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The new Apple tablet is being billed as the ultimate portable entertainment device — a cross between a netbook PC and an iPhone — so how does it stack up as a music device? To find out, we took it for a quick spin.
Hardware:
On the top of the device, there’s a standard headphone jack and a tiny mike hole. The speaker on the bottom edge next the USB out is considerably more powerful than the one on the iPhone, and is plenty adequate for watching movies and music videos — we watched Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video and the Bob Dylan 1966 “World Tour (The Home Movies)” and had no problem hearing dialogue or lyrics, and it wasn’t even turned up all the way.
That said, you’ll get much more satisfaction out of connecting the device to external speakers via a standard audio cable, or, even better, to a pair of wireless speakers via Bluetooth. We weren’t able to connect via the iPad’s cable to the USB input in the Suzuki Kizashi’s audio system, which meant we couldn’t control the iPad through the car’s dashboard, but we were able to pair it via Bluetooth in about a minute using the exact same process as on an iPhone. Sound quality through the car’s Rockford Fosgate speakers was excellent — the only downside was having to use the iPad to skip tracks or pause, but that was actually almost easier considering the iPad touchscreen’s huge screen and easily navigable touchscreen interface.
Buying music and video:
The iTunes store on the iPad is a delightful new addition to Apple’s music and video marketplace, and is a cross between the extensive boxes and scrolling boxes you’ll find on desktop iTunes, and the minimal listings on the iPhone. You get about 20 different thumbnails to choose from on any page you happen...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily