This Behringer iAxe is one part stratocaster, one part iPod– plug this baby direct to your computer via USB, and you’re making records. This maple-neck, solid gloss body axe also includes a 10-watt amp which is perfect for practice (yet understandably light for live shows). The best part- where 10 years ago you would have easily spent $1,000+ for this technology, you can now get it done with this Behringer package for under two-hundred.

Buy for $199.

Rich bass, excellent highs and mids, and a very handy compact design make the Tivoli MusicSystem stereo our office Crave of the Week. This dark walnut desktop-sized system is iPod-ready, and has a front-loading, MP3-compatible CD player, plus AM/FM, two alarms, and a platinum card-sized remote control. This is also an excellent bedside or home office music system custom-made for those who want small, simple, clutter-free design combined with high quality audio output.

Buy for $749.99

The Slim Devices Squeezebox music player is the last word in getting music from the net to your home stereo system. Plug Squeezebox into your stereo with a standard RCA cable, download Squeezebox software to your computer, then add Squeezebox to your wireless network. Then you are ready to play, wirelessly. Enjoying your mp3 library on those big home stereo speakers is only one part of what makes this so cool. Think of the hundreds of hours of net radio you can access, with the full benefits of your surround sound, pumped up bass and midrange . . .you get the idea. That mp3-only mash-up megamix you downloaded last week? Now you can hear it big as life, all over the house.

Buy for $299

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

Heard about this one yet? A company called ShrinkMyTunes is using NASA audio technology (”content sensitive heuristic optimization algorithms”) to reduce the size of .mp3s. ShrinkMyTunes.com offers a subscriber service to shrink your iTunes library while maintaining audio fidelity. The official site offers before-and-after song samples so you can hear the results of the shrinkage before you buy. Your files can be “reduced up to 4X while maintaining great quality.”

Looks like ShrinkMyTunes is about to reveal the truth; all this time we’ve been telling people that putting a fully loaded iPod Nano in a bucket of water will make the songs shrink.

( Just chalk that last line up to having watched Superbad too many times this month.)

Quadruple the number of songs on your iPod for $39.99.

It’s like TIVO for the radio. This AM/FM/Shortwave radio has a removable .mp3 recorder that lets you record any broadcast signal it can pick up. It’s fully programmable, complete with a timer. With this, you can record your fifteen minutes of fame on the local talk radio show, the secret word for those goofy morning radio show contests, or that anything else you want to catch, but ususally wind up missing. It’s also great for making bizarre mash-up mp3 party mixes using random radio samples from This American Life and BBC World News. We strongly recommend using this on any sweet college radio stations near you playing those great songs you can never identify. Now you’ve got ‘em in mp3 format.

Buy for $179.95

Check this sweet, Mp3-playin’ stainless steel watch that can’t make up its mind whether it’s analog or digital! It holds a gig’s worth of MP3s and has a headphone jack for powerful 3D sound. Headphones included! There is a handy USB port for downloading the tunes from Mac or Windows computers, scrolling menus in the LCD panel, and the old-school clock-face make this the coolest technological contradiction since the wooden computer.

Buy for 81.75

There are an estimated 6,000 internet radio stations on the Internet, all broadcasting millions of songs, talk shows, zany comedy shows, Hungarian polka versions of Black Sabbath tunes, you name it. So why can’t you just turn on a radio and listen? Now you can, thanks to the Oxx wireless Internet and digital audio player. Plug it in to the wall and it connects wirelessly to your Wi-Fi network. You get instant access to radio stations in 370 countries, a six -button control panel, rotary dial, and backlit LCD let you dial up radio stations with ease. Store up to ten presets just like any car stereo system and listen to all that free net radio. You can even listen to mp3s from your computer via this handy gadget. Just save the polka-metal for your headphones, mkay?

Buy for $299.95

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This one’s just for music lovers! The Ion plug-n-playUSB turntable looks like an old school record player, but it’s so much more. This is the tool for saving that old, great-sounding vinyl to mp3. A USB connection plugs the turntable right into your computer. The software package helps you digitize and archive those old records, and there’s even a line out for plugging in to your stereo system. This is great for vinyl junkies who want to go digital, aspiring DJs, and the rest of us with some records we haven’t heard in ages, and can’t find on CD.

Buy for $99