The Portable Zune Sound Solution

[Jason Dunn]

Since I haven't seen any portable Zune speakers (you know, something like these) I thought I'd see if I could come up with my own solution. Nothing fancy here: I have a pair of $20 Altec Lansing USB-powered speakers (that are so obscure I can't even find them on the Altec Lansing Web site) connected to a Proporta USB battery. The Zune connects to the speakers over the headphone jack, and that's that. The sound isn't anything to write home about, as you might imagine, and I have no idea how long the speakers would last with this Proporta battery. But hey, until someone invents a real accessory like this for the Zune, I have my throw-together solution. Has anyone put together anything similar?

[Jason Dunn]

Since I haven't seen any portable Zune speakers (you know, something like these) I thought I'd see if I could come up with my own solution. Nothing fancy here: I have a pair of $20 Altec Lansing USB-powered speakers (that are so obscure I can't even find them on the Altec Lansing Web site) connected to a Proporta USB battery. The Zune connects to the speakers over the headphone jack, and that's that. The sound isn't anything to write home about, as you might imagine, and I have no idea how long the speakers would last with this Proporta battery. But hey, until someone invents a real accessory like this for the Zune, I have my throw-together solution. Has anyone put together anything similar?

[priesmeyer]

I did something crazy yesterday. I was cleaning out my closet and came across my previous computers's Boston Acoustic speaker - a subwoofer + 2 satellites. So I plugged in the power jack to the woofer and plugged the input into my Zune headphone jack.

All of a sudden, I had a thumpin' sound system was was blowing out the provebrial windows of my master bathroom.

So, I'm going to hang on to those speakers a bit longer and take them out the garage so I can fiddly around out there with a better sound system than I actually even have in my house (which is non-existent).

[bleeman]

I have Logitech's mm50 speakers that I bought for my iPod Nano last year. They have a line-in jack on the back so I just plugged in a male-to-male mini-jack from my Zune's headphone jack to the back and I've got tunes. The Zune also fits in the dock slot perfectly (not that it docks mind you) so aside from an ugly cable coming out the top it looks pretty decent. If I could figure out where to host pictures (I tried from Yahoo and I can't get it to work) I'd include one. While I can't use all the features of the remote control, the volume and speaker power on/off features are available.

For those not familiar with the mm50's they come with a Remote Control, a carrying case, and rechargeable batteries that are rated at up to 10 hours of playtime (Mine are generally plugged in so I've never really tested this, but I have had them on battery for 3 or 4 hours without incident). Overall, it's a very nice system and I'm hoping Logitech will make a version for the Zune as the iPod version will recharge the iPod when docked, as well as provides a pass-thru connector in the back for syncing with your PC. In addition, for any iPod owners it comes with several adapters so you can use them with almost any dockable iPod.

[apache]

that sounds like a lot of trouble for not a lot of sound. i just use my tivoli audio portable pal box. kick ass bass and rechargeable batteries...the best portable box i've bought in years. http://shop.npr.org/webapp/wcs/store...3033&langId=-1

[Ron_in_ohio]

I just posted a thread on Zune Media, check it out. I like the way you guys think, but I’ve been thinking outside the box. This little gadget has WIFI, so why cant I network it through my PC or whatever, have RCA preouts to my home entertainment center and change songs without this thing plugged into anything. A wireless jukebox it would not be a hard thing if the opened up the WIFI. Check out what I wrote on the New Post’s please, tell me if this does not make sense. It is so possible I don’t understand how it has not been done yet.