Creative TravelSound i85

Even though that it may sound too much irony, Creative has been making “Made for iPod” products even though that they compete with Apple’s oh so popular portable media player. After all, they were a great audio related product manufacturer even before Apple ventured into media players.

The Creative TravelSound i85 is one of those items that wants to take a slice of Apple’s success through one of Apple’s latest - the 4th generation iPod nano. The 4th generation iPod Nano is the slimmest of all of the pods. Adding an external speaker is a great idea but the design must also catch on which the i85 got some points. It didn’t get full points due to the fact that the body wasn’t all metallic as what the 4th gen nano is to make it blend with the player and the iPod doesn’t seem to “wear” the speakers. It sorts of act as a portable dock rather than something that your player can get into and be part of it like how iPhone battery extenders have a recessed area and back protection that the iPhone can fit into making it a part of the phone itself.

On the specs side, this external speaker is a winner. It has class D digital amplifier that promises to deliver loud, clear, and rich sound.  A built-in FM tuner is also present so that you could listen to some live action over the air in case you got tired of what’s in your playlist. And the 15 hours of playtime is just sweet! The player can play continuously all day without a break!

I think this player can surely have been better in terms of the design but, it cannot be argued that it is a great speaker nonetheless.