What’s the chief complaint about MP3 audio? The sterile digital sound can’t hold a candle to the warmth of analog signal processing. That complaint is no more with the Roth Audio Music Cocoon, an iPod dock and amplifier with those lovely tubes to enhance the audio from any source (not just your iPod). This ain’t your father’s analog gear–Roth Audio includes built-in protection for the power system and keeps the tubes from overheating. Digital music comes into a whole new realm with one of these, you’ll never hear your iTunes library the same way again.

Buy for $649.99

Certainly not new, but vital to remember as a gift this season: Apple TV lets Mac-ophiles enjoy downloaded video, music, and photos on any home theatre system. Connect Apple TV to the HDMI port or component audio/video inputs and you can view all your TV shows, concerts, and other media downloaded from iTunes, Amazon Unbox, and other compatible services. You can also view photo slideshows from Photoshop and other sources. Store up to 50 hours of downloaded video in the Apple TV box, and Apple TV’s wireless system automatically syncs your iTunes library from any computer in the house. Whenever you update your playlist, Apple TV updates wirelessly. This is the perfect companion to your MacBook Pro.

Buy for $299.

Liberate your iPod from those earbuds with these wireless portable speakers from Oregon Scientific. A transmitter (included) lets you send an iPod signal up to 100 feet to the speakers. Best of all, you aren’t limited to MP3 players, you can send audio from CD players, TVs, stereos, anything you can plug in. An advanced 2.4 GHz frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology transmits wireless audio with no crosstalk. You get a three-speaker setup that includes a pair of tweeters and a subwoofer. The transmitter handles three inputs at once.

Buy for $193.22

Chinavision presents the Cassette MP3 player. This standalone requires a 2-gig SD card, is USB-rechargable like any other player, but has one major difference; it can also be inserted into a cassette deck so you can play MP3s on old-school car stereos! Craziness from Chinavision, with a price that is a big middle finger to Apple. Still want to be that old-school guy with the ghetto blaster? Now you can keep the 80s look and stay digital. A nice innovation for painters, classic car geeks, anybody else who still has a tape player in use for some strange reason. We know you’re out there. . .

Buy for $21.00

Amazon is absolutley breathless over the latest addition to its massive stockpiles; the 16-gig iPod Touch. And just in time for the holiday shopping feeding frenzy, too! If you don’t mind $400 per prezzie, you can completely avoid shopping in a bricks-n-mortar store this year, just buy one of these for everybody. How convenient! It’s much more expensive than the new Britney Spears album, but unlike the Spears CD, this won’t end up in a landfill in mass quantities anytime soon.

Buy for $399

We’re having a little argument at GearCrave. There was some debate about even posting this new XtremeMac iTouch/iPhone sportswrap, as half of us think it makes you look like a tool, while the other half argue that nobody cares how you look when you are stuggling through mile number five, you just want to hear your damn tunes and forget about how tough mile number six is gonna be. So, to hell with it. Settle our argument once and for all. Is there a consensus? Is the sports wrap a utilitarian, necessary evil? Or does this thing really make you look like a tool? Comments welcome.

Buy for $29.95

The problem with working out with most headphones (like those notorious iPod earbuds) is that they are too flimsy, and pop right out of your ears at just the wrong moment, like when you’re looking both ways before crossing the road. Sennheiser’s MX75 headphones are built especially for working out, with rubber stoppers made to keep the headphones securely in your ear where they belong. There’s also a great “twist-to-fit” feature, and a heavy duty cord that can take the pounding your last set of phones couldn’t.

Buy for $41.34