The iPod iPond: a gimmicky storm in a fish tank

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 17 December 2007 05:30

Opinion and Analysis

An iPod shaped 'fish tank' with built-in speaker is creating waves, causing worries among animal activists over how humane it actually is for a fish to live in the iPond, while technologists wonder if it could possibly sound any good, or not.

The Sydney Morning Herald has details of the noisy sounds of controversy surrounding the availability and sale of the iPond, a tiny iPod inspired speaker fishtank that holds approximately 650 millilitres of water for a fish to live in.

The iPond actually works with any mp3 player, radio or audio device with a standard 3.5mm headphone socket, and is clearly playing on the iPod name, as the iPond itself has no specific iPod dock attachment.

Given that a Siamese Fighting Fish is pictured on the iPond’s packaging, it seems some pet stores are taking the suggestion and are actually selling the iPond with a Siamese Fighting Fish.

Unfortunately, this has raised the ire of the RSPCA, who recommend a fish tank with at least 10 litres of water, not 650 ml, for Siamese Fighting Fish (and presumably most other small fish, too).

The speaker is at the base of the iPond, meaning any fish inside the iPond when it is connected to music will likely suffer some impact.

Having heard an iPond (without a fish inside), the sound quality is rather basic – it certainly isn’t a super high-fidelity system we’re talking about here. That said, the iPond certainly works as advertised.

However, at the AUD $70 reported purchase price, customers can certainly buy much better sounding iPod speakers, although naturally without the ability to host a living fish. Thankfully owning live fish is no requirement for aural enjoyment.

Anyone buying the iPond really shouldn’t use it as a permanent fish tank, especially given the renewed concerns about fish health, perhaps using it only to temporarily hold a fish to impress friends, and transferring the fish later back to a larger tank.

Whether we’ll ever see larger fish tanks with built-in speakers that are more to the RSPCA’s liking is anyone’s guess, but there can be no doubt that the publicity surrounding the iPond and calls for it to be banned have only made it more popular over the last few days, just as banning anything usually does.

The iPond: the most gimmicky iPod accessory of 2007!