IDog - Speaker Review`

The iDog by Hasbro is a fun toy for playing music out of your portable device, but the fun lights and colors aren't worth the many areas where the iDog falters.

Let's start with the positives of the iDog. Well, it is one of the first of its kind in speakers. I have not yet seen a speaker that is in the shape of a dog and that glows on its face in the same beat as the music. The speaker can sit next to any source of music and "dance" along with it because of its built in microphone. The iDog can also know what type of music it is playing. If it is playing a certain kind of music, the outer ring of the iDog's color circle will change color.

Now, the negatives of the iDog are very obvious. First of all, it is not very portable. If it could be broken down, it would be much easer to carry around with you. There is also it's lack of battery life. The iDog takes two double A batteries. These batteries will last for only about 6 hours of music before they have to be changed. This makes the iDog more of a hassle than a fun toy. Then there is the lack of volume coming from the speakers of the iDog. The iDog doesn't have a built in colume control dial, so you have to control the volume of your music through the machine that the music is on. This is a bit of a hassle, considering to change the volume on an iPod, you have to take it off hold, return to the "Now Playing" song, and turn the click wheel. Though this seems like it only takes a little while, it will get old after you have to keep changing the volume after every song. The iDog doesn't equalize the volume of your music, so you are constantly changing the volume. Even in the end, with the volume of the iPod pushed too its stops, there are some quieter songs you can't hear. They may have fixed this in the new iDog AMP'D, but it is something that people like me shouldn't have to deal with. I don't want to buy another iDog! Another thing is that the iDog draws a ton of power from the music player even though it has double A batteries. It seems like the batteries control the lights, but the sound is played with power from your portable music player. The iDog can drain the battery of an iPod Classic in about 3 hours of continuous play. This is almost twice as fast as the drainage from the regular iPod headphones.

This is a fun product, but is more of a hassle then a fun toy. Your kids will constantly be asking you to change batteries, sometimes even twice a day. It is not portable, and is very bulky and seems like it is fragile. I would rate this product a 3 our of 10. If you are going to get one, make sure that your child is above the age of 5 and has a music player. Contrary to popular belief, the iDog can only play a few MIDI songs.