Turn, Tap, Touch and Talk Your Way Through Internet Radio

By Jason Epstein

Former Nokia and Skype product designer, Duncan Lamb, has launched fledgling San Francisco startup Aether with the goal of integrating hardware and software to deliver a simple music listening experience. Branded as a ‘thinking player’, Cone is a new audio device that learns your likes and dislikes to a scary degree (though the company promises never to use data to serve anyone else but the customer’s benefit). It then plays back audio from streaming music services, Internet radio stations and podcasts based on its knowledge of your tastes.

The lack of a screen can be seen either as a big plus (simplification to the nth degree) or a big drawback (as users tend to be comforted by visual controls). Instead, Cone has voice recognition and a simple click wheel control scheme: Turn and it’ll automatically play what you enjoy; tap the center and it’ll pause; press the center button, then tell Cone what genre, artists or song you want to hear and it’ll obey; turn the dial again and it’ll play something random.

Cone will be available in two color schemes. The black and copper version looks like a conical Duracell battery, while the classic white and gray looks like it was torn straight from the Apple assembly line. Its minimalistic front-side center button and dial system design is rounded out with top-mounted + and – volume buttons, and a rear-mounted on/off switch and 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Designed to fit just about anywhere, the 6.3 H x 6.3 W x 6 L, 2.9 lb. Cone will sell for $399. The first batch will be ready for shipment in early Summer 2014. To use it you’ll need a device running iOS 7+ or Mac OSX 10.9+ “Mavericks.” It’s not yet clear which specific music services will be compatible with Cone, but you will have the ability to play music from your iPhone or Mac.

Let’s get spec-tacular for a moment: Cone features a fully digital I2S 2.1 channel 20w audio amplifier, 3” woofer plus dual tweeter design, a built-in rechargeable Li-on battery and dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n capability with up to 8 hours of continuous playback.

It’s an innovative design and even more inventive idea for hands-off music lovers, but we’ve gotta ask: Does it work with the iPad as well? How’s the sound quality? WHERE IS THE REMOTE CONTROL? It seems like the perfect device to bring to a secluded outdoor spot, oh, except it only operates in a Wifi environment. Would it be too difficult to include a port for iPod or iPhone insertion, so Cone could be used as a regular speaker in case there are no nearby hot-spots? And one last question…what if you can’t think of the name of a song and you want to hear it. Can Cone read your mind too?

via Aether/Andres Sabat

Time will tell if users desire chic, high-end, hands-off, Internet- and Wifi-dependent devices like these to sate their appetites for current and immediate mood-serving music. If not, maybe cassettes will make a comeback.

Reserve your Cone here.