All I Want for Christmas

By J. Allen Leinberger

 

My wife calls them toys.

They are the third party devices that we all like to add to our computers in order to make them do new and exciting things. In this age of computer music, movie and TV downloads, many toys are designed to enhance our entertainment pleasure.

Some of the items that have not passed across my desk, but have been showing up in catalogs and magazines, include devices to play iPod music and videos on your desk.

Your MP3 music device can be converted into a boom box or a musical alarm clock. Such systems, along with carrying cases, headphones and earplugs, have practically become an entire subcategory. A company called iLuv (they all start with a small “i” these days, except for some, like zCover) makes Bluetooth Hi-Fi audio system and alarm for your player and includes Bluetooth wireless headphones.

Your player can also become a very tiny TV with a big bad speaker system. Recently the Business Journal reported on a unit made by the Inland Empire’s Cal Spas, which was built for the backyard and included a waterfall, a light show and a flat screen TV running off of a video iPod. At the flick of a switch, the screen rises up out of the top of the unit like Ursula Andres rising out of the surf in “Dr. No.”

 

Wow.

 

ViewSonic makes an adapter that plays your video iPod on a 22” screen. Many other companies, like DLO and Griffin, have adapter kits that allow you to hook up to your existing set.

 

Apple has a device coming out next year that will work off of your computer’s iTunes library, sending the show to your TV. Right now they are calling it iTV, but that name will change before it hits the market.

 

Many companies that we have reported on in these pages before, like Dr. Bott and XtremeMac, make a lot of wraps, carriers and protective covers for your music device, many with belt clips or arm bands. Others add gimmicks, such as iFrogz custom color and artwork and icon skin or iSkin’s compact holder. The iFrogz people have also told me they have a new way of taking your photos and turning them into wheel art to go on their iPod’s control wheels. Now your wife can stick her finger in your eye.

 

One company called Scosche featured a backpack at Ontario’s recent Podcast Expo. It can play your iPod out of amplified built-in speakers. It runs on 6 AA batteries. The company is in Oxnard, but you can find them at www.scosche.com. Dr. Bott features a canvas brief case satchel from Musak that will play your MP3 device as you walk through the parking lot.

 

For some time now I have sung the praises of the Podfreq by Sonnet, an Orange County company. It allowed me to play my iPod from my FM radio in my car. Now I have a different device from Kensington called the Digital FM Transmitter/Auto Charger. It looks like a big plug for my cigarette lighter. It has a small window with a digital readout and three buttons, which allows me to preset three empty FM frequencies to, for iPod playback. While the FCC requires any of these devices to not interfere with licensed broadcast’ channels and let the broadcasters signal come in, this new device still has a bigger, better sound. It is actually clearer. The base sounds are sharper. The overall sound is fuller. Even the stereo separation is better defined. I get a little buzz from the car’s engine sometimes, but it’s nothing to worry about.

 

There are, in fact, an amazing number of items to use in connection with your iPod, or computer, Mac or Windows. According to the Apple Web site, there are “more than 3,000 accessories made specifically for iPod that range from fashionable cases to speaker systems.” Meanwhile, Microsoft has released their own music player, Zune, designed to compete with the iPod.

 

Zune has a bigger screen than the video iPod, and it will let you beam music to other Zune users like info from a Palm Pilot, but it is not compatible with Macs. Microsoft also has a new operating system called Vista, coming out in January. Apple is expected to release OSX 10.5, named Leopard, in the spring.

 

You can visit the local computer stores or shop online. Most of the companies I have mentioned have Web sites. Simply Google the name and you should find them.

 

My personal recommendation, and it’s not too late, is to check one of two online/catalog companies. They are MacMall and PCMall. They offer new “toys” almost as soon as they are available, and often you get better prices and/or additional goodies, such as a free printer or a RAM upgrade with their purchase.

 

Happy shopping.

 

Oh, and one last thing. Least you want to tell everyone that I didn’t give you anything for Christmas, here’s a bit of free advise from Mac Addict Magazine:

“There’s all kinds of Wi-Fi access available in most office-park parking lots.”