I am using a Belkin Auto Kit to power my 3G ipod and get audio out. I was getting alternator noise in the signal though. Cure? Had a local deal re-wire my Magellan GPS. Apparently the original guys did a shoddy job and wired it through the fuse box instead of the battery. Now, all is clear

Steve

Due to the fact that it is clear these jerks were just out to get their name out, I have removed the post about the guys who made the anti-ipod battery video.

They are not out for the consumer, just out for their own limelight. They never posted the info on how to fix the battery or replace it cheaply and they lied to the guy mirroring their movie that they indeed would do as such. So, the mirror of their site is gone from here.

Go buy an iPod today and give these dopes the finger!

haha if you want a chuckle, head on over to iPodRocks.com and check out the “Convince your parents” section.

I love how the screens bounce in (so Apple-like) and the “one load of laundry” coupon just kills me. LOL

Thanks to Jim for this link to Ballmer’s iPod

This made my week!

I mounted my iPod in the Taurus using a mount put in by Martindales and a custom holder I built to mount to the bracket.

You can see it here.

I’ve been wanting a mount for my iPod for some time. Check out the pictures of what I have so far.

At Stereophile, talks about the innards and the sound quality, the design, etc.

Oprah Winfrey gave away 15gb iPods to today’s audience in a “things I like” show. I gotta say, that is pretty cool.

I wanted a playlist that

a) Was at the top of the playlists b) Contained all of my purchased music c) Was sorted Alphabetically

I can achieve B and C by just sorting the auto created “Purchased Music” playlist by name. You can achieve A by renamed the “Purchased Music” playlist to have a “-” in front, so it is named “-Purchased Music”

In July of last summer I bought my first iPod, a 10gb generation one model with the physical wheel. I loved everything about it, except I always wanted a line out for my stereo and car. When Apple announced the new iPods this week, I drooled, but I was not willing to spend the money for one.

Then I remembered that I had a slightly busted headphone jack (caused by a cable in the car) and that I had paid $30 for a 2 year Comp USA warranty (half price, cuz I am a lucky guy) I called Comp USA and they verified that I would receive a new iPod! I then asked about the cost for upgrading from my 10gb to the 30gb. They asked how much I had paid for my 10gb, which was $499. Since the new 30’s are also $499, I was to get that model!

So I quickly headed off to Comp USA and swapped iPods, after restoring mine to factory 1.3 software. Seeing as the warranty is a “one shot” warranty, I bought a new one for $60 on the new iPod. Still a great deal, as it covers accidental damage as well.

So what does The Geek think? Overall these new iPods are very, very nice. I’ll start off with my criticisms, and end with the positives.

First off, the screen seems harder to read in the daylight. I don’t know why, it just does. It is darker and has less viewing angle or something. I can live with it, however.

This iPod also has full touch sensitive controls. Mine was all physical. The plus is that there are no moving parts to break. The minuses are that I end up touching buttons by accident a lot, and sometimes buttons like Menu just don’t respond. The jury is still out on these new buttons.

The hold button is smaller, has no ridges on top and thus is harder to slide.

Becase the new iPods are so thin, there is no longer a firewire port. Apple has a proprietary thin port on the bottom, which plugs into the dock. I am worried about the connector, which use spring loaded connectors to hold them in place.

The battery life is claimed to be 2 hours less.

So, why do I like the new iPods? Sound, sound, sound. The line out, coupled with no sound check nor equalizer, sounds amazing. With my Apple Powered Speakers, my Denon receiver, or my car stereo, all three sources are bright and crisp. Songs that I purchased with the iTunes Music Store that sounded muddled are now bright. What really made the change, I don’t know, but it is there.

I was worried about connecting to line out in the car, as the current method to get line out is by using the dock. However, the dock fit perfectly on my center console, above the shifter, and stayed put, through some hard turns and over speed bumps. The only problem was those touch sensitive buttons, which would activate every time I went to pick up the ipod.

The 30gb disk space and smaller size/weight are indeed nice. I am really happy I upgraded and i hope Apple listens to customers on the buttons and refines the design. Sometimes, a tactile button is the best solution.

For all you iPod lovers, Apple releases the sleep new iPods this Friday!

All Apple Stores will have events, and here in Portland, several dealers, such as The Computer Store and MacForce will also be holding events.

I’ll be headed to MacForce to check them out!

I had made a smart play list that chose one hour of music at random, to make my hikes a little more interesting. This way, I don’t have to check a watch. I never could figure out how to get iTunes to choose a new set of songs though.

I figured it out by accident tonight. Select the songs in the playlist and press delete. It will delete the songs and then fill the playlist again.

This is not intuitive to me because as an engineer, I see an auto playlist as something that is mutable. You should not be able to edit the list (the computer created it after all!) so I never tried. Bad UI, but I guess we learn how to work around kludgy UI all of the time.

I feel, so, Windows like…

P.S. I would have preferred a “Randomize again” or “rebuild playlist” option in the playlist’s contextual menu.

Thanks to Roger for pointing this one out:

Add iCal events to your iPod