Let's face it: as a category iPod speakers are a pretty uninspired lot. Their plastic, boxy, and sometimes downright awful industrial design flies in the face of the iPod's masterful aesthetic and intuitive ergonomics. Until now, that is. Bowers & Wilkins' curvaceous Zeppelin iPod speaker is as every bit as sophisticated as Apple's iconic player. Best of all, the Zeppelin isn't all show--its detailed sound largely lives up to B&W's high-end reputation (at least when we played acoustic music). So sure, it's one of the most expensive iPod speakers you can buy, but it may well be worth it, especially if you fall in love with the Zeppelin's looks.

Those who follow gadgets know that Apple didn't invent portable digital video; companies such as Archos, Creative, and iRiver have produced good if not stellar products that play back video--and on larger screens with better battery life. But if Apple can do for video what it has done for audio--that is, deliver a hardware/software ecosystem that offers a decent choice of content and makes it easy to get video on to the iPod--then this device, like it or not, will be remembered as the one that started the portable digital video revolution.

Since the introduction of portable music players, consumers haven't been given many options in the realm of cutting-edge headphone technology. Sure, there are high-end vs. low-end debates, meticulously designed in-ear bud and wraparound designs, and even a recent influx of high-definition studio monitor headphones. However, we've seen relatively few portable wireless stereo headsets, forcing us to contend with a mess of restrictive and tangle-prone cords. This is no longer an issue for Ten Technology and its NaviPlay Bluetooth stereo headset kit for Apple iPods. The NaviPlay won the Best of Show Award at this year's Macworld Expo in San Francisco and with good cause--it performs superbly. Of course, this comes at a price, as the NaviPlay will set you back $200.

At Apple's September 12 media event, Steve Jobs jumped right into introducing an updated fifth-generation iPod. Not a tremendous surprise here, as we believed the sixth-generation "true video iPod" would not be announced until later in the year or even early in 2007. Underneath the familiar and still-scratch-prone polycarbonate and metal skin of the updated iPod (a.k.a. the 5.5 generation, or 5.5G) lies a more mature iPod, many steps wiser and more able than its one-year-old predecessor. The iPod gains many incremental improvements, including a brighter screen and better video battery life, but probably the most appealing aspect is the tantalizing price points of $249 for the 30GB version and $349 for the huge 80GB version (available in both white and black). While it may still not fully address the needs of a new population of iTunes movie watchers, the updated iPod is the best one to date.

The fourth-generation iPod isn't significantly smaller than its predecessor, nor is it clad in flashy colors, as rumors would have it. Apple, however, has made marked evolutionary improvements to the iconic digital audio player. The adoption of the intuitive Click Wheel (as seen on the Mini), the vastly improved battery life, and a few key firmware enhancements are simply the icing on the cake. The real news here is the iPod's lower price: $299 and $399 for the 20GB and 40GB versions, respectively. Do these ingredients add up to a perfect iPod?

One of the major drawbacks of most home iPod speaker systems is that the remote control that comes with the unit offers only limited control of your iPod. You stick the iPod in the speaker's dock and you can do little more than skip forward and back through tracks (and possibly playlists), raise and lower the volume, and pause and play audio. If you're lucky, the speaker has a display that's big enough for you to be able see what track is playing from more than a few feet away. Most don't, as they rely on the iPod's screen to display the relevant track and navigation info. Which brings us to George, the high-end iPod music system from start-up Chestnut Hill Sound. The George solves the interface problem in much the same way that Sonos does for media-streaming devices: it builds a remote into the system that essentially mirrors the display of the iPod. But the smart usability solution will cost you a pretty penny--the George retails for $500. That's a lot, to be sure, but--when you consider that it now includes the once optional external remote charger--it represents $100 savings off the George's original list price.

There are plenty of cable kits out there that let you connect your Apple iPod to your car stereo system, but you still have to fumble with the iPod to select songs and playlists, a somewhat dangerous task while navigating through traffic. Harman Kardon's Drive + Play ($199.95), however, gives you the freedom to take full advantage of your iPod's user interface without risking life and limb.

Just when you thought Apple's standard iPod was overly saturating the public consciousness, Steve Jobs and company pull another beauty from the company's bushel. The Apple iPod Nano sets new standards for gadget design and stretches the boundaries of technology. It's the world's first 4GB flash player, yet it's also one of the thinnest. Plus, it boasts a bright color screen that takes advantage of the bigger iPod's photo capabilities, though be aware that the Nano's screen scratches easily. Throw in some ancillary improvements, and you have not only the latest MP3 player phenom but a glance into the future. The flash-based Nano (the name is curiously similar to the Creative Zen Nano Plus's) comes in classic white or black and three capacities: 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB at $149, $199 and $249, respectively. It also replaces the current popular iPod Mini line.

The Apple iPod Nano is a design wonder at 3.5 by 1.6 by 0.27 inches and 1.5 ounces. The last two numbers are key--the thing is really thin. As we've said, it looks much smaller in person than in photos, and it truly fits anywhere, comfortably and sometimes invisibly. We've been told that the iPod Nano is 62 percent smaller than the product it's replacing, the iPod Mini (see other Nano size comparisons). The Nano, in terms of MP3 design standards, changes everything. Now, the Creative Zen Micro looks fat, the iRiver H10 looks monstrous, and the Mini looks outdated. Of course, the others are microdrive-based players; the Nano is a flash-based player, the first to hit 4GB; a few companies came out with 2GB models earlier this year but priced them at much more than $200. The 4GB player holds about 1,000 songs or 25,000 photos, while the 2GB version holds about 500 tunes. The 1GB device, then, takes about 250 tracks.

Ever since the first Bluetooth headset for cell phones came out, plenty of folks have been eager to see the day when Bluetooth audio made the transition to stereo sound, so you could ditch that wire connected to your iPod--or other portable music device--and feel, well, a bit more liberated. That finally happened last year, and now several new Bluetooth stereo headphones are trickling their way onto the market. The only problem is, most of them don't sound all that good, which is why we were pretty excited to hear that Etymotic, which is known for its high-performance wired earbuds, was getting into the wireless game.