We can’t begin to emphasize how much we’re crazy about Adele’s new 21 album. That said, we’re a bit surprised to see that they have even produced an LP version of the album. But this LP isn’t your ordinary LP either, because it actually comes bundled with a mp3 download! Unfortunately, the product description doesn’t include details about which MP3 download it is.

This is the first time we’ve seen vinyl and digital get bundled together. Is this a new way for record companies to entice people to purchase LPs, by luring them in with a bonus mp3 download? Maybe. But either way, it kind of feels like an oxymoron. Adele’s 21 vinyl LP retails for $24.90 at Urban Outfitters.

1. She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby
2. Mr. Roboto- Styx
3. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time) – Elton John
4. Virtual Insanity- Jamiroquai
5. Video Killed The Radio Star- The Buggles
6. Electric Avenue- Eddy Grant
7. Man On The Moon – REM
8. Spiderwebs – No Doubt
9. Mr. Telephone Man – New Edition
10. Take A Look Around-Limp Bizkit
11. Millennium – Robbie Williams
12. Star Wars Cantina – Richard Cheese
13. Boom Boom Pow- Black Eyed Peas
14. Back In Time (2006 Digital Remaster)- Huey Lewis and the News
15. Cell Phone- Jack in the Pulpit

The weather is getting warm, so you know what that means – more pretty and portable speakers are going to start popping up. iLuv, has announced that the iSP100 Mini Portable Stereo Speaker for iPod, iPhone 3G, 2G and MP3 Players is now available in pink, purple, silver and black. There is nothing really new here except the spring-like colors, but we’ll give you the lowdown again on the iSP100′s specs. Trying to not sound like some cheap tinny external speaker, the iSP100 features jAura Acoustic Speaker technology with 720° surround sound 4W Speakers, and a 3.5mm jack for unlimited connectivity. The palm size speaker comes with a carrying case for protection and storage and only requires three AAA batteries for it to work. The iLuv iSP100 Mini Portable retails for $34.99, expect to see them on a beach blanket near you.

Remember that George Foreman MP3 ready grill from two years ago? Well the Gastar miGrill Tabletop Gas Grill with Built-In Speakers is the same concept just in a nicer and hipper body. The miGrill provides 160 square inches of cooking surface with 8,500 BTUs of sizzle for your meat and 2 powerful speakers for the extra musical spice. You can attach any generation iPod or MP3 player into the built-in speaker module. The speakers are located towards the bottom of the Gastar miGrill. It also comes in red, black, and gray so not only will it entertain you with music and food, but it also color coordinates to your home. The Gastar miGrill retails for $129.99.

The FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player is a pretty unique product, and in some ways it’s the first of its kind. There are an assortment of multimedia hard drives out there that are designed to carry multimedia content like videos and music from your computer that will play on to your TV. However, with these types of products you are locked in to that specific hard drive. The FreeAgent Theater on the other hand is just a hub. In a way you can think of it as a DVD or VHS player with its own built in software that plays movies off of a medium. In this case, the medium’s format is actually the popular Seagate FreeAgent Go Harddrives.

The FreeAgent Theater hooks up to your TV to play video, photo and audio files off of a docked FreeAgent Go Hard Drive. So lets say you downloaded some videos (torrents, cough) that you would like to watch on your TV instead of being constrained to your computer, all you have to do is sync the video or photo or audio file on to your FreeAgent Go hard drive and then dock the hard drive in to the FreeAgent Theater which in turn connects to your TV. If you have several FreeAgent Hard drives, you can easily swap them out. Want to set a side one FreeAgent Go hard drive for photos, while another one just for your Dr. Who collection? You can keep it organized in that way too and when you’re ready to play the files, just plop it in to the FreeAgent Theater. You can even rip DVDs on to the hard drive so that you can essentially play DVDs on the FreeAgent Theater, complete with menus and subtitles. The FreeAgent Theater also sports an impressive amount of support for different file formats. Here are the specs from Seagate themselves.

