Gear: A Traveler's Jukebox

Product name: Altec Lansing inMotion iM5 Portable Audio System

Made by: Altec Lansing

Web Site: www.alteclansing.com

After the band has gone to bed, it can play proxy if you’re feeling the itch for a late night tango. For the music lover, it can bring the concert—or at least the music—home from the opera hall, stadium or street cafe. For a traveler on a budget, or simply taking a rest, it can add a bit of ambience to a night spent in your room. And, in thin-walled accommodations, it can drown out your neighbors’ nocturnal activities—or your own.
Altec Lansing’s inMotion iM5 Portable Audio System, with an assist from your iPod, can fill all these roles. Yet it won’t fill your bag: the iPod dock easily retracts to allow it to slip neatly into the padded carrying case. For the wide ranging globetrotter, it’s outfitted with a variety of wall plugs, each of which slide onto the same basic power converter. Yet if you lack even electricity, a quartet of AA batteries will also fire it up. (To avoid draining those batteries, however, be aware that pausing your iPod won’t turn off the system.) Sound quality is impressive, though there can be occasional crackles. Really there’s only one thing it lacks: earplugs for the neighbors. Hopefully they too like to tango.