Smell any good music lately?

Technological advances you could probably live without:

I recently read about a company in Japan that plans to sell blank cds that are impregnated with a thin layer of scented biopolymer. They promise that when you burn a disc the laser will excite the synthetic odor molecules releasing the digital scent as the disc heats up. The room will fill with one of the first four "happy flavors": roses, coffee, whiskey or chocolate. More scents are reportedly in the works including sushi, banana and fresh baked cookies! Street date: Early 2008.

In related sensory news, a major brewer is reportedly planning on distributing promotional scratch-n-sniff cds! At a series of summer concerts, the brewer plans to distribute promo discs of sponsored artists with scratch and sniff labels allowing you to smell your favorite brew and then listen to exclusive tracks from your favorite band! One lingering question needs to be resolved. The legal team is trying to determine if the brewery can distribute these scratch and sniff discs to anyone under 21. Stay tuned.

Unfortunately, those two "innovations" aren't quite to market so if your sense of smell needs a quick music fix right now check out the Pure Malt Speakers from Pioneer. White oak barrels that have been used to age whiskey at Japan's Suntory distillery are recycled to manufacture bookshelf speakers. One barrel can supply enough wood to produce one pair of speakers and the brewery can supply only about 1000 barrels per year so these are truly a limited edition item. They're not cheap at $598/pair but if you belly up to the bar and order a pair you can invite your friends over to "smell the new Son Volt cd"! Of course, if you don't have the cash to blow on a pair you could always make your own alcohol aged speakers for much less!

DIY advice: make sure the speaker box isn't made of particle board and don't soak the actual paper speaker cone in the alcohol.