TiVo Personal TV

Philips Consumer Electronics, TiVo service

Price: $259 (30hr. device) Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: 9

A digital TV recorder that allows the viewer to pause live TV, even rewind into a program. The system can connect to any number of TV/cable/VCR/satellite combinations and uses a telephone connection to download program guides specific to your cable system. Recording programs is as easy as picking which one you want to watch. TiVo also provides program descriptions when surfing around channels. At the end of our test period, the company was in the process of adding new features to the product, including one to pad the time allotted to certain recording events, like sports, to allow for overtime or a game running long. This would have been handy during our testing, as a recording of NBC's Friends got cut off at the very last second, right in the middle of an important line. What I would like to see is the ability to plug TiVo into a cable modem or home network. That would eliminate the need for a phone line connection and simplify the setup (no need to pick a local access number.) Also, a remote management capability would be cool. To login to your own TiVo over the Internet and tell it which programs to record would be a great feature. I must admit that I was not sold on the product when I first started testing it, but I was a little sad when I had to return it. Subscription service required: $9.95/month or $249 lifetime. - Jason Meserve

Champagne: Special Edition speakers

Harman Kardon

Price: $120 Coolness score: 9 Ease of use: 8

For those who want to look hip while plugging away at their computer, Harman Kardon have created speakers shaped as champagne flutes. Putting together these puppies was a breeze, but like most directions they were more complicated than it had to be. (Why is that always the case?) The sound was clear. The speakers don't take up too much space on the desk, and the subwoofer fits conveniently underneath a desk. Though the speakers are also for DVDs, they are a better fit for computers. - Kathleen Ohlson

MTV's Singing Machine

The Singing Machine

Price: $100 Coolness score: 7 Ease of use: 9

Resembling a small iMac, MTV's Singing Machine plugs into a TV or VCR and displays song lyrics on your TV. The small device, weighing about 5 pounds, comes with cables for hookup and a microphone with the MTV logo on it. It also comes with a four-song trial disc, and has a headphone jack and another microphone jack. The Singing Machine plays any karaoke CDG [compact disc plus graphics], and can play audio CDs without displaying lyrics. Although the idea is a good one, and the MTV microphone looks pretty cool, the Singing Machine has some kinks to be worked out - the microphone volume fades in and out, and even the songs on the trial disk that are supposed to have the lead tracks suppressed aren't very well muted out. But for about $100, the Singing Machine is good for a few laughs, especially in a soft economy when companies may have to rely on themselves for their holiday party entertainments. - Monica Hamilton

Live 365

Live 365

Price: Free! Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: N/A

Live365.com is a Web site that allows you create your own radio station. You have the options of using the Web-based version to manage the songs on your station's playlist, desktop broacasting software, or broadcasting from another Web site. The Web-based software is a pain to use, but the dowloadable software is simple and easy to get your own radio station started. You can even add your own audio commentary or right wing extremist messages between songs. Although the inherent flaw is that nobody really listens anybody else's station, it's just cool to have it out there. - Alex Weinberg

FX Digital Theater 5.1

Onkyo

Price: N/A Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: 6

Onkyo FX Digital Theater 5.1 is a home theater, complete with subwoofer and five Dolby Digital speakers. My one gripe was the directions -- they weren't clear and took a while to figure out. But if you're like me, you chuck the directions and figure the setup on your own. Though the speakers were small, the sound was great and included pre-cut wires -- always a plus! - Kathleen Ohlson

AVerTV

AverMedia

Price: $130 Coolness score: 5 Ease of use: 7

An external TV tuner that lets you watch television, play console video games, or watch movies through your computer monitor. The AVerTV box takes about 30 minutes to set up, and that's just about the same amount of time you'll have fun with this. The cool picture-in-picture lets you watch TV and use the computer at the same time, and you can get screen shots of your Playstation feats to share with your friends that would otherwise impossible. But unless you don't have a TV readily accessible, this box isn't particularly useful. - Alex Weinberg

RumbleFX headphones

Evergreen Technologies

Price: $60 Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: 10

Sure, big speakers with gigantic subwoofers on your computer system are great for hearing explosions and stuff. But when you're spouse is in the room or trying to get some sleep, you'll want to put these headphones on. The RumbleFX headphones are force feedback headphones that rattle when heavy bass is played, such as explosions in your computer games. But you can also use these when listening to music, and they pretty much shake during the whole song. An adjustable slider on the cord of the headphones allow you to "turn off" the base so they don't shake, but what's the fun in that? There's no software to install, so the hardest part of using the headphones is installing the two AAA batteries.

RumbleFX 3D Sound Amplifier

Evergreen Technologies

Price: $80 Coolness score: 7.5 Ease of use: 9

This little box enhances sound from a portable CD player, MP3 player, a PC or even a video game console, to give you the effects of 3D surround sound. If you combine it with the RumbleFX headphones, it's even more sound for your ears. Pretty easy to set up, I definitely heard a difference in sound with the amplifier hooked up than without them. Hooking this up to your notebook gives you better sound than listening to the small speakers in the machine. The box can output 3D sound to PC speakers, headphones or a stereo receiver and speakers.

ViDVD

Vialta

Price: $279.95 Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: 8

This device is a cross between a DVD/CD player, WebTV and a karaoke machine. Users can watch their DVDs, surf the Web via a telephone hookup and an ISP, view picture CDs and sing along with a karaoke feature. The DVD features include Dolby sound and most of the bells and whistles found on a vanilla DVD player. The device can also play MP3s burned on a home PC. The Web functionality is great for someone without a PC or who wants simple Web access from a TV. For $279, users can a full-function remote, a mini-wireless keyboard, a microphone and all the necessary cables for connecting to a TV. A $299 model offers a full-size wireless keyboard. Vialta also offers its customers ViMagazine, a DVD that contains both free and pay content. Each month, customers will get a disc in the mail for a minimal fee. -Jason Meserve

Wow Thing

SRS Labs

Price: $25 Coolness score: 3 Ease of use: 8

A small box that intends to enhance your speakers or headphones to give you better sounding audio, whether from a CD or an MP3 file. Don't know if that truly works, because I wasn't that impressed. The song just got louder in certain areas (more bass and instruments, and the singer's voice disappeared). It may have been the headphones I was using, but I wasn't that impressed. If you've got an older computer and poor speakers, then this is a pretty good bargain as opposed to buying a better speaker system.

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