| Memorex Mi1111 Home Audio System for iPod a Cool Tool for Back to School By Steve Kruschen, The One and Only Mr. Gadget® ©2008 All Rights Reserved July 8, 2008 - What's not too large, not too small, with BIG clear sound, AM/FM radio with presets, built-in subwoofer, MP3/CD player, wireless remote, and Line-in jack? Why, it's the surprising Memorex Mi1111, of course! At just $100, I think this is a good choice for back-to-schoolers living at home, in apartments or in student dorms. For only $100, my expectations were not high, but I was pleasantly surprised. In the audio department, its price will surprise you because you would have expected, and accepted less, I think.
The Mi1111 powers and charges a dockable iPod, as expected, and as has also become customary it comes with dock inserts to cover numerous iPod models to properly fit the dock. Other audio sources can be played through the Line-in jack, though the wireless remote can only address docked iPods. Unfortunately, the remote is not all-inclusive. The only iPod menu functions it can perform on a docked iPod are track skipping forward or back, pause and play, stop and that’s about it. Of course, volume can be controlled. It cannot move up and through menus as if using the click/scroll wheel on the iPod. Why, oh why? I can only guess it is a licensing issue that all comes down to money, but I could be incorrect. Still, I know of no other $100 iPod-related device that does more or sounds better than this.
There is a built-in AM/FM radio. It's not the best, but most "cheap" radios cannot do better. It's worse on AM, but also not very good on FM, though this may be acceptable in the area is which this unit is destined to be used.
Like other low-end units, in addition to the not-terrific radio there are multiple station pre-sets available, I suspect most users will forego the cumbersome procedures for setting them and accessing them. This same assessment goes with using the unit as a device for waking. It's easier to set a mobile phone as an alarm and that is what most young people do (Does no one wear a watch?) Students might want to set their Mi1111 to play an attached iPod for wakeup, but this presupposes the user will set the iPod in place the night before and just at the right playback spot. It's just not that way in the real world, Memorex! At its best, basic use as an iPod speaker set and top-accessible CD player with remote, I think its power and ease of use for those functions makes this $100 device ideal for the audience for which I am suggesting and on that basis, it is recommended! As one who has a student going off to college this fall, I can easily see one of these as part of the dorm décor. For those of you with students at home, this is a relatively low cost way to provide big room remote-controlled sound without breaking the bank. Its footprint is a comfortable 13.4" x 9.6" x 6" (WDH), so it will fit just about anywhere and no, it does not also run on batteries. More information is at www.memorexelectronics.com and through the direct product link above. Consumers' questions may be answered at 1-800-919-3647. Find the Mi1111 at retailers including Target for the $100 price. Do check online, but be aware that shipping charges may make the cost exceed the in-store price at Target. 
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