App Smart: Streaming for a Good Beat That’s Just to Your Taste

Streaming for a Good Beat That’s Just to Your Taste

Remember the radio? It was the best way to hear new music when I was a boy. My friends and I would listen to the songs that made the weekly charts and we’d talk about the great tracks and the terrible tracks at school the next day.

Spotify's Android app.

Rhapsody in some places overseas goes under the Napster brand.

SoundCloud, a free app for iOS and Android.

Since then, the music landscape has undergone a sea change. But discovering music in a similar way is still possible via the latest and fast-evolving trend in digital music: streaming.

Perhaps the best-known streaming music app is Spotify. This app lets you listen to any of your favorite tracks at will, and it is also a digital radio that streams new music. Its interface is simple, bordering on spartan: it has a main screen where you control the music you are hearing, and a menu screen that lets you access different sections of the app and adjust settings.

To listen to a track you simply choose “Search” and type the artist’s name or a word from the track’s title. Spotify then lists the results by artist, album and song title. A more interesting way to use the app, however, is to select the “Discover” option. This reveals a long graphics-heavy list containing all sorts of different music.

Some of this will be familiar (right now, my app is telling me “You’ve been listening to a lot of Daft Punk lately” and recommends one of their albums), some of it will be new. These tracks include new releases, and music that is popular or is being listened to by nearby Spotify users.

There’s also a “Radio” option that has “stations” that stream either a particular band’s music, or genres of your choice, from Alternative to Trance. The app has straightforward controls and will show you album art and even band biographies.

Spotify has changed how I listen to music. But while the app is free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8, using it may cost you. In the United States, you can listen to the app’s radio stations free, but to listen to specific tracks you’ll have to subscribe for $10 a month.

For a different experience, you might try Rhapsody (which in some places overseas goes under the Napster brand). As in Spotify, you can search for music you want to hear, or discover new music through a few different routes. For example, the Browse section breaks music into genres; inside each genre’s page you can choose from new releases or popular tracks.

Alternatively, you can find new music through Rhapsody’s home page, which offers access to featured music, new releases and popular tracks. There are also Playlists, which are a little like Spotify’s stations. These lists have a regularly updated selection of music that will stream to you. There are extras like album reviews, so you can learn more about the artist you’re listening to.

Rhapsody’s interface is graphically richer and feels easier to navigate than Spotify’s, thanks to features like its ever-present icon bar. Bu you may find that Rhapsody’s graphics and many settings get in the way of your listening experience. It’s free to download on iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8, but you’ll have to pay $10 a month for unlimited music streaming.

Last.fm was one of the first players that streamed music over the Internet, and now it’s available as an app. Instead of concentrating on giving you access to new music, a bit like traditional radio, Last.fm tries to recommend new music based on the tracks you already listen to. In fact, it monitors music that you play through your mobile device, and keeps a list of it in your profile â€" a trick it calls “scrobbling.”

The scrobbled list can be shared online and is used to recommend lists of music similar to the kind you already like. The data comes from other Last.fm users’ lists. Last.fm is powerful and entertaining, but its interface is more basic than its peers’ and it doesn’t quite have the same range of music discovery options. And, though the app is free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8, to listen to the recommended lists you have to pay $3 a month.

Finally, there’s SoundCloud, a free app for iOS and Android that offers a different kind of streaming music. Where Spotify is like having radio on your phone, SoundCloud is more about hearing new music shared by indie artists via a social network. It has a wonderfully simple interface and it’s fun to use â€" you can upload your own music and share that too. Just don’t expect to find mainstream rock bands on this app.

Hopefully, you’ll find tons of new music to listen to via these apps, but remember there are other options. The Pandora app is well known and definitely worth trying. Apple is also poised to introduce iTunes Radio â€" a free service with advertisements. Streaming music is a fast-changing scene, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for special offers.

