If you've ever admired a Method soap bottle, Dirt Devil designer vacuum or Umbra wastebasket, then chances are you're familiar with the work of Karim Rashid.
But you won't find his latest design at Target.
Today, Olive Media announced the Opus Nº5 Karim Rashid Spring '08 Edition. A digital audio system aimed squarely at those who have cash to burn and want a simple, elegant, high-quality solution for music storage and playback, the Spring '08 Edition is "a new fusion of music and design...featuring four unique styles by world renowned designer Karim Rashid." Translation: their September '07 device now comes in four new colors!
While normally this would be the point we turn and cough, annoyed by yet another wasteful, pointless gadget resurfacing in the name of fashion, the Olive-Rashid combo actually has quite a few things going for it.
- The patterns are actually rather stylish.
No matter how much you might abhor Karim Rashid's plastic packaging designs, there's no question that these mathematical patterns are eyecatching, especially combined with the sleek metallic blacks and cool pinks of the Spectra. Plus, CTO Tim Bussiek reassures us that the patterns are printed under the surface of a high-pressure laminate applied to the unit's shell -- so don't worry about them being scratched.
- The designs won't cost you a thing.
While you'll need to pull a whopping $4000 out of your weeping wallet to bring a mere 750GB to your doorstep, that's the same price you'd pay for the unit minus graphics.
- Even two months later, the tech specs look pretty sweet.
The fanless, floating-hard drive design promises to eliminate unnecessary system noise while the 123+ dB signal-to-noise ratio maintains quality sound. Factor in wireless streaming capability (with
128-bit WPA encryption) and the ability to rip CDs to playable OGG
Vorbis and FLAC complete with metadata at a single button press, and the Opus sounds like a winner to us.
- Olive has wowed us in the past.
As Olive's website is quick to point out, our May 2006 issue gave their previous effort the Musica four out of five; we called it "a stylish music center for the sound snob."
Olive begins taking orders today, and customers should have their hands on units by the end of the year.
Product page [Olive]
