Most items I write reviews of are items that I personally buy to use. But, every once in a while, a new gadget shows up that’s just so interesting and enticing that I buy it with the business card for the sole purpose of reviewing it. Such is the case with the Aether Cone.

I got an email at the end of August from Rdio announcing that the Aether Cone was now shipping and that, as an Rdio member, I was eligible for a percentage discount for every month I’d been a subscriber, up to 45-percent off. I was intrigued by the design and the functionality. You don’t need a separate device to stream music to the Cone, it connects to Rdio all on its own and you can talk to it to request a song.

This is the review I was originally planning to publish on launch day with the new Tools & Toys, but I was able to get the E-M10 review out the door in time instead.

Review: The Aether Cone for Rdio