Quick Call

Telenav Scout, a successful GPS navigation app that’s done well on Android and iOS, has finally hit Windows Phone 8 devices. The core app is free, but advanced features like red light alerts will cost you $25 a year.

State of the Art: A Better Way for the iPad to Talk to a Home Computer

A Better Way for the iPad to Talk to a Home Computer

90 Seconds With Pogue: Parallels Access: The Times’s David Pogue reviews at Parallels Access, an iPad app that allows a user to remotely control a desktop or laptop computer.

You don’t have to be a technophile to know a few things about compatibility. VHS tapes don’t play on a laptop, iPhone apps don’t run on your microwave and a CD won’t play in a toaster.

Most people probably assume you also can’t use Mac or Windows programs on an iPad. The iPad, the world’s most popular tablet, runs its own flavor of software.

Which is a shame, really. All kinds of programs would be useful to have on your lovely, lightweight tablet: Quicken. Photoshop. iTunes. The full-blown Word, Excel, PowerPoint. AutoCAD.

I’m pleased to report that such a thing is possible, thanks to a remarkable new app, Parallels Access. Parallels, the company, has a good deal of experience running incompatible programs on popular computers; its best-known product lets you run Windows on a Mac.

Access is not some miracle adapter that runs Mac and PC programs on the iPad itself. Instead, it’s a glorified porthole into the screen of a real Mac or PC back at your home or office. You see everything on your distant computer remotely; you can even click, type and drag in the programs there, even listen to audio and watch videos. The iPad becomes like a detached touch screen for a Mac or PC that’s thousands of miles away.

It’s not just about running desktop software, either. This setup also means you can access the far greater storage and horsepower of your computer. And you can work with files you left behind. The one catch: It requires an Internet connection. Access works over slower connections â€" like 3G cellular â€" but barely. You may encounter severe lags and blotchiness.

To make this come to pass, you set up Access on both ends. You install one app on your iPad, and another on your Mac or PC (Mac OS X 10.8 or later, Windows 7 or later). You also create a free account at Parallels.com.

From now on, whenever you want to operate your Mac or PC by remote control, you open the Access app on the iPad. You tap the picture of the computer whose brain you want to enter; there’s nothing to stop you from setting up two, or 12, or hundreds of Macs and Windows machines to listen for the iPad’s call.

When you first connect, you see a launcher: an iPad-style screen full of icons. In this case, they represent your Mac or PC programs. Tap one to open it. This launchpad starts out showing only the icons of your most frequently used Mac or Windows programs, but you can tap a “+” button to add other icons.

Parallels Access is not the first product that lets you access your Mac or PC remotely. There are many iPad apps that do that, bearing names like VNC Viewer and Real VNC. They cost $10 or $20. Corporate tech workers adore them. From wherever they happen to be, they can see, operate and troubleshoot the computer back at headquarters from the screen of a single iPad, without having to put on pants and drive to the office.

But Parallels Access is superior, for many reasons.

First, VNC apps are extremely technical to set up. Here’s an excerpt from the dozens of setup steps for Real VNC, one of the best reviewed apps: “By default, VNC Server listens on port 5900. You can listen on a new port, providing no other service or program is doing so. Note you will have to specify the new port when connecting, and you may need to reconfigure firewalls and routers.” O.K. then!

Parallels Access requires no fiddling with routers, firewalls or port numbers. You fill in your Parallels name and password, and boom: the connection is made, with 256-bit AES encryption (translation: “very securely”).

Second, VNC apps display the entire computer’s screen on the iPad. Icons, toolbars and buttons wind up about the size of subatomic particles.

Access, on the other hand, “appifies” the Mac or Windows program; the document you’re editing fills the screen. All the iPad touch-screen gestures work to operate the remote program, too â€" drag with one finger to scroll, for example. Tap to “click the mouse.” Tap with two fingers to “right-click.” Pinch or spread two fingers to zoom out or in. No matter what the Mac or PC program is, it suddenly behaves as if it is an iPad app.