Supported Formats:
Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB/ISO), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX /Xvid)
Subtitles: SAMI(smi), SRT and SUB
Video resolutions: NTSC 480i/480p; PAL 576i/576p, supports video (HD and upscaling) up to 720p/1080i*
Audio: MP3, AC3 (5.1 audio – Dolby® Digital) WMA, WAV, OGG
Photo: JPEG files up to 20 megapixels
* supports MPEG-4, Xvid up to 1280 x 720 60fps and supports MPEG-2 and photos up to 1920 x 1080i 30 fps

Design:
The FreeAgent Theater itself is easily portable, and pretty lightweight. It’s got a glossy black exterior that wlll blend in well with most home theater systems, yet it’s much smaller than your average home theater component – size-wise it’s on par with that of a portable DVD player. You can easily transport it to a friend’s house and share your videos and multimedia, by just hooking it up to their TV. A small black remote is also included with the FreeAgent Theater.

Set-up:
The FreeAgent theater comes with simple fold out set up guide and a software disc containing Windows-only software. The FreeAgent Theater software lets you manage the different FreeAgent Go drives you may be using with the FreeAgent Theater. It also enables you to easily sync your media files on to a FreeAgent Go Drive, automatically or manually. The software is straightforward and easy to use. However, Mac users are out of luck. Also, even though the device supports VOB files from DVDs, the system does not come with DVD ripping software, so you’ll be left to your own resourcefulness if you want to transfer the contents of a DVD on to the FreeAgent Theater.

Interface:
The interface is clean and very easy to use. It is designed much like other Media Center software, though not quite as sleek as something like Windows Media Center. Even novice users will be able to get up and running with the interface right away.

Video Quality:
The device has the ability to playback HD videos up to 720p/1080i via upscaling. In practice, video files and photos – especially HD video, looked good on my 42″ 720P Samsung Plasma. We played back a 720P AVI file that had been filmed on a digital camera and also tested a HD DIVX movie file. Both played back without a hitch and were pleasant to watch on screen. Photos looked good on screen as well. The FreeAgent Theater will automatically turn your photos into a slideshow.

You can connect the FreeAgent Theater to your TV via Composite, S-video, or Component video connections, and for audio – the FreeAgent Theater provides Stereo, and coaxial S/PDIF connections. AV Cables are included to connect the FreeAgent Theater to your TV. However, if you have an HDTV – you’re gonna want to use component cables if you really want to experience the best image possible.

Conclusion:
Another notable feature of the FreeAgent Theater to its credit, is that it can connect to other drives via a USB connection. However, one aspect of this system that does concern us is that while the FreeAgent Go Hard drives do have a solid shelf life, eventually the FreeAgent Go hard drives will be updated with new models. So our question is, what will happen when you want to buy additional hard drives to use with the FreeAgent Theater for docking? We hope that Seagate has the foresight to make future hard drive models compatible with the system as well.

The FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player delivers an easy to use home theater experience for those who want to easily playback their multimedia files on their Televisions. It’s a great affordable alternative to complex media center PCs and other wireless solutions. The device is easy to set up and to use, and it also is conveniently portable. Unfortunately we’re disappointed in the lack of Mac support and we long for at-least a native resolution of 720p and an HDMI port so that users could really appreciate the advantages of bringing their multimedia files on to the big HDTV screen in their living room. That said, we imagine that the FreeAgent Theater will be popular with pack rats who have a lot of saved and downloaded media that they’d like to unlock off of their PCs and experience on the big screen. Also, in a way, the FreeAgent Theater is the answer to a modern day projector. Thus, it should also be popular with families who want to easily share and present movies, photos, etc without too much expense and complication involved. The FreeAGent Theater HD Media Player retails for $129.99 without a FreeAgent Go hard drive. Packages with a 250GB drive and a complimenting FreeAgent Go dock are available for $229.99 and a version with a 500GB hard drive retails for $279.99 .

The good:
Very easy to use, Solid amounts of files supported including Divx support, can play off ripped DVD files, portable, good video quality, good user interface

The Bad:
Software not available for Mac, would have liked to see HDMI included.

