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jdhindes · Jun 14, 2003, 03:36 PM

As a new Ipod owner and recent "switcher," I would like to know what are some of your favorite Ipod accessories. I have a new 15 gb Ipod. I plan to use my Ipod in my truck as well as at the office and at home of course.

Jim

Freeflyer · Jun 14, 2003, 05:09 PM

Waterfield Designs case

Sony MDR-EX70SL Fontopia earphones (so much better than the apple ear buds, and they cut out so much background noise on planes.

battery pack I made myself, allowed me to spend a month trekking in the himalayas and still have music

the case is a must as the apple one is crap. The apple case belt clip is very, VERY flimsy and will break if you so much as look at this. I'm on my second ipod because of this, Thank goodness for insurance.

J.

slider · Jun 15, 2003, 04:05 AM

Yep, I too have the Super Dooper case from Water Field Design and it makes my list as well. I also have the iTrip, which I think is fantastic.

Steve · Jun 15, 2003, 04:11 PM

Grado SR-80s. Great sounding, comfortable, relatively cheap headphones.

Also, my Sennheiser MX-500s ($14 from NewEgg.com) for any portable listening.

digi-jj · Jun 16, 2003, 01:51 AM

glow-in-the-dark iSkin

Gee4orce · Jun 16, 2003, 04:43 AM

Are we talking about the new Apple belt clip/case, or the old one ? The new one looks pretty robust to me, but I haven't used it much.

Freeflyer - How did you make your battery pack, out of interest. ?

Freeflyer · Jun 16, 2003, 07:09 AM

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Are we talking about the new Apple belt clip/case, or the old one ? The new one looks pretty robust to me, but I haven't used it much.

Freeflyer - How did you make your battery pack, out of interest. ?

It was a 10Gb ipod bought early december (birthday present from my wife, totally unexpected). I doubt if they've changed the belt clip, it broke at the hinge. Can't have taken much force.

The battery pack is dead easy to make if you can do basic solderiing.

First you'll need an apple thin firewire cable, like the one that came with the ipod. If you use another cable, I can't guarantee that the polarity will be the same, but I think that the colouring is standard.

Go to radio shack and buy an 8 AA battery holder (The one I have has a connector that looks like the top of a 9v battery. ), and a battery clip for a 9v battery, which has a couple of flying leads about 3 inches long on it, that are black (-ve) and red (+ve). I'm sure you know the sort of thing I mean. (buy the pro version, 5 for about $3 in a pack. The cheaper 5 for a $1 are much lower quality).

You'll also need a soldering iron and either some insulating tape or some heat shrink tubing.

Cut the firewire cable to a length that suits you and strip back the outer insulation, being careful not to cut into the inner wires. You'll see a braided shield around the inner cables. Trim that away. This will leave you with two pairs of braided wires and a black a white pair, which are the power wires. Cut off the two braided pairs, they're the data pairs which you won't be using.

Strip a few mm of insulation off the black and white wires and tin the ends with solder. Do the same for the battery connector. Put the bits of heat shrink onto the cables now, before you solder them. Solder together the white firewire lead to the +ve battery connector and the black firewire lead to the -ve battery lead. Cover with heat shrink and heat to shrink. I use small heat shrink on each power lead and then bend them back on themselves so that the cable forms and S shape, then cover that with a larger piece of heat shrink, which forms a tight cluster acting as a support to prevent the cables pulling apart. This is easier to see than describe.

Fill the battery pack with batteries, plug into the ipod and watch the battery meter show a charge. You can use the other end of the firewire lead to make a car adaptor, using an old mobile phone adaptor.

I got the original idea from someone on the ipodding page, although I couldn't find anyone who could tell me the polarity of the apple firewire cable, so I used a multi meter on the cable when it was plugged into the power supply and searched the internet for a pinout of the cable.

Take a look here

http://ipodding.com/modules.php?op=m...ad&tid=507

for a discussion on making the battery pack and here

http://ipodding.com/modules.php?op=m...le&artid=2

for details on making a car charger.

It worked a treat for me. I plug the battery pack in for an hour or two, then uplug it. On fresh batteries I got at least a dozen charges out of it.