Access is filled with additional touches that VNC-type programs generally lack, which further adapt mouse-and-keyboard software to a touch screen.

E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com

Nintendo to Offer Lower-Cost Game Device

The Nintendo 2DS is capable of running all the games made for the 3DS, but without 3-D effects.

SAN FRANCISCO â€" Nintendo’s portable video-game device, the 3DS, is selling well. But a plan to court children has the Japanese company cutting prices.

Nintendo on Wednesday introduced a new portable gaming system, the Nintendo 2DS. The device will cost $130, or about $40 less than its 3DS sibling, when it is released Oct. 12. It is capable of running all the games made for the 3DS, but without 3-D effects.

For Nintendo, the price drop is a hedge against a future filled with tablet computers made by companies like Apple, Samsung and Amazon.

The growing popularity of tablets among adults means children are increasingly exposed to tablets at an early age. Indeed, about one-third of American adults own tablets. But that figure rises to about 50 percent when counting parents with children living at home, according to Pew Internet Research. And games are routinely played on those tablets, making a dedicated gaming device less appealing.

“Forty bucks may not be a lot, but for families it’s a lot,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, in an interview. Mr. Fils-Aime said the 2DS was intended for the “entry gamer,” especially in families with multiple children.

Also on Wednesday, Nintendo said it would reduce the price of its console for the living room, the Wii U, by $50, amid disappointing sales. The new price will be $300.

The gaming market has expanded over the last several years thanks in part to smartphones and tablets. The new devices have attracted what analysts call casual gamers â€" the people who yank out their smartphones and tablets to play games a few minutes on the commute to work, or the toddlers who play Angry Birds at family dinners.

Despite all that competition, Nintendo’s portable gaming device has been doing well.

The 3DS has been the best-selling piece of gaming hardware over the past three months, according to NPD Group. The last, best-selling portable gaming device was the Nintendo DS; with over 150 million units sold, it has become the best-selling portable gaming device in history.

With the addition of the 2DS, Nintendo now offers three portable devices, including the 3DS and the larger 3DS XL.

Tablets are considered a threat to Nintendo because games can be downloaded for a few dollars, or even free. In addition, Nintendo’s strategy has been to make most of its money off sales of the games it produces exclusively for Nintendo devices. Therefore, it has refused to offer its games to makers of tablets and smartphones.

That means famous titles native to Nintendo, like Super Mario or Donkey Kong, could be left to earlier generations. And that’s bad news for the Japanese company.

“The longer that they abstain from those platforms, the longer they risk failing to acquaint children with that stable of characters,” said Ross Rubin, an independent technology analyst for Reticle Research. “Since there is virtually no presence on these screens that kids are starting to increasingly spend more and more time with, Nintendo is going to have to work harder to gain exposure to that audience.”

Mr. Rubin said there were several ways for Nintendo to participate in the mobile market outside of selling games for its own devices â€" without cannibalizing its own business. The company could offer software that complements its games and systems, like iPad apps that turn the tablet into an extra controller for the 3DS or Wii U. Nintendo could also create lightweight versions of its games for tablets and phones, using them to promote the superior versions of the games available only for Nintendo systems, he said.

For the moment, however, cost-cutting appears to be Nintendo’s answer.

“All we’re doing is making available a device that, for consumers who want a lower price point but want to play all these great games, now you have the opportunity,” Mr. Fils-Aime said. “And we think it’s going to work.”

Nintendo to Offer Lower-Cost Game Device

The Nintendo 2DS is capable of running all the games made for the 3DS, but without 3-D effects.

SAN FRANCISCO â€" Nintendo’s portable video-game device, the 3DS, is selling well. But a plan to court children has the Japanese company cutting prices.

Nintendo on Wednesday introduced a new portable gaming system, the Nintendo 2DS. The device will cost $130, or about $40 less than its 3DS sibling, when it is released Oct. 12. It is capable of running all the games made for the 3DS, but without 3-D effects.