Update 03/09/09: While the FreeAgent Theater does not support MOV formats out-of-the-box, third-party software is available to convert MOV (H.264) video to either MPEG-2, Xvid or DivX format which can then be viewed using FreeAgent Theater. The FreeAgent Theater media player also supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, and DIVX files with video resolutions for NTSC, PAL and HD up to 1080i and even provides support for subtitles.

Update 03/17/09: It turns out that Mac users are not totally left out in the cold if they want to use the FreeAgent Theater. If someone wants to use their Mac with the FreeAgent Theater – they must connect a hard drive to it that is a FAT 32 formatted drive. In which case they could connect an external hard drive via the USB port on the FreeAgent Theater, or they could reformat a FreeAGent Go drive to Fat32 and then be able to use their Mac to drag and drop files on to it.

With its colorful urban decorations, the Women’s Audio Couture Ghetto Blaster Bag By Loop NYC looks like the funkiest boombox bag you could ever have.  The best part is that it actually does emit sound. There are two working speakers with MP3 connections for you to input an audio source.  The bag alone is pretty awesome and features a cotton twill body, interior zip pockets, all over graffiti design, and nice big handles to schlep it all around town.  This is definitely the modern day version of the boombox…now only if I could remember how to break dance without twisting my ankle…. The Audio Couture Ghetto Blaster Bag from Loop NYC retails for $49.99

I never really considered anything made by Coby all that great, but once in awhile they do release something that is a little bit different than its counterparts, that doesn’t appear to be a total clone. The Coby MP565 Clip MP3 Player with LCD Display looks almost like a clothespin rather than an MP3 player. It’s a cute little compact and convenient way to take your music with you and it even has a decent set of features. It supports MP3 and WMA files, shuffle playback, and has a LCD display with a 7-color backlight. It comes in black and silver and both have a 1GB capacity. The black one however comes in 2GB as well.  It can be found at Amazon, J&R, and Home Depot (strange!) starting at $19 bucks and up.

The Sonos Multi-Room Music Digital Player system is for people who love music. Not just like music – LOVE music. It is meant to fill your home with it no matter where you go. In the living room, kitchen, bedroom, or den. Just about anywhere you might be at a given moment – you can have access to your entire media library.  The Sonos gives you the freedom to stream not only your media files but internet radio or local radio channels.

Setup:
When we first received the Sonos we almost passed out by how many boxes there where. Not that I’m put off by the quantity of boxes, but I certainly had in the back of mind that this was not going to be easy to setup. However I was wrong! The unpacking took me longer than actually setting the Sonos up. We got a chance to review the Sonos Speaker Bundle 150 as well as some extras which comprised of the Wireless Controller, Zoneplayer 120, Zoneplayer 90, 2 Sonos Loudspeakers, Sonos Zonebridge, and a cradle for the controller. Like I said – that is a lot of boxes. Once unpacked it may seem a bit overwhelming as to where you should put all these pieces. The first thing I did was decide where I would put the Zoneplayer 120 along with the speakers. Granted I don’t live in a huge luxurious home so it took some finagling to decide where I would put and keep the speakers since the Zoneplayer 120 does need to be connected to a router or modem via ethernet. So that was a bit tricky. Luckily, all the components of the system have a streamlined design that any Mac owner would appreciate. They blend into your home without looking like an eyesore. The ethernet cables also have a flat design to make it easy to blend on to walls for decent wire maintenance. Another nice feature is that both the Zoneplayer 90 and Sonos Zonebridge are both wireless so they can be placed anywhere in your home so that you can really complete that experience of having a fully amplified musical abode.

