Last summer, I ran across a deal on the Creative TravelSound MP3 portable speaker system and, on an impulse, I bought one. It arrived via UPS a few days later, and I promptly set the box aside. Over the next few months, I took a few short trips, but never felt the motivation to throw this little unit into my traveling bag.
For this week’s trip to Redmond, I decided to give these little speakers a shot. I had read a lot of reviews before clicking the Buy button, and the consensus was overwhelmingly positive, but I was still skeptical. I used the short cable (included) to connect the headphone output of my MP3 player to the speaker’s inputs and cranked it up. What a treat! The sound is excellent for such a small package. It’s not going to replace my 5.1 surround system, but it’s more than good enough for traveling, and I’m finally able to listen to a little music while I catch up on e-mail in a hotel room instead of settling for whatever happens to be on TV. It has 32MB of flash memory as well, so it can hold a few songs and work without an external sound source. It also records voice, so I could use it for interviews if necessary.
These speakers are designed to run on 4 AA batteries, and Creative claims that they’ll play for 35 hours when they’re plugged into an external sound source. I decided not to buy the external power supply, because I don’t want to have to carry yet another AC adapter in my travel bag. Surprise! The adapter for my iRiver H120 music player works perfectly with these speakers, and it’s already in my bag. Connect power to the speakers for playback, and then switch the cable to the H120 to recharge. Perfect.
At nearly $90 through Amazon.com, this isn’t a bargain, but if you spend a lot of time on the road, you might be willing to pay the price. I paid roughly half that price, which was great for this unit. If all you want is playback, look at the Creative TravelSound 200, which appears to be the same speaker unit minus the MP3 player and voice recorder. At $42 with free shipping, I’d recommend it for any frequent traveler with a music player.
Ed Bott 