotion speakers is no bass. If the song being played has a little bass, then it is sounds fine, but if there is any real thump in the song the sound begin to distort.

The inMotion comes with two types of power: AC and DC. If you are going to use it in a building near an outlet then by plugging it is will provide a longer listening time, and charge your iPod while your at it. The inMotion included a power cable that is about three feet long. But if you were limited to AC power then it really couldn�t be considered portable audio. The inMotion requires four AA batteries to power the speakers. When running off the batteries only the speakers are power, the iPod is left to run off its own battery. To test longevity of the inMotion I put fresh batteries in it, put my fully charged iPod in it and used that for my audio. My iPod battery ran out of juice before the inMotion did.

The inMotion was designed to work with every iPod. The inMotion connects to the iPod through the mounting connection found on the bottom of the 3G, 4G, and mini iPods. Spacers are provided for iPod minis slim enclosure. For 1G and 2G iPods there is a connection cover so as not to damage the iPod or the inMotion connector. Then with the included cable you plug the 1G and 2G iPod into the auxiliary port on the back of the inMotion. Because of this auxiliary port anything with a headphone jack can be plugged into the inMotion. In addition there is the standard docking connection on the back so the inMotion could be used and a dock to sync with a computer as well.

The inMotion looks good, sounds good, and connects to whatever I want to listen to. The sound quality is excellent, except for heavy bass songs, and has excellent volume quality. The batteries will our run the iPod�s own battery, and the design of the speaker unit allows to fold it up and tote it away. I give this speaker system four paws out of five. Because of the inadequate way the speaker handles bass reproduction I give it a four. Even with the lack of proper bass reproduction I would gladly use this portable speaker system anytime I am away from my computer in a group.