For Nintendo, the price drop is a hedge against a future filled with tablet computers made by companies like Apple, Samsung and Amazon.

The growing popularity of tablets among adults means children are increasingly exposed to tablets at an early age. Indeed, about one-third of American adults own tablets. But that figure rises to about 50 percent when counting parents with children living at home, according to Pew Internet Research. And games are routinely played on those tablets, making a dedicated gaming device less appealing.

“Forty bucks may not be a lot, but for families it’s a lot,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, in an interview. Mr. Fils-Aime said the 2DS was intended for the “entry gamer,” especially in families with multiple children.

Also on Wednesday, Nintendo said it would reduce the price of its console for the living room, the Wii U, by $50, amid disappointing sales. The new price will be $300.

The gaming market has expanded over the last several years thanks in part to smartphones and tablets. The new devices have attracted what analysts call casual gamers â€" the people who yank out their smartphones and tablets to play games a few minutes on the commute to work, or the toddlers who play Angry Birds at family dinners.

Despite all that competition, Nintendo’s portable gaming device has been doing well.

The 3DS has been the best-selling piece of gaming hardware over the past three months, according to NPD Group. The last, best-selling portable gaming device was the Nintendo DS; with over 150 million units sold, it has become the best-selling portable gaming device in history.

With the addition of the 2DS, Nintendo now offers three portable devices, including the 3DS and the larger 3DS XL.

Tablets are considered a threat to Nintendo because games can be downloaded for a few dollars, or even free. In addition, Nintendo’s strategy has been to make most of its money off sales of the games it produces exclusively for Nintendo devices. Therefore, it has refused to offer its games to makers of tablets and smartphones.

That means famous titles native to Nintendo, like Super Mario or Donkey Kong, could be left to earlier generations. And that’s bad news for the Japanese company.

“The longer that they abstain from those platforms, the longer they risk failing to acquaint children with that stable of characters,” said Ross Rubin, an independent technology analyst for Reticle Research. “Since there is virtually no presence on these screens that kids are starting to increasingly spend more and more time with, Nintendo is going to have to work harder to gain exposure to that audience.”

Mr. Rubin said there were several ways for Nintendo to participate in the mobile market outside of selling games for its own devices â€" without cannibalizing its own business. The company could offer software that complements its games and systems, like iPad apps that turn the tablet into an extra controller for the 3DS or Wii U. Nintendo could also create lightweight versions of its games for tablets and phones, using them to promote the superior versions of the games available only for Nintendo systems, he said.

For the moment, however, cost-cutting appears to be Nintendo’s answer.

“All we’re doing is making available a device that, for consumers who want a lower price point but want to play all these great games, now you have the opportunity,” Mr. Fils-Aime said. “And we think it’s going to work.”

State of the Art: A Better Way for the iPad to Talk to a Home Computer

A Better Way for the iPad to Talk to a Home Computer

90 Seconds With Pogue: Parallels Access: The Times’s David Pogue reviews at Parallels Access, an iPad app that allows a user to remotely control a desktop or laptop computer.

You don’t have to be a technophile to know a few things about compatibility. VHS tapes don’t play on a laptop, iPhone apps don’t run on your microwave and a CD won’t play in a toaster.

Most people probably assume you also can’t use Mac or Windows programs on an iPad. The iPad, the world’s most popular tablet, runs its own flavor of software.

Which is a shame, really. All kinds of programs would be useful to have on your lovely, lightweight tablet: Quicken. Photoshop. iTunes. The full-blown Word, Excel, PowerPoint. AutoCAD.

I’m pleased to report that such a thing is possible, thanks to a remarkable new app, Parallels Access. Parallels, the company, has a good deal of experience running incompatible programs on popular computers; its best-known product lets you run Windows on a Mac.

Access is not some miracle adapter that runs Mac and PC programs on the iPad itself. Instead, it’s a glorified porthole into the screen of a real Mac or PC back at your home or office. You see everything on your distant computer remotely; you can even click, type and drag in the programs there, even listen to audio and watch videos. The iPad becomes like a detached touch screen for a Mac or PC that’s thousands of miles away.

