iPod Accessories

Lifestyle Bazaar Talk
1

For those who own iPods, this is just a collection of what accessories work and what did not work for me.

I use my iPod Mini in my car, by using an FM Tuner. Initially I got the one from Belkin:
[thumb=H]Belkin12052_6444315.JPG[/thumb]
BELKIN F8V3080-APL iPod Tunecast II Digital FM Transmitter with DC Jack
Cost: $39.99 (Apple Store) ~ $34.99 (Amazon.com)
It requires two AA batteries, that supposedly last 8 hours. Too much static, bad reception on car stereo and dangling FM tuner. Needless to say, I was not happy with it, and returned it next weekend, and got this.

[thumb=H]xtrememac12052_9004244.JPG[/thumb]
XtremeMac’s AirPlay™ FM Transmitter for iPod and iPod mini
Cost: $39.95 (Apple Store or XtremeMac Online Store](http://www.xtrememac.com/adapters/airplay.shtml)
This one hooks on top of iPod, and gets its power from iPod directly, so no batteries to carry around. The FM tuner is programmable right there, and the quality is excellent. Been using it for a few weeks now. No complaints.

Now, that the iPod’s power is drained more quickly due to FM Tuner, I got this from Belkin.
[thumb=H]belkinstand12052_9004244.JPG[/thumb]
**TuneBase for iPod mini **
Cost: $49.99 from Fry’s Electronics
Its customizable and fairly slick. Charges the iPod while in the car and holds it at a great angle as well.

If you just plan to use an FM tuner in the car, then you can just get this](http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=201526&pcount=&Product_Id=186782) and be done with it. I have not tried the base with FM tuner built-in, cz after my first experiment, I have little faith in Belkin tuners.

Also, the other advantage of Xtrememac FM Tuner was that it gave one month of free membership to Audible.com which allows one daily/monthly audio subscription (I got NY Times Daily: 40 min/day), and one audio book (I got Da Vinci Code: 6+ hours). Regular membership is $14.99 and I plan to keep it after the initial one month. It syncs very nicely with iTunes from where I can just put it in the iPod or burn the audio book into a CD.

So now I just load up the iPod with the audiobooks, pop it in the TuneBase and off in to California’s famous traffic. Its really not that unproductive any more.

2

Re: iPod Accessories

you can get top-notch FM transmitters for 1/4th that price that run off a single AA cell. just having "ipod" on the product name gives accessories an extra 50-70% price.

for a decent FM transmitter, the power drained will be real tiny. Nowhere near enough to warrant a charging base for the mighty ipod battery.

3

Re: iPod Accessories

From a sound quality standpoint, the best option is really to use a cassette tape car adapter. They are cheap (less than $10) and excellent sound with no interference.

Here is one that a friend of mine got for his iPod.
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iPod Cassette Tape Car Adapter](http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=404158&store=ecost&source=ewbfroogle&adcampaign=email,ewbfroogle)
Cost: $9.54

You can get a Belkin for under 5 bucks from eBay.

However, naturally, the only restriction is it will only work for those whose cars have cassette players. Mine has it, but its hidden behind the navigation system, so I couldn’t go this route.

4

Re: iPod Accessories

Cassette adapters are the best because of the near-perfect quality but mind you, it's not gonna be as good as playing an original tape or CD. It sounds kinda dull. I used to have one only because I couldn't afford an FM transmitter. If you use a relatively unused frequency (usually in the 80s) you should not find interference a big issue. Most radio stations are clustered in the 100s.

5

Re: iPod Accessories

Best thing is to get stereo head-unit with a line-in jack and get this cable:

[thumb=H]mm20076_3907000.JPG[/thumb]

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