Installation:
After placing the Zoneplayers were I wanted to them to be, the next logical step was to install the software. I have an iMac and the installation was done in 10 minutes. You follow the onscreen prompts and the devices are picked up around your home. You’ll have to repeat the steps to have the computer recognize the other Zoneplayers scattered about but with just the press of a button on each player the software picks it up and installs it. You can label each player for the area its in. Lets say the Zoneplayer 90 is in the living room – so you can label it living room etc… this will allow you to control that device when you are in the room or not by giving it a name associated with its location. Once the devices were picked up it was time to import my MP3s….that is where I hit a snag. Everything was going too perfectly! I repeatedly kept coming across the same error over and over about how my files couldn’t be imported followed by the file name. After spending some time on the Sonos Support forum I downloaded the newest version of the software and tried again….Still no luck. So again…I headed over to the forum and it seemed to be only a problem with those who have Mac computers and not so much with a PC. After additional digging, I found a suggestion to change my file sharing settings and modify my file name of the location of where my MP3’s were coming from….it was becoming a big hassle.  Finally, finally after changing just one more permission under the Security Settings and then Firewall settings I was able to access my files. This was after three hours. I was a bit upset that this wasn’t something that was mentioned in the manual or easily accessible on the forums unless you dug through and found it.
However setting up the radio functionality was a lot easier. It took 2 seconds, it asked you where you reside and then a whole list of stations pops up for you to listen to. Of course there is the ability to preset the stations you love. I was finally ready to begin my Sonos experience.

Interface:
The Sonos controller is just like it’s other components sleekly designed and easy to use. Everything is very visual and doesn’t require a graduate degree in engineering to figure it out. The right side of the device resembles a iPod scroll wheel to obviously scroll through the menu options or songs available on the system. Its big bright LCD screen makes it easy on the eyes as you scroll through your options.
The first place I wanted to play my music was in the kitchen. Nothing gets you in the mood to make a meal like a little Andre Boccelli. I selected kitchen and the Zoneplayer I set up in there started to play music through some desktop speakers I connected to it. Standing in that room I gave the controller over to my co-editor who was itching to listen to a little Alanis and she started her Zoneplayer in the living room. So at one moment we had different music playing in two different parts of the apartment. In a smaller space than an average home, music from one room can over power the other room. So be careful when you set it up, that you take into account sound absorption so that you don’t irritate another Sonos listener.
When the controller was given back to me I decided I wanted all the rooms to listen to my fave song that just came on and very easily I was able to make that happen by selecting all the Zoneplayers to play the same song. The controls were super easy to navigate and a nice new feature is that you can now control it from your iPhone or iPod Touch via a free Sonos app. So there is no need for me to keep passing the Controller around and around to operate the system. Once the app is downloaded onto your iPhone you can easily do all the same functions. So it’s like having another controller in the room without having to pay extra for it. Again the interface is sleek and extremely easy and with the ability to see all the music and FM stations available on your system to control.

Conclusion:
The Sonos Multi-Room Music Digital Player is perfect for those who have large homes and want the ability to have music playing in random parts of your home that suits your own personal taste. No more telling mom or dad to shut off Frank Sinatra or vice a versa about your loud heavy metal. It’s also perfect for businesses like restaurants and spas that want to give customers a more personal experience as well as save money with unnecessary and costly wiring for other complex systems that do the same thing but on a different scale. I was extremely happy with my time with the Sonos and except for that little snafu with importing my MP3 library, it was overall a great experience. However I would have liked if the Zoneplayers did have a built in speaker so that you had the option to not attach external ones. This takes up space that sometimes you just don’t have, as well as creating more visible wires.
Of course such a luxury music experience doesn’t come cheap, the Sonos BU150 Multiroom Music System bundle typically starts at $999 and up. But sometimes the cost of music is priceless.

The Good: Very user-friendly. Excellent design concept and software interface. Perfect for large homes or businesses looking to add a personal touch. Liked the iPhone app a lot, saves money on having to buy additional controllers.

The Bad: Would have liked to have had a bigger troubleshooting section in the manual for possible Mac problems importing your MP3 library. You have to attach speakers to every Zoneplayer to hear music, would have liked built-in speakers. A bit pricey but you get what you pay for.

Read on to discover the best tech of the Greener Products Expo that will all  help you live a greener and more fulfilling life. Did we say fulfilling? Well, maybe that is stretching it – but some of these products will make definitely you feel better about yourself and/or your wallet.

