Retro iPod Dock: Crosley's iJuke
It looks like a jukebox, but hides an iPod dock. Featuring some neat lighting and classic style, Crosley’s iJuke also doesn’t take up much space on a counter, and adds a touch of classic retro feeling to a room.
But the somewhat-tepid speakers, the lack of any interesting functionality, plus the slightly cheap-seeming construction, mar the kistchy fun. It will work with the iPhone (in Airplane mode for best results), and will both charge and play music from any iPod with the universal dock connector. The iJuke also offers an auxiliary line-in to support other audio sources, and speaker outputs as well. The included remote is a nice addition, and it works fairly well, and even sits nicely in the iJuke’s holder.
In other words, it’s an iPod dock- one that kids will enjoy, with flashing lights and reasonably accurate details- but one that could have been more. Made for iPhone support, a clock, wireless or ethernet networking, a radio, a screen for playlists that would make it more like a real jukebox… anything to make it stand out apart from appearance. At $200 list, but widely ranging in price between vendors, Crosley has created a nice bridge between classic jukeboxes and modern iPod listeners- it’s too bad that it doesn’t quite hit all of the right notes.
Available online, and in some stores. Unit tested was the CR1701A, a slight update to the original CR17.
