"Wow, that's great," I said, looking down at B&W's new $599 Zeppelin iPod player, the football-shaped Zeppelin, as it played a track from Tal Wilkenfeld's new Transformation album off of my Apple iPhone. Tal Wilkenfeld, a 21 year-old, very pretty, Australian girl, was all the buzz after she played bass with Jeff Beck at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival Concert in Chicago last summer.

"Yes," said B&W's Chris Smith, "it's impressive how we've incorporated both tweeters and a woofer into this system. The iPod docking portion is made out of stainless steel. And as you may know, the Zeppelin won the CEA's 'Best of Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Award.'"

The sound of Tal Wilkenfeld's electric bass coming from the tiny Zeppelin was impressive, even for the open, noisy space of LVCC's South Hall. One of the B&W company members smiled, reached over, and turned the volume down. Why does that keep happening to me?