surprisingly big sound for a shockingly low price

I’m not much of a techie, and one of the reasons is that I don’t have the patience to be a shopper. Going into stores to look at new products and have chats with sales people is just not my thing.

However, occasionally I will stumble onto a cool tech gadget purely by accident, and I am willing to investigate items which are free or nearly free because of affluence or carelessness. The other day at a thrift store I saw an odd little cylindrical thingamabob which appeared to be a part of something but I knew not what. It had a standard USB charging port on it, and a standard speaker jack, as well as a small switch which caused a light to go on when I flicked it. I kept looking at it and fiddling with it, and saw that it unscrewed in the middle, which cause a little accordion pleat in the middle to expand its length.

The price? 25 cents. Who could resist? I had already gotten my 25 cents worth just looking at it, so I bought it and took it home. Googling “ihome” (the name on the device, I learned that it is a surprisingly powerful little speaker.

Product Name: iHM60 Speaker System

Marketing Information: Sound Beyond Size! The iHM60 is the perfect speaker for your iPod, iPhone, laptop or any MP3 player. The compact speaker extends for surprisingly big sound that must be heard to be believed. Features a built-in rechargeable battery, vacuum bass expansion, USB charging, and comes with a protective carrying case.

Well, I didn’t get the protective carrying case, but for a quarter I can’t be picky.

Here it is, playing a random selection from my seemingly endless collection of the more than 900 Doowops I have accumulated.

To give perspective, the little elephant on the left is less than an inch long, and the 5 Kroner coin is not much bigger.

It is actually useful, because until now I have only used the mp3 player in my car. (I hate headphones and earbuds.)

Stumbling onto something like that purely by accident makes me wonder what else I’m missing.