Many gadgets are said to be ‘smart’ these days – phones, watches, TVs, music players and even cars. But are they really smart? The smartphone for example, does it really know what mood you’re in to determine whether to accept that call or not? What about the smartwatch – does it really know the best time to bug you with that wake up alarm?
OK, so we’re talking about idealism right now and most smart technology doesn’t deliver – until now. The Aether Cone wireless music player is what you call smart device and more than just a speaker. Learning and intuition are skills that take the average man years to develop during childhood but for the Aether Cone it’s a much faster process. For the discerning gent that wants a thinking music player, the Aether Cone is the device that learns what you like and plays what you love.
It’s based on two key principles: voice recognition learning software that grows in knowledge with every song you play and a huge content platform that is powered by on-demand streaming music service Rdio which provides access to more than 30 million songs.
The device works on a simple premise – you simply tell the music player which song or artist you want to hear and the magic starts. Soon the song or artist you’ve just mentioned starts to play. Turn the dial on the front of the speaker a little to keep playing the song you want or give it a bigger turn to hear something similar. Failing that, give the dial a big spin to hear something totally different. The clever bit here is the music player notes your likes and dislikes along with the time and day to build a musical diary of your listening habits. This all goes into what it’ll play for you later on.
Voice recognition has always been a tricky one due to accents but these aren’t a problem either, though currently it’s English language only but with plans to expand later. If talking to it is too much you can easily use your iOS device to control it remotely. Soon it’ll know exactly what you want to hear on a Monday morning to ease you into the week or what to play on a Friday night to get you ready for the fun ahead.
Looks wise, it’s a beauty. Cone-shaped as the name suggests, it’s all sleek lines and premium flush finishes in either black and copper or white and silver. It makes a great addition to the desk but has the wireless portability of 8 hours playback on one full charge as well. Elysium Magazine is definitely impressed – it’s one for the Christmas lists and beyond. For more details visit aether.com
£349 / Exclusively from selfridges.com