[geeks] fwd: The Seven Phases of Owning an iPod - An Illustrated Journey

[Dan Duncan]

On Wed, 15 Nov 2006, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> I still find that even in 2006, the UI of competing players just aren't
> very good. Mostly, they cram too many features in and/or are overly
> complicated.

I like the smart playlists.  I don't have to update them when
I add music.

> > I use mine in the car (with appropriate cabling depending on which car -
> > tape-on-a-string, fm xmit,
>
> Do you find the radio transmitters give good sound?

No.  Tape-on-a-string actually sounds better but of course requires a
tape player.  (turn off noise reduction) I don't have one of these, but I
thought this was a GREAT idea:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/smartdeck/index.php

I'm in the market for a new deck for the car.  I haven't decided how crazy
I want to go yet.  I want Sirius but only if I get the same functionality
as my wife has on hers.  She has a sirius unit with "replay" capability
where it works like a Tivo in live tv mode.  It has a 49 minute buffer (more
than twice that for voice programming like talk radio or stand up comedy)
so she can pause it when she goes into the store or something and continue
when she comes out.  The track forward/back button is even smart enough to
switch to the next song or program (even the commercials and station ID are
separate tracks on the stations that have them) so she can skip stuff she
doesn't like.  The stereo I put in her van plays MP3 CD, USB thumb drive
with mp3, am/fm, and has a 1/8" input which is where the sirius "sportster replay"
is plugged in.  The stereo cost me $88.  Now they've replaced it with a newer
model that adds SD/MMC card mp3 playback which is also $88 at Target.  So far
I haven't braved plugging my ipod into the USB port on her stereo but if I get
a similar setup and plug Sirius into the 1/8" jack I'll probably try it...
I don't imagine it will hurt the ipod and if it overloads the stereo it will probably
just crash it, not hurt it... right?  :)

> I've seen one locally for about $20 made by MacPlay (I think), and
> wondered if it was any good.

Some of them are better than others. I've tried 2 or 3 types and not one sounds
as good as my Ramsey FM10 used to, but I no longer have it.

> I wish more car stereos would ship with a simple 1/4 stereo input. I
> don't need a cradle, just the audio input would be fine.

The ones I've seen have been 1/8" but it's easy enough to adapt to 1/4".

I suppose the new VW with the guitar input (WTF??!?!) has a 1/4" input
but it's a different signal than line in.

-DanD

-- 
#  Dan Duncan (kd4igw)  dand at pcisys.net  http://pcisys.net/~dand
# Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.  -Voltaire