Griffin iMic Gets a Makeover
by Adrian Hanft, (5 comments)
It is amazing what good design can do for a product. Griffin Technology has a product called the iMic that is basically an external sound card. It is an excellent product (read my full review here), but it might as well been called the iSore. Not only was it ugly, it also had a confusing interface. By “interface” I mean it has one switch. You use the switch to change between using the iMic for a microphone or a speaker. When I bought my iMic I thought it was broken because when I plugged my microphone in I pushed the unmarked switch towards the mic icon. That is the only logical way it can go, right? As crazy as it seems, in order to use a microphone with the iMic, you have to push the switch towards the speaker icon. I wonder how many iMic’s were returned just because Griffin failed to put any thought into the only switch on the entire product.
Fortunately, the new design appears to correct the fatal design flaw. Also, it is now an object worthy of proudly sitting on your desk next to the rest of your Apple gear. There are so many great products trapped in ugly or non-functional shells. Hats off to Griffin for finally recognizing the value of good design.
Comments (5)
Ian said:
Ditto: I spent a good two hours trying to get my I-mic working with my Powerbook, a friend even came over and did all kinds of settings tweakings etc with the mac till we eventually pushed the button to the “speaker setting” and it worked. How absolutely stupid! (glad to see they’ve altered it in the new one)
Posted on February 20, 2006
Bennett said:
I understand that the last setup was bad, but is the rest of the design any better? I’m not sure it is all that beautiful now either. Griffin makes a lot of iPod accessories, but this is not really one of them. The songs will probably end up on your iPod but they could just as easily end up on someone’s cell phone, PSP or even burned to a CD. Is there any reason that this should be iPod white? It seems like the easy solution.
Posted on February 21, 2006
Adrian said:
Well, it is called an iMic, and they are obviously trying to design it like an “i” product by Apple. Whether that is right or wrong is up for debate, but white is the only obvious color choice. I do think it is beautiful, though. I like the circle shape with the flat bottom for the input. The switch is cleanly built flush into the side instead of the afterthought black switch. The symbols are replaced with small clean type. I like the flat top. I don’t know, it just looks right without anything extra or distracting. I like that, don’t you?
Posted on February 21, 2006
Bennett said:
From the picture, it just looks kind of cheap. Of course, no one really pulls off the white like Apple. Maybe it comes across better in real life. It does look clean and simply and that is good, but it doesn’t have much presence. It seems like it needs more of a base like the old one. If it is going to be a product that sits on you desk for an indefinite amount of time, then it should look like it has a place to sit. The new one looks more like a headphone splitter than a substantial product.
I think slapping an “i” on it (which I assume they did on the first version) is not a good idea. If you aren’t Apple and you put an “i” on something, it should somehow connect with the iPod. Am I off base on this one?
Posted on February 21, 2006
Adrian said:
“The new one looks more like a headphone splitter than a substantial product.”
Actually it probably is more similar to a headphone splitter than an iPod or some other “substantial” product. All it is is a sound card. It has a supporting role, so I don’t think it needs to have any major presence on your desk. I guess it is hard to tell from the picture, but in my imagination it was solid plastic like the iPod dock. I can tell you that the old one felt pretty hollow and flimsy.
I don’t think the “i” is only an iPod reference, but it is definitely Apple: iMac, iPhoto, iLife, iMovie, etc…
Posted on February 21, 2006