According to Belkin, more than half of teenagers share iPods with their friends at school, but too often, that involves sharing a single pair of headphones or straining to hear a tinny-sounding portable speaker. Even if the kids have their own headphones and a splitter, those normally only accommodate two listeners.
Belkin's RockStar ($20) can allow five pairs of headphones to be connected to a single sound source, or four pairs of headphones to two sound sources.
In the first scenario, five people might listen to one iPod, trading the input plug between their iPods to share songs. In the second, four people might listen as two others "battle" each other, trading off songs to see who comes up with the more crowd-pleasing songs.
Since the RockStar lacks amplification, it will work better with efficient earbud headphones than with big over-the-ear headphones. Also, it'd help to have a high-maximum-output player, with at least 25 mW per channel (Apple, Archos, Creative, and Microsoft are safe bets).
The Belkin RockStar goes on sale in March in the US, and April in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