It’s not just about running desktop software, either. This setup also means you can access the far greater storage and horsepower of your computer. And you can work with files you left behind. The one catch: It requires an Internet connection. Access works over slower connections â€" like 3G cellular â€" but barely. You may encounter severe lags and blotchiness.

To make this come to pass, you set up Access on both ends. You install one app on your iPad, and another on your Mac or PC (Mac OS X 10.8 or later, Windows 7 or later). You also create a free account at Parallels.com.

From now on, whenever you want to operate your Mac or PC by remote control, you open the Access app on the iPad. You tap the picture of the computer whose brain you want to enter; there’s nothing to stop you from setting up two, or 12, or hundreds of Macs and Windows machines to listen for the iPad’s call.

When you first connect, you see a launcher: an iPad-style screen full of icons. In this case, they represent your Mac or PC programs. Tap one to open it. This launchpad starts out showing only the icons of your most frequently used Mac or Windows programs, but you can tap a “+” button to add other icons.

Parallels Access is not the first product that lets you access your Mac or PC remotely. There are many iPad apps that do that, bearing names like VNC Viewer and Real VNC. They cost $10 or $20. Corporate tech workers adore them. From wherever they happen to be, they can see, operate and troubleshoot the computer back at headquarters from the screen of a single iPad, without having to put on pants and drive to the office.

But Parallels Access is superior, for many reasons.

First, VNC apps are extremely technical to set up. Here’s an excerpt from the dozens of setup steps for Real VNC, one of the best reviewed apps: “By default, VNC Server listens on port 5900. You can listen on a new port, providing no other service or program is doing so. Note you will have to specify the new port when connecting, and you may need to reconfigure firewalls and routers.” O.K. then!

Parallels Access requires no fiddling with routers, firewalls or port numbers. You fill in your Parallels name and password, and boom: the connection is made, with 256-bit AES encryption (translation: “very securely”).

Second, VNC apps display the entire computer’s screen on the iPad. Icons, toolbars and buttons wind up about the size of subatomic particles.

Access, on the other hand, “appifies” the Mac or Windows program; the document you’re editing fills the screen. All the iPad touch-screen gestures work to operate the remote program, too â€" drag with one finger to scroll, for example. Tap to “click the mouse.” Tap with two fingers to “right-click.” Pinch or spread two fingers to zoom out or in. No matter what the Mac or PC program is, it suddenly behaves as if it is an iPad app.

Access is filled with additional touches that VNC-type programs generally lack, which further adapt mouse-and-keyboard software to a touch screen.

E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com

Tool Kit: A Digital Back-to-School Checklist

A Digital Back-to-School Checklist

Clockwise from top left, a PowerGen Dual Port USB Adapter, a 1 TB Toshiba hard drive, a Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Student Edition, a a TI-84 Plus calculator, Skullcandy 2xl earbuds and an Acer Chromebook.

The days are getting shorter. The swimsuits have been put away. The football season has begun.

That can mean only one thing: The start of the school year is near.

At one time, preparing children for school required buying new clothes and a fresh set of pencils. These days, your child is likely to need Internet access and a laptop even more than a composition notebook.

For parents, the choices can be overwhelming â€" and expensive. Here are some tips to get started.

FOR THE FAMILY First, you need to prepare your home. Make sure you have robust Internet access. Much homework these days requires children to do research on the Internet, even in elementary school.

And while much of the world is abandoning paper copies â€" airplane boarding passes can be displayed on a smartphone screen and many stores offer e-mailed receipts, for example â€" most schools require students to hand in homework in printed form.

Make sure you have a printer at home, as well as a spare printer cartridge and an extra ream of paper. Too many parents discover that sinking feeling when the printer ink runs out the night before a child’s big project is due. Now is the time to stock up on backup supplies.

