Design Crit » belkin http://design-crit.com/blog thoughts from a design point of view Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:02:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 ID Annual – Belkin TuneStudio http://design-crit.com/blog/2008/06/29/id-annual-belkin-tunestudio/ http://design-crit.com/blog/2008/06/29/id-annual-belkin-tunestudio/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:52:25 +0000 Max http://design-crit.com/blog/?p=103 Continue reading →]]>

What i like best about this is that the designers didn’t try to “celebrate” the ipod. What do I mean by that? They kept it low profile within the unit. Most devices will have your ipod waving like a flag shouting, “hey look at me, I’m an ipod stuck into this box!” For this kind of consumer, dj’s and musicians, its a great way to break both your $300 ipod and $300 mixer.

Here’s my dilemma about this product and its more about positioning and target consumers than design, which I think is right on. Here’s what the Belkin site says. “Whether you are a novice podcaster or an experienced musician, TuneStudio integrates the iPod with a full-featured, four-channel mixer, making it easy for you to create high-quality recordings.” This thing sells for $399 from Belkin. I just paid the same for this recorder from Olympus.

I’m a musician and definitely find the Belkin product really cool, BUT, I already have a mixing board, and nowadays, they come with lots of options to get your files to a PC. I bought the Olympus for recording rehearsals because of it’s ultra portability…built in mics, records straight to mp3, great battery life. The Belkin is small enough to be portable, but then I’m not sure if its the best portable option available. And its really not that portable, because it doesn’t run on batteries and you still need to bring mics. This won’t replace my mixing boards either as it doesnt have enough inputs to handle what I need. Maybe even more important, if this is a recorder…most on the fly recording boards either plug into a PC and syncs with associated software to control levels of each channel on screen. I’m not sure if this can do that…Belkin, why don’t you send me one to play with!

I do know of local radio DJ that mentioned to me that he would like a two track system to do simple voice overs onto a music tracks, but ultimately, he just wants software so he can control the fade and mix. I do like the design, but at $399, I’m not sure what audience will snap this up, maybe the podcaster more so than the experienced musician.

]]> http://design-crit.com/blog/2008/06/29/id-annual-belkin-tunestudio/feed/ 1 ID Annual – Belkin Cable Dome http://design-crit.com/blog/2008/06/21/id-annual-belkin-cable-dome/ http://design-crit.com/blog/2008/06/21/id-annual-belkin-cable-dome/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:49:27 +0000 Max http://design-crit.com/blog/?p=95 Continue reading →]]>
Belkin has been producing some really nice products lately. This one is probably not one of my favorites and makes me wonder what else was entered in the category. I’m sure it works well, but for example, to make this product work WITHOUT screws or “heavy” double stick would have been a real trick and worth the Distinction award.

Their Power series is nice as well a lots of other products they produce.

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