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Apple charges $39 for an iPod dock (that's just the brick, no cable), $19 for the FW adapter cables, and $49 for the power adapter. Therefore, to have a complete second dock with outlet power you're staring at $117, possibly with additional shipping and tax.

That's ridiculous, I don't care how pretty they are.

What are the alternatives?

I have three problems I need to solve:

(1) Office. I have a PC with no FW. I don't need to sync with it, but it seems like the cheapest option here is a dock, a FW adapter, and a FW PCI card. That would be $39 + $19 + maybe $15 (on sale), or $73.

NOTE: An Apple rep told me that PC's don't have power in their FW PCI cards, so I'd have to hook the card up to an available internal power cable (like those used for drives). Is this true?

(2) Home entertainment system. I want to haev a dedicated dock with power for my home stereo. I think the best option here is a dock, a FW adapter, and the original power brick that came with my iPod, or $58. Then I'd want to add this spiffy RF remote for $35. Total cost, $93.

(3) Car. This is a tricky one. Belkin seems to have the most products here, but they're pricey and I'm looking for other options. They have a cup holder... uh.. holder ($30) and a power adapter for $50, and then I'd need some sort of adapter to get the sound into my Nissan factory stereo. The best option I found for that is this Cendyne Gruv-X player for $20. So, this solution will run $100.

For those of you keeping score, that's $266, plus shipping and applicable taxes.

I'm willing to pay $20 for an FM transmitter and $35 for an RF remote... but $40 for a dock and $20 for a cable?? And I don't even need a FW cable, I just need a cable with power.

So. What are my other options? Does anyone else make a dock? Can you buy the damn proprietary connector anywhere so you can make your own cables and docks?

Someone needs to make a simple dock with a dedicated cable that does nothing but supplies power and has a mini stereo plug on it. Belkin, are you listening?

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Ah, one more thing. The guys at the Apple Store told me that when you buy an extra Apple dock, the box actually contains two docks, one for the 10GB and 15GB models, and another for the 30GB models. Is this true?

How stupid is this??

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I just posted a request to both Apple and Belkin for this product: a "dumb dock". It only has power and stereo out, no data capability. The transformer could even be in the base of the dock (if the emag wouldn't hurt the iPod) and it would just have a regular 110v plug on it. That's what is needed, and I can't believe no one has made one. If you were to assemble one now, it would require a dock ($39), a FW cable ($19), and a power brick ($49) - for a grand total of $107.

What the hell is actually in a dock? There are no electonics, right? It's just a fancy connector?

Please, someone, make this. I'd buy three, at least, just for me. I'm thinking $39 for this.

Maybe add an RF remote control, too. I'd pay $59 for that. (Can you control the iPod's functions from the bottom connector, or just from the top?)

Does anyone know where you buy the proprietary connector for the bottom? I might just make myself one of these things. I suppose I could cough up $19 for the cable and cut it, but making a custom dock with a perfectly aligned cable at the bottom would be tough.