Aether Cone makes music easy

BY SANDY STRASSER

(Published in The Produktkulturmagazin issue 3 2014)

The world is filled with new devices that do amazing things. But the more you own, the harder you have to work to connect them. Especially the world of music offers so much choice and capability that it can be overwhelming and difficult to simply enjoy listening. With Aether Cone you get some remedy that brings the sound of happiness in your life.

Cone is an elegant and modern music player that learns what you like and plays what you love. It combines hardware and powerful software with music, podcast and internet radio services in a striking product that makes the home listening experience more beautiful. Aether builds thinking things that seamlessly integrate hardware, software and services to make everyday life nicer. The company is comprised of a diverse team with experience at Nokia, Apple, Frog, Google, NASA, Pixar and others. Aether‘s first product, Cone, is a smart music player that learns what you like and plays what you love. But before you do anything you’ll need to pair your iPhone with iOS 7.1 or Mavericks-enabled Mac via Bluetooth, and connect it to your WiFi network using the mobile app or your Mac. Then you choose a starter song to match your musical mood. Simply turn the dial to start and it instantly plays songs and programming selected from more than 25 million tracks on Rdio (www.rdio.com), one of the largest music streaming services in the world, for 10 Dollars a month. As well, you get over 25 thousand on-demand radio shows and podcasts powered by Stitcher or you can select anything from your personal iTunes library. Whatever you want to hear you’ll get. And this is where the magic happens: When you press the button, its border illuminates with a glowing LED light. Within a couple of seconds the song will be played. If one title is playing and you want to hear another turn the dial to skip to the next one. If you know exactly what you want to hear, you can also tell Cone to play an artist, album or title or give the dial a spin and it will switch to another genre. It learns your taste and plays something it thinks you’ll enjoy here and now, whether on Monday morning in your kitchen or on Friday evening in your living room. It learns where it is around in your home and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Tap the center button to pause whatever you‘re listening to – tap it again and it will continue. Cone‘s volume buttons are right above the dial. So if you turn something up it understands what to play. Its audio quality is crisp and powerful so it is more than adequate for a small apartment or intimate party. Cone is completely wireless with an eight-hour battery and is offered in a stunning black and copper design with additional color combinations. The price is around 399 Dollar.

aether.com

Picture credits © Aether