PowerCD

As Apple was designing the Apple Newton, in mid-1992, Apple Industrial Design Group created a division called Mac Like Things, which was to focus on what they saw as a new market for Apple in consumer electronic devices. PowerCD, which did not require a computer for use, marked Apple's first stand-alone, consumer-oriented product brought to market.

PowerCD was analogous to Sony's Discman portable CD players of the time, however, unlike Sony's and most others, Apple's could also be used as computer peripheral. While some desktop Macs at the time included built-in CD-ROM drives, PowerCD was designed to match the PowerBook series, which would not include a built-in CD-ROM for several more years. PowerCD could operate under battery power as both a portable drive for computers and stand-alone portable CD player.

The Mac Like Things division was short-lived. By September 1992, it was folded into Apple's New Media Group having only brought to market the PowerCD and AppleDesign Powered Speakers series.

Along with the PowerCD, Apple released two models of their desktop speakers: AppleDesign Powered Speakers and redesigned AppleDesign Powered Speakers II a year later. The original speakers came in platinum gray to match Apple's desktop line, while the second generation were curvier and also came in a darker gray color, designed to match the PowerBook line and PowerCD. Both were powered by an AC adapter and could be attached to any audio output source, with two separate inputs for both a computer and an external CD player. Both models had a headphone jack at the front of one speaker alongside volume control and an optional subwoofer connection port on some models.