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JBL Time Machine Alarm Clock/Dock for iPod - White | List Price: $249.99
Discount Price: $184.97
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Brand: Harman
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Wake up to favorite songs stored on your iPod--also includes radio and dual alarm
- Large backlit LCD is easy to read, making menu navigation a snap
- O-shaped, two-way speaker design with 6 watts of power per channel
- Upward-firing tweeter and horizontal low and midrange transducers provide a 360-degree sound field
- Compatibility: iPod nano (1G and 2G), iPod mini, 3G iPod, 4G iPod with click wheel, iPod Color, iPod Video
Works Quite Well with iPod Classic [Posted on 2008-01-16]
I originally bought this product for use with a 4th Generation iPod (w/ "click wheel" but one update before the iPod Photo), with which it worked perfectly. However I recently bought an iPod Classic (Silver, 80GB, in case you were wondering) to replace that 4th Gen, and after reading the reviews here I was concerned that I may experience the same "jumps to the first song" issue reported by 5th Gen users.
I'm happy to report, however, that the On Time works with the iPod Classic (the 6th Gen.) without any problems. In fact, it works a little better than it did with the 4th Gen. - With the 4th Gen if I played an album at night as I was falling asleep the alarm would revert to the first song in my library. With the Classic, it reverts to the first song in the album, provided you let the album play to the end (at least in Coverflow, I haven't tried it elsewhere).
Otherwise the sound, interface, design, and function of the product are all excellent, and for once I have nothing to complain about ( a rarity in consumer electronics!).
This is my Last JBL Purchase Ever!! [Posted on 2008-01-29]
I am extremely disappointed with this product. For the price I would expect much better quality, engineering and customer support. I bought this unit in the summer of 2007 a full 8 months after the iPod 6g video units were on the market. The 80 gig iPod 6g cannot be set back to use version 1.0 of the ipod software (JBL's recommended fix) It appears that JBL engineers built their interface using a very old iPod API the unit will only work as advertised with very old iPods that have never had their software updated.
Apple changed their API a long time ago and the change to specs was well documented, all of the other iPod clock radios don't seem to have the problem with the Apple API, the JBL engineers didn't do their job correctly, JBL continues to sell a product advertising features that they know will not work with upgraded iPods and especially not with new 80 gig 6g ipods and their customer service will not do anything to restore their name with their customers. I look at their actions as Lying and I will never buy anything again from a company that does not tell the truth, they have lied to me to take my money with a product that does not function as an iPod clock radio. $200 is way too much money for a clock radio with a bad FM radio and no ability to use iPod to wake to. Playing one song every time doesn't count.
JBL are you listening?????
Great looking design and sound, some flaws [Posted on 2008-01-31]
I have had this product for over 18 months. While it has served me well, it does have some flaws.
Pros:
* I love the shape of the device, even though it is a bit clunky for an alarm. Friends who have seen it can't seem to stop envying it.
* The sound quality is terrific for the price and size. I used the ONTIME at a noisy party with over ten people; everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the music.
* Although others have complained about the interface complexity, I found it relatively easy to set up and use.
Cons:
* The screen for time display is too small. I have excellent vision and don't wear glasses, yet have trouble reading the time in the middle of the night from a short distance.
* The alarm volume at the lowest setting is too loud and it escalates upwards very quickly.
* Synchronizing the time with a local radio station doesn't always work - sometimes the unit keeps hunting for a station. In fact, I have never had much luck getting the radio to play well on this unit, so it may be that I get poor reception indoors.
* This is a big one: after 18 months of moderate use (I took out the iPod only a handful of times since I have another iPod I use when I am mobile), the dock connector for the iPod broke. JBL tech support told me there is no way to fix it. Although I can still connect an iPod using an external connector, it is not as elegant and means that the iPod will not charge while being used with this unit.
In summary, I am glad I bought this unit, but really bummed that the dock connector broke, making it hard to use now.
Incredible sound quality, Major Malfunctions [Posted on 2008-05-13]
CONS:
I've owned this product for a bit over a year now and since day 1 it's had major flaws. First off it has no remote control function, which for the price should have been included. The screen is hard to see at an angle, also a major design flaw. The first time it went off I noticed that it always played the same song, easilly reemedied without the recommended firmware downgrade. I simply renamed my song of choice as being performed by ((ALARM)). The perentheses move it straight to the top of front of the list. Within weeks I had my first freeze up which made me late for work cause my alarm didn't go off. A few months ago I was late to work every day in a week because it stopped turning my ipod ON!!!! When the alarm goes off the ipod flashes on and then shuts off. I've never managed to dock my ipod to my PC through this thing, although JBL's owners manuall didn't seem to confident that it could.
PROS:
It looks sexy, it feels well built and solid. The sound quality is amazing. I love that it progressively turns the volume up on music when you can get the alarm to work. The snooze button is a speaker on top of the unit which I've always found neat. It's amazing how much bass and volume this thing can put out.
Summary: Don't buy it, I only use it as a very sexy boombox anymore and that is totally not worth the money they're asking. I wish this really were a time machine so I could go back in time everytime it made me late for work, or better yet so I could get my money back.
Looks cool, but not very functional... [Posted on 2008-06-18]
This product is incredibly annoying! The speakers make ugly crackling noises when they're not playing music. They'll be silent for hours, and then, at 3 in the morning: EEE-EEEE-CHHHHHH-ACKKKKK. Very startling, and very very annoying. I generally keep it unplugged so it doesn't make these noises in the middle of the night-- which renders it quite useless for using as an alarm clock.
Also, I have an iPod 5G, and can never wake up to the playlist I want to wake up to. I've tried and tried to set it to the song I want it to play, but it ALWAYS moves back to my main song list and plays one randomly. I'm told that 3G iPods work perfectly with this speaker system, but that doesn't exactly help me...
The two stars are pretty much just because the thing looks cool on my bedroom table.
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