How to set up your Zooka (wireless speakers)...the puzzle is solved!

Note: Make this little device work for you...see this information!

Zooka Wireless Speaker for iPad and Bluetooth Devices (Black)
(or pink if you prefer)

I wrote yesterday about my friend Jo. She doesn't own a computer and uses the good old fashioned mail to communicate with her friends. I love that she does what she does.

I, on the other hand, will never be going back to the old fashioned way of doing things. My dad taught me very early on that life and creativity is very exiting. We talked about the newest inventions and could hardly wait to see what it would be like when we could actually hold it in our hands. TV, transistor radios, satellites in space and rocket ships to the moon filled our heads.
I only regret that he did not see the computer age. Oh how he would have loved that.

Now I am trying not the the "gadget of the week" kind of person but it is really hard. I love to try things out. I decided I wanted a wireless speaker for my iPad and Zooka was calling my name. It is just the kind of minor toy that happens to make me very happy.

The little egg shaped bar is produced by Carbon Audio. I found it online and ordered it from Amazon.  The advertisement talked about how easy and wonderful it was. According to them, you might be able to just open the package and have tunes right away.

I love a puzzle better than the average bear. But when I opened the  little box there was only the speaker, a cord and a little card with a few pictures.  No words, no verbal instruction in any language. No information on a link to look for more information. They had taken the "quick start" method to extremes.

HMMMMMM! Common sense told me that all I needed to do was plug it in and wait. I know that my iPhone said that I needed to charge it before I could use it. But the card didn't say that and did not have a picture of my Zooka plugged in. There was a picture of the sound bar with a little rod that would support the Zooka but the rod was not in the box. I was a little miffed. I thought they had forgotten my stand. What was up with that? And what was that little piece of metal sticking out of the end? Darn.

I slept on it...well didn't sleep exactly...but I thought about it all night. I wanted to figure this out on my own because I had learned at my father's knee was that it was more fun to put something together without the directions. We did laugh a lot but in this particular case, I was not laughing though. Now was the time to get smart.

I turned on my computer and found PC Magazine had posted an article about the device. They said it is a "Treasure Hunt" to set it up. This is what was is NOT on the card:

1. Hold the power button in for about a second.
2. Hold the Bluetooth button in for three seconds to activate it. Zooka will emit a tone at the end of that time to confirm Bluetooth activation.
3. The passcode needed to pair Zooka with a Bluetooth device. It's 0000. (I do not need with with my apple devices.)
4. The information missing from the card can be found in an excellent quick start guide for the device prepared by Carbon Audio. All you have to do is go online and get it, not a route taken by many enthusiastic purchasers until forced to resort to it. (I wasn't the only one!)
5. Oh, and that little metal piece sticking out the end is the rod that serves as the stand. I gave it a little tug and there it was. All I needed to do was screw it in the back of the sound bar.

I do check my iPad, iPhone or computer to make sure it is paired with Zooka when I want to use it. If you are like us you will have three or four bluetooth devices in the same room. I don't know if it is necessary but I turn bluetooth off on the ones I am not using. 

Oh by the way, Zooka was funded using KickStarter. The developer lives right here in Portland, Oregon. That is a good story all by itself. Take a look at their KickStarter website.

Rating: I love this Zooka thing. It does just what I want it to do. It is not surround sound but I do not want that. I wanted portable, small, easy to use and black. I got all of those and more...the box contained an invisible story!

Have a wonderful day.

b+

Note: Be sure to notice the Amazon Store at the top left hand corner under the header. That is my new store. If you don't find what you want there, go to the Amazon search on the left sidebar:).