The industrial designer David Laituri and his partner at Sprout Creation have launched a new compact audio systems company, Vers, that focuses on high-quality wood crafting and rich sound. "Vers is a line of hand crafted real wood sound systems for iPod, iPhone and others, with a lot of thought put toward sustainability, using recycled materials where possible, selecting energy efficient components, eliminating lead, heavy metals and other chemicals," says Laituri.

Vers' debut product is a 6.5-pound dock able to play and charge iPod Video, iPod Nano, iPod mini, iPod, iPod classic, iPod touch, iPhone and others MP3 players with its 8 adapters. The Vers 2X gets an hand-crafted cherry veneer cabinet with a dual vent and two 3" full-range custom-engineered 15 watt speakers powered by a class-D amplifier. An advanced 14 functions remote control is also include in the package

This product is available from now and it costs $179.

Altec Lansing's Orbit-MP3 speaker system for iPods and MP3 players is heading towards the market.

Simply designed and weighing only 8oz, the Orbit-MP3 offers Altec Lansing's Fusion360 technology, which produces a full 360-degree sound field. The speaker gets a 3.5mm stereo connector, a 3.5mm to 2.5mm converter cable and an iPod port.

The Altec Lansing Orbit-MP3 is shock resistant and features 24 hours of continuous play off 3 AAA batteries. With a release soon, these $39 speakers could serve as an adequate sounding ultra portable speaker.

Creative Japan has announced this friday a nomad speaker for the iPod shuffle at a price of $69 and it will be available in the mid-September.

The Travelsound i50 lets you share your music everywhere you go with its robust thin case with brushed metal finish, this portable speaker measures only 4.7x 1.5x 12.8 cm, it has a keychain attachment which allows you to clip the Travelsound i50 to a bag or a jeans and it also includes a clear plastic cover for protecting the player from scratches and dust.

The built-in lithium-polymer battery can power the four micro drivers for about 15 hours of continuous playback and an USB port with LED status indicator is available to charge your iPod via the Travelsound i50. The stereo speakers deliver 2x 700mW RMS with a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of 80dB and a frequency response of 180Hz~20kHz.

They aren't many iPod Docks with tube amplifier on the market but this one from Dice will enjoy you.

The iTPA-220 is a nice amplifier delivering 2x20W that will give you a warm analog sound with its tubes (2x 6N3 tube). The dock includes an iPod charging function, a video output hooked up from the iPod for playing video on a TV for example. Also an auxiliary input has been added for playing additional audio devices such as computers, non-Apple MP3 players and so on.

The speakers are constructed in a bass-reflex wooden cabinet for better sound reproduction with inside a 4" mid/bass driver and 1" dome tweeter for full dynamic range.

The iTPA-220 costs $299 and won't be available until September, but you can pre-order it on Dice Electronics website now.

Sharp has announced 2 new dock for your iPod, the DK-A1 and the DK-A10CD. The docks are a 2-way stereo system delivering 2x7W with an FM/AM built-in tuner and a remote control. The DK-A10CD system has an additional CD-player able to read your WMA and MP3 audio files. They are also available in black finish (DK-A1-B and DK-A10CD-B).

Both docks are set to hit the shelves on July 5th in Japan but no word on pricing yet.