Jawbone BIG Jambox Bluetooth Speakers

After lots of research I bought the Big Jam Box to use on my boat. It's a big boat with five distinct areas that I like to listen to music, and it has a central stereo system with built in speakers in every room. The problem is that the volume controls and music selection in only in the salon, which means it is never playing what I want and how I want where I want. Plus, my music is all on itunes and Spotify. It lives on my ipad, iphone, Mac, ipods. So the challenge was a multi-zone personalized music experience to deliver my collection from the devices I have it on. Obviously, there are plenty of expensive ways to solve this problem, but this device is amazingly cost effective. It does everything it promises to do effortlessly and elegantly. And it is a new class of device that represents a new way music is being consumed. It is tiny, light weight, can be placed anywhere, has great battery life. I just grab it and move it where I am going to be for a while. It is portable to the extreme. But heavy enough to stay put. I love that it has controls that are big and obvious so even friends can just walk up and use it. The sound is very good for what it is. I have spent a ton on high end stereo over the years, and I care deeply about the quality of the sound of music. This is very satisfying sound for relatively small spaces. I'm 60, and it seems like a lot of the times I am listening I am entertaining, so I'm not able to really crank it up. This thing gets louder than I need it to be, and it doesn't distort. It is very respectable performance, far exceeding expectations. The ability to use my iphone to control it ROCKS. It connects seamlessly, instantly with my phone, and it plays everything I have. It works with my wife's phone too, so she can take over or use it when I am not around. We always have a remote in our pocket -- our phones (rather than yet another remote that is never where I want it). We can use it to watch movies from our computer in bed too. The LiveAudio feature works great as long as it is placed close to you. I set it on a shelf behind me in a corner and the spacial dimension of the sound is amazing, getting close to a headphone experience. But don't bother it you are further away or outside. I just bought a Verison 4G hotspot, which when paired with this puppy means I can stream any music made and do it from several different devices, and listen to quality sound anywhere we go. The real benefit is that the Big JamBox frees me from my ear buds. I get both the convenience of access to music from my favorite portable device, and I get great ambient sound without headphones that is easy to move around. It gives me the music I want, how I want it, and where I want. All in a simple package. Just get it.