Also make sure there are multiple ways to back up, save and transfer files between home and school, and the other way around. A 16-gigabyte thumb drive, $10 at Best Buy, for example, might seem low-tech, but it can provide enough storage to get an edited video project off a student’s laptop. Most models can also survive a trip through the washing machine.

To ensure that gadgets have power, invest in spare cables and an extra USB charger, like the PowerGen Dual Port USB Adapter, $9 at Amazon, to increase the chances that your phone and your child’s will be fresh in the morning.

It’s also time to update your browser’s school-related bookmarks, for easy access to the health office or a teacher’s home page. While you’re there, plug in your school’s dates into your shared family calendar.

MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS Middle school is generally when many parents first give a child a smartphone or laptop. According to a Pew survey released this year, nearly half of middle and high school students own these devices.

Amy Dirlam, the technology integration specialist at the St. Joseph Public Schools in St. Joseph, Mich., recommends checking with your child’s school before investing in a device. That is because schools are increasingly providing some sort of hardware to students, she said. In Ms. Dirlam’s district, for example, this fall each incoming sixth-grader will be issued a MacBook Air that will follow them into high school, provided they take care of it.

Chances are, though, you’ll be faced with spending your own money if you want to buy your middle-schooler a computer. For most children, a laptop is a better bet than a desktop because it is portable and can be taken to school or to a library.

The Acer Chromebook, $200 at Best Buy is one of many light, durable Internet-centric appliances built around Google’s Android operating system. These have full keyboards and robust batteries, but limited local storage. That’s a similar issue with many tablet options, like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Student Edition, $320, a bundle that includes a keyboard, tablet and docking station.

If you want to add more storage, a USB hard drive like the 1 TB Toshiba hard drive, $75 at B&H Photo works for local storage; for individual projects, cloud-based services like Dropbox, Google Drive or SugarSync are free, provided you register and stay within the minimal storage requirements.

Smartphones are becoming a middle school staple â€" and may provide more than just a social advantage â€" but be sure your child’s school allows them.

IN HIGH SCHOOL A high school student is more likely to need more technology, particularly the computing power provided by a full-featured laptop for editing video and other jobs that require more storage, a large screen and specialized software.

A Windows 8-based Toshiba Satellite laptop, $365, with 500 GB of internal storage and a DVD drive might be one choice for a high-schooler. At a huge price jump, the light and powerful MacBook Air, $1,000 and up, continues to be the top choice for power, ease of use and durability. You can always add more storage, either locally or online.

The high school years are when apps and gadgets start forming around a child’s interests. If your child is taking an advanced math class this fall, you may be dismayed to learn that many schools still require a specialized calculator, like a TI-84 Plus, $90 at Walmart. You could buy a much cheaper calculator app, but most schools will not allow students to use a tablet or a smartphone when taking a test.

Young musicians might need an app like AccuTune, $1 for Apple devices, and an extra pair of personal earbuds, like Skullcandy 2xl, $10, will come in handy.

COLLEGE FRESHMAN A college freshman’s first test? Getting his or her laptop in tune with the school’s network. This is easier said than done, which is why it helps to tap into the expertise found in most college technology departments to help you access the institution’s printers and shared drives. The department can also set up your child’s e-mail account on a laptop and smartphone. Don’t forget to have the student put phones and other devices on the university’s Wi-Fi network, to reduce data charges. Some colleges will lend gadgets like external DVD drives, which may be needed to install specialized software.

Giving a child any device with an Internet connection requires oversight. A sudden wave of adolescent emotion could generate a photo or a social media message that could become what Gail Lovely, a former teacher and owner of Lovely Learning, a consulting firm for schools, refers to as a “digital tattoo” that comes up in a job interview 10 years later.

Ms. Lovely also suggested that phones, tablets or laptops that leave home should be insured and stored in a protective case, and recommended that every parent learn how to limit a child’s access to things like in-app sales and mature-rated content.