The SolarGorilla charger is so powerful, that it’s able to charge most notebooks as well as most Mp3 players, cell phones, GPS systems and handheld video game consoles. It comes with a 20V power socket as well as a 5V USB port and a Neoprene case to carry it in. It’s also portable with a fold-up design that has traveling in mind. Sure, there are plenty of solar chargers out there, but most are only powerful enough to charge a cell phone or Mp3 player, but the ability to power a laptop as well makes the SolarGorilla stand out. It retails for $249.95.

When I think of recycling, I think of a confusing mess. The Mode Premium All-in-one Recycling Center aims to change all that by keeping all your recycles in a compact and organized fashion. The Premium All-In-One Recycling Center hold up to 3 times more than a typical bin by utilizing a compaction system that crushes aluminum cans and 8 oz to 2 liter plastic bottles and jugs. It also has a paper bin for reducing kitchen clutter by organizing all your recyclable materials into one place. Mode Premium All-in-one Recycling Center retails for $299.9

This Kiwi Gas Saving device is designed to plug into your diagnostic port (OBDII) near your steering column. Kiwi helps assess how much fuel your using and it helps you figure out how to reduce that amount. Kiwi kind of works like a game, encouraging you to increase your gas mileage with ultimate goal being to obtain the highest Kiwi Score – which will ultimately save you lots of gas money too. “Daily, Kiwi will show you how much money on gas you saved compared to the last trip you saved with Kiwi installed. Over time, you can keep track of hundreds of dollars saved throughout the year.” The Kiwi Gas Saving Device retails for $289.

Many people don’t realize how posionus food waste is too the environment and that it creates greenhouse emissions. The Insinkerator might look intimidating, and it certainly is an intimidating tool for grinding up food waste. The device claims to be a lot quieter then a standard disposer and it makes the process of consolidating food waste in to energy or fertilizer a lot easier. There are even some places over seas that use their food waste to produce fuel.

99% of Perf Go Green’s PerfPower Eco-Alkaline Batteries are made of Biodegradable materials and they contain no harmful lead or mercury. When it’s time to recycle these batteries, the company even provides you with everything you need to send the batteries back to them. This way they can recycle the batteries. Even the batteries’ packaging material is made from recycled materials. The end result is great because not only are you not poisoning a landfill with batteries, but you’re also recycling these batteries so that they can be used again. Perf Go Green also offers an assortment of other environmentally friendly products such as trash and litter bags.

Be Green offers you several unique ways to “give the gift of green”. For every BeGreen PodDaisy Flower Card , Chili Pepper, or Forget Me Nots you purchase, a native tree is planted in an ecosystem restoration project in the United States. Each gift retails for $9.95 to $12.95. So where does the tech aspect play in to this? “An average tree will absorb more than 650 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) over its lifetime — that’s equal to the amount produced by driving about 740 miles.” If you look at it that way, that tree you just helped plant can help offset some of the damage we do everyday by just driving in a car.

Call2Recycle offers you a convenient way to recycle your old cell phones, recharge batteries or cordless electronic products. So before you think of dumping that old battery out, do the planet a favor and head over to their site and search for locations near you. Their drop-offs can be found at many popular retail locations like Best Buy, CVS or RadioShack.

No this is not another version of the sonic boom alarm clock, instead this is the Soundbomb MP3 speaker. Obviously shaped as a a bomb, just attach your MP3 player to it via the aux jack and you have the full illusion of a bomb that is about to go off. There is no pricing or any other details available at the moment from the manufacturer Blue Sky Designs but expect it to be available soon.

Well we certainly have seen alot of earbuds in our day but this certainly takes the cake for awhile. If you thought the giant earbud speakers were impressive, then you’ll love this. This little earbud keychain MP3 speaker may not be practical at all but it will certainly get you alot of attention. Just plug it in to your MP3 player and you’ll have a live working speaker. When done, attach it to your keys. I can’t imagine how good the sound is from this thing especially considering the size. No pricing is available from the manufacturer Bluw but I assume it will be available soon. I mean just look at it?! How could it not be.

Head on over to Chip Chicklets to see more kid oriented coverage from Toy Fair ’09.