As the iPod boom takes off traditional IT Companies like LaCie are turning to industrial designers in an effort to dress up cheap made in Asia speakers. The only problem is that they are charging a massive premium for the devices compared to good quality speakers coming directly out of Asia into retailers in Australia.

Priced at $129.00 the speakers while looking stylish will still only give limited output and performance.

In addition LaCie is an IT storage Company not a Hi-Fi Company and the only reason for it to be in the sound market is to try and grab a share of the booming iPod market.

The latest is a pair of LaCie firewire speakers which have been designed by unknown designer Neil Poulton. They have a frequency response of 90Hz-20kHz. And while they can be connected to a firewire port most PC's don't come with a firewire port. This is an additional cost of around $89.00 to get one fitted.