[ UPDATE ] Unfortunately, after two months of use, my Logitech USB Z305 speaker now regularly fails after just a few minutes of playing audio. By “fails” I mean the audio is playing fine through the Logitech speaker but then becomes mute after just a few minutes of playing audio. If I unplug the Logitech speaker then the audio resumes just fine through my laptop.

NOTE: I found a replacement speaker though, and . . . → Read More: Review: Logitech USB Laptop Speaker]]>

[ UPDATE ] Unfortunately, after two months of use, my Logitech USB Z305 speaker now regularly fails after just a few minutes of playing audio. By “fails” I mean the audio is playing fine through the Logitech speaker but then becomes mute after just a few minutes of playing audio. If I unplug the Logitech speaker then the audio resumes just fine through my laptop.

NOTE: I found a replacement speaker though, and here is my review of the Soundmatters Portable Speaker.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve had an electronic piece of equipment fail so soon after purchase, but the Logitech USB Z305 achieved this feat. Anyway, my original review below was made before this experience, and I have left it intact below–I enjoyed the product in the two months it was working. So, unfortunately, for me at least, this is no longer a 5-star product. I’ll downgrade my original assessment of 5-stars to 4-stars, on the assumption that my dying-speaker issue is just a fluke! Hopefully you will not have the same failure rate with the product that I did.

Original review here:

I’ve got a MacBook Pro laptop and often I’ve found myself watching movies or listening to audio books or listening to music over the laptop’s speakers, wishing there was a convenient way to boost the volume. The laptop speakers are fine if you are in a quiet room, but I’ve found the laptop speakers to be inadequate when there’s background noise, like when cooking dinner in the kitchen, when riding in a car, or when rowing on my rowing machine. So I wanted a convenient way to boost the audio yet not have to fiddle with external power supplies and a lot of extra equipment. The Logitech USB Laptop Speaker Z305 seems to be the perfect solution.

There are quite a few things to like about this speaker. First, it solves my problems with the laptop speakers. By using the Logitech speaker I can hear movies, audio books, and music fine when using my laptop in environments with background noise, as I listed above. And the audio is of higher quality than what comes from the laptop speakers.

Second, the speaker is mindlessly simple to use. Just clip the speaker to the top of the laptop screen then plug the speaker cable into a USB port. OS X automatically detects this speaker and switches the audio to the Logitech speaker from the laptop speaker.

Third, I really like that the Logitech speaker gets its power from the USB port, so I don’t have to worry about batteries or external power bricks.

Fourth, because the Logitech speaker clips onto the laptop screen, I don’t have to worry about holding the speaker myself if, for example, I’m riding in a car.

Fifth, it comes in a convenient travel case and is easy to pack, which makes it trivial to just throw the speaker into my bag when going on travel.

Basically, you just clip on the speaker, plug it in, and BOOM, you’ve got better audio.

I’ll note that the audio boost won’t cause you to have to use earplugs. There is an audio boost with this speaker, but it is still a clip-on speaker for your laptop that costs less than $100.

For the price, this speaker does exactly what it is supposed to do, in addition to being well designed and easy to use. I’m very happy with my purchase.

Here’s the link to Amazon: Logitech USB Laptop Speaker Z305

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So after shopping around I decided on the Rode Podcaster USB Microphone.

This is a hefty microphone — very solid . . . → Read More: Review: Rode Podcaster USB Microphone]]> I had a few audio projects coming up and I didn’t want to rely just on my built-in laptop microphone. But I am not an audio engineer and didn’t want to have to buy racks of equipment just so I could record high-quality audio. I also wanted my setup to be portable and durable.

So after shopping around I decided on the Rode Podcaster USB Microphone.

This is a hefty microphone — very solid design. Also, using it couldn’t be easier. Just plug it into my laptop’s USB port (Mac) and start recording — no need for external power supplies or other interface gadgets.

As a simple example, I just plugged in the mic, fired up Garage Band, and recorded the introduction to the story “A Scandal in Bohemia” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Here is the audio MP3:

Introduction to “A Scandal in Bohemia” [MP3] 1 min 28 seconds

I’ve already mentioned the heft of the microphone — this means that you will likely need a solid mic stand to support the mic, especially since it connects to the stand at the base of the mic, and so the result makes the stand and mic a little top-heavy.

But I am very happy with this mic — easy to use, durable, and makes high-quality recordings.

Rode Podcaster USB Microphone, available from Amazon.

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frog talk, mp3, 32 seconds.

How many different critters can you hear?