Ultimate ear music from mp3additions.co.uk

"In-ear" monitoring was developed for professional musicians. If you attend live concerts or watch live music on TV you can't help but have noticed the improvement in sound quality over the past ten years. Before in ear monitoring each musician in the band relied on their own personal mix in a wedge loudspeaker placed on the floor in front of them. However, as the gig rolled on the singer would ask for more volume, then the guitarist, bassist and on it went until the stage foldback sound was so loud it spilled into the audience making it difficult for the front of house sound engineer to get a nicely balanced sound for the paying audience.

Now, however, it's unusual to see a professional artist without the tell tale monitor cables going direct to their ears, giving them their own personal mix, which cleans up the stage sound, less volume, therefore less overspill and everybody wins!

Ultimate Ears have been at the forefront of developing in ear monitors for more than 12 years and carry endorsements from many popular artists such as The Killers, Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs, Robbie Williams and George Michael - the list goes on.

With the rise of the iPod and other mp3 players UE haven't been slow to develop quality in ear phones for music lovers as well as music professionals. I've recently taken delivery of the Super.Fi 5 Pro model and they are nothing short of sensational. I have to admit I'm a headphone junkie with everything from £30 Sony's to £1000 Grado's and pound for pound these Ultimates are great value for money, outperforming many 'phones at much higher price points.

The problem with many iPod "in ears" is comfort. The UE's come with a selection of buds in various sizes. The rigid cables sculpt around the ears giving a secure fit. Listening to Michael Buble's "Call Me Irresponsible" on iTunes is little short of a revelation. The subtlety of his voice is fully revealed and the percussive element of acoustic instruments is fully explored. The real beauty of these 'phones though is the clarity and full body right through the sound spectrum, from low bass to tinkling highs. Witness NeYo's "So Sick" pumping bass at the bridge.

mp3additions.co.uk has a full range of Ultimate Ears from £44.99 If you really want to get involved with your music and hear it at as the professionals do, get the Ultimate! But be warned, you'll want to use up that extra iPod disc space with higher sampling rates to match the quality of these in ear monitors.

Happy listening.

mp3additions announces new affiliate

mp3additions has been providing the latest iPod and MP3 accessories for almost two years. As well as the excellent service, customers like the ease of use of the website which is free of adverts and those annoying pop ups. This will continue to be mp3additions style and to improve the range of products mp3additions has a new affiliate in Skins4Things. Skins4Things provide a great range of funky transfers that lets you personalise your iPod, MP3 player or anything else your imagination desires! The transfers are easily applied and removable leaving no residue so you can change them as often as you like - imagine a different looking iPod every month!

Be one the first to pimp your iPod by clicking here! Makes a brilliant Christmas stocking filler.

iPhone arrives in UK the day after tomorrow

Probably the most eagerly anticipated gadget of the modern age will hit the UK streets on Friday 9 November. Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first two days of its USA launch. Here, Apple UK, Carphone Warehouse and network operator O2 are looking forward to a bumper Christmas as gadget geeks and the style conscious get their hands on Apple's latest miracle.

If you haven't seen any pictures of the new iPhone since it was launched by Steve Jobs in the USA you must have just dropped in from Mars. Once again Apple does not compromise between style and functionality. The phone looks just great and dare I say it, similar to Sony's PSP? (allegedly). But it's when in use that the iPhone really sets itself apart from the competition. The most striking difference to a standard handset is the apparent lack of a keypad, with almost the entire fascia given over to the touchscreen. All of the 17 different applications are accessed from here including guess what, making a call (duh!) to viewing photos, listening to music files, checking emails and surfing the net.

The all conquering iPod has become the generic term for MP3 players with some serious electronics conglomerates left way behind in it's wake - however, with Apple signing an exclusive deal with O2 it will be interesting to see if they can repeat their iPod success in the phone market - I'm sure the next few months will tell us how loyal Britain's mobile phone users are to their network operators.

mp3additions is now stocking a great range of accessories at fantastic prices for the iPhone such as iSkin Revo, XtremeMac Onyx black leather case and XtremeMac Tuffwrap and Tuffwrap plus - as well as a great range of accessories for the new generation Classic and Nano. Happy hunting and keep talking.