Hope this helps,

J.

iNeusch · Jun 16, 2003, 08:05 AM

Damn that's nice !
And I wanted to buy one from Belkin

slider · Jun 16, 2003, 03:40 PM

Wouldn't this just be easier?

zigzag · Jun 16, 2003, 04:23 PM

I'm a new user, so I haven't explored many accessories yet, but:

- I like my car cassette adapter. Simple, straightforward, and sounds as good as my car stereo is likely to sound. I just leave it in place and plug the jack into the iPod (which remains on my belt) when I get in the car. No fussing with radio frequencies, extra hardware, or batteries.

- I used the remote at first, then abandoned it. The long cord is a pain and the controls aren't well-designed. I use the sound level feature in iTunes which makes the need for volume changes infrequent. Maybe I'll try it again later on.

- I'm pretty satisfied with the standard case and belt clip on the new iPod (mine appears to be very sturdy). It's not as versatile as some of the third-party designs, but simplicity also has its virtues.

- I'm satisfied with the sound of the standard earpods, but they're hard and I have small ears so they can get a little uncomfortable after a few hours. I might look for some that are either smaller or have a bit more cushioning.

Freeflyer · Jun 16, 2003, 09:49 PM

Originally posted by slider:
Wouldn't this just be easier?

Not unless you want to carry a car battery up the mountains with you. I was 10 days walk from the nearest road, a car adapter wasn't going to be much use.

J.

Gee4orce · Jun 18, 2003, 08:37 AM

I just got my new iPod working with my Belkin Car adapter - dock version. Wow. Now I can charge and listen on the go, all with just 1 cable. Cool.

I was using the headphones jack previously with my old iPod. The Belkin makes a huge difference - the volume is much better and the clarity is a vast improvement. And bass - well, now there actually IS bass !

I had to wire in a ground loop isolator to get it to work though ($8 UKP from Maplin). No big problem.

icruise · Jun 18, 2003, 08:52 AM

Originally posted by slider:
Wouldn't this just be easier?

Not really comparable, but this is:

Backup battery pack for ipod

If only it weren't so damn expensive.

ccrider · Jun 19, 2003, 08:03 PM

Still waiting for this.

Out of stock as of now, but can't wait!

slider · Jun 19, 2003, 08:18 PM

Originally posted by Freeflyer:
Not unless you want to carry a car battery up the mountains with you. I was 10 days walk from the nearest road, a car adapter wasn't going to be much use.

J.

Oh wait, now I remember. You had a thread asking about this before you left for your trip right? For some reason I thought you went with a solar powered option.

Freeflyer · Jun 20, 2003, 08:17 AM

Yup, that was me asking about power options a few months ago.

The 8 AA batteries lasted me about 10 days of listening several hours a day. I just put in a second set when needed. It did the job really well, and only cost me less than $5 to put together.

The belkin unit looks good but, if I've read the specs correctly, it will power the ipod, but not charge it, and only for about 15 hours. So you'd have to keep it connected. I just charged my pod for a couple of hours when the charge got low and I was ready to rock and roll (or whatever) again.

I looked into the solar option, but from what I read, there weren't any reliable chargers. Add the weight of the charger and a second set of batteries for my pack was lighter and much, much cheaper.

J.

Nathan Adams · Jun 20, 2003, 11:42 AM

Originally posted by Freeflyer:
Sony MDR-EX70SL Fontopia earphones (so much better than the apple ear buds, and they cut out so much background noise on planes.

don't get the ex70's. yes, they're good phones (I own and use a pair everyday), but they have been superseded by the MDR-EX71SL's.
slightly updated design, and improved sound.
or one can get the EX51's for a comparable sound to the original 70's, but for a cheaper price.

Zoom · Jul 27, 2003, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by ccrider:
Still waiting for this.

Out of stock as of now, but can't wait!

I think this remote is much cooler, given that it's RF and not IR. I've asked them to send a picture of the receiver side, but haven't heard back yet.

Anyone have one of these, or know someone who does? Anyone know were I can find a picture of the receiver?

boardsurfer · Jul 28, 2003, 12:18 PM

Originally posted by Zoom:
I think this remote is much cooler, given that it's RF and not IR. I've asked them to send a picture of the receiver side, but haven't heard back yet.

Anyone have one of these, or know someone who does? Anyone know were I can find a picture of the receiver?

Here you go.