Also critical is something that can’t be purchased â€" a trusting parent-child relationship, and your ability to properly match your child’s growing desire for Internet access with his or her emotional maturity. For that, there is no app.

Gadgetwise: A TV Speaker System Heard but Not Seen

A TV Speaker System Heard but Not Seen

The Cynema Soundfield from Niles.

The Niles Cynema Soundfield in-wall sound bar may not be the ultimate in home theater surround-sound equipment, but it does one thing other sound bars do not: it fits flush to the wall, with no unsightly cabinet, and has a grille that can be painted to disappear into the décor.

Once a cutout is made in the sheet rock of a wall, a supporting rail is installed that the Niles Cynema Soundfield components hang from.

The Cynema Soundfield doesn’t require modification to the studs behind the sheet rock, nor does it need to run wires to a separate amplifier. Speakers, amplifier and a wireless signal out to an optional subwoofer are all enclosed in a design that an experienced installer can have set up in about an hour.

The sound bars come in three sizes â€" 48 inches ($1,600), 55 inches ($1,750) and 60 inches ($2,000). The 48-inch model can be bought without the amplifier ($1,200).

Once the cutout is made in the sheet rock, a supporting rail is installed that the components hang from. The smallest rail fits three sets of speakers and the 30-watt amplifier. Each speaker set has one high-frequency and two midrange speakers.

One interesting feature is that the in-wall amplifier turns itself off when the TV shuts down, so you don’t have a needless draw of power.

A wireless subwoofer module mounts in the array and sends the low-range signal to a receiver made to work specifically with the Niles SW6.5 ($500) subwoofer.

These sound bars are not to be confused with ones from companies like Yamaha, Polk and Definitive Technologies, which create an illusion of surround-sound from a single cabinet. The Cynema Soundfield speakers are close enough that you won’t even get much stereo separation. But the quality of that nearly mono sound is a big step up from the tiny speakers built into most flat-panel TVs.

Gadgetwise: With Disney Infinity, a Virtual Toy Box

With Disney Infinity, a Virtual Toy Box

The Disney Infinity toy box mode allows players to create worlds and adventures of their own.

When the executives at Disney conceived of Infinity, they imagined a video game that resembled a toy box: random toys could be pulled out for any adventure.

The Disney Infinity game, which was released last week, embraces that “anything goes” attitude with vigor. Initial properties include “The Lone Ranger,” “The Incredibles,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Monsters University” and “Cars 2,” and more are scheduled to follow. Disney has said that anything from its vault, including movies, TV shows, theme parks and animated shorts, could eventually show up in the evolving platform.

But Disney Infinity is more than just a video game. Like Skylanders from Activision, Disney Infinity incorporates physical toys, which unlock characters, powers, vehicles and other features when the toys are placed on the Infinity base, which is connected to a game console (Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii).

Once a figure is on the base, its digital doppelgänger appears in a “play set,” a virtual realm based on each character’s respective world. Changing characters and play sets is as easy as swapping the toys on the base. Or characters can come together in the “toy box” mode, in which players create worlds and adventures of their own.

The game itself is simple but engaging. The characters inhabit their worlds and can go on missions, collect objects, build energy and earn points, pretty much as in any video game. But the toy box mode offers the opportunity for real creativity, giving players the ability to design a 3-D world from scratch using landscapes, buildings, vehicles, characters and other objects from the Disney universe.

The Disney Infinity starter pack, which includes the game, three figures and three play sets, costs $75. Add-ons include single figures at $13 apiece, sets of three figures for $30 and a pack that includes two figures and a play set for $35. In addition, power discs, which provide special abilities, toys and themes, are sold in packs of two for $5 (but they are in blind packaging, which means you don’t know which discs you will get.)

Paying extra for additional characters and content is nothing new to video games. But Disney is starting with five play sets, 17 figures and 20 power discs, with much more to come. This game has the potential to fill up your toy box as quickly as it empties your wallet.