iCessories

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

So I'm thinking of getting an iPod. Aside from general love it/hate it recommendations (and jeffwik, let me know how the repair goes), there are two accessories I'm interested in picking up.

1.) Earbuds/headphones -- I'm told the basic earbuds that come with the iPod are only so-so, but are there any recommendations for something a bit better. Better in this case means "more comfortable" over "you can hear the bassist fart".

2.) Sleeve -- So obviously, I'm going to put my shiny new toy in a protective sleeve, but I've seen one where the iPod hung upside down from a fob that clipped to your belt. This made it easy to get at the iPod when you needed to but otherwise it was out of the way. Anyone happen to have a brand-name for something like that?

later
Tom

Comments

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

Allow me to save you some trouble in this department... there are infinite monkeys creating infinite varieties of iPod accessories. And there is no good way to "try out" the ones that will work best for you without buying them. But this is what I came away with after purchasing a few things:

1) Earbuds and over-the-ear earphones are lame. There is no perfect shape that will fit every ear - one that's great for everyone you know could still suck for you. I settled on a pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones, mid-range price, they work great, and never fall out of or off my ears.

2) Cases made of silicone wear out FAST. I had a "skin-tight" sleeve that worked well on my iPod, but didn't allow me to plug in any accessories at the base and it STRETCHED which was super annoying as it got more and more loose around the device. I settled on a hard see-through plastic case made by Belkin - it doesn't hide the beauty of the iPod, prevents scratches, insulates slightly from impacts, and is easy to pop off whenever I want to plug in an accessory.

3) Speaking of accessories... I got this $10 microphone attachment that turns the iPod into a digital recorder - it's a built-in speaker, and the mic pulls out and becomes just an empty jack that you can plug anything into to record a direct line in. XtremeMac MicroMemo: I don't know if they make it any more, my mom picked it up on fire sale at some electronics joint. I'm also considering picking up a really cheap AM/FM tuner.

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

BTW, I got the 80 gig classic, despite all the warnings from people that the disc drive models always die. I'm figuring though that by the time it dies on me the solid state models will have caught up to same capacity. And I'm trying real hard not to drop it.

[buxom-bey.livejournal.com]

I got this and I love it.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Headphone.com has decent phones and good stats on them. They're pretty knowledgeable and after buying what is actually a kind of ridiculous variety of cans I've come to trust their ratings.

For earbuds, though, I just got a basic set of Sony thingies because I expect those to get destroyed in my pocket or lost or forgotten or run over by a chair. Earbuds are usually lame, but if you're walking around with it they're unobtrusive (i.e. you aren't that dork with the headphones on the T or whereever) and you can easily pocket them. They also usually let you hear if you're going to be run over by a car or if somebody is yelling at you. And if they're cheap and break or get stolen, oh well. Otherwise, get a pair of Grado SR-60's and be a big headphone nerd.

Anyway, here's headphone.com's earbuds page.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I got fancy bose earbuds (credit card rewards!) and love them. But if I'm in the house I wear olde fashioned non-bud earphones.

I have a silicone case that, true to statement above, is fally aparty. I got imvfd the one made my iskin and it rocks. It's way better than mine.

:)

my thoughts

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

ear buds are horrid and uncomfy and evil. and they make my ears itch...

if you get an ipod, you should get an ipod car adaptor thingy so that you can play it in your car. then I can steal all of your cds!

:)

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

You can also get a free iPod from iPodmeister in exchange for 300 CDs with original art and jewel cases. They also rip everything to DVD for you for free.

[mazianni.livejournal.com]

I have a Handstand iPak for my 4th generation 40 GB iPod. It's probably the only reason I still have a working 4th generation iPod, given how often I've dropped the damned thing.

IMO, all earbuds suck. I use a pair of $12 Phillips ear phones that clip on over the ears. These too suck.

The iTrip I used to have for the car was great. Sadly, it died and none of the currently available FM transmitters seem to broadcast on 87.9. This becomes a problem right around the time I hit Belmont and no FM frequency is any good for the Belkin and Griffin transmitters I've tried.

[velvetdragon64.livejournal.com]

Having a limited budget, I went for the Sansa by SanDisk.
2GB for the same price as the 1GB IPod.
I've been pleased with it so far. I've had it since Thanksgiving.
I bought the sleeve/soft case for mine that has a belt clip on it, so that I could clip it to my tool belt while working (yes, I wear a tool belt ;)
I can access all the functions, except locking, while it is in the sleeve.
The ear buds that came with it have been acceptable.
That's my 2cents :)

[methanopyrus.livejournal.com]

I like earbuds for my own reasons. I think the sound quality is good with the ones that come from apple. (And I have spent months trying different brands of hearing aids to get sound quality that I liked, so even though I wear hearing aids, it does not mean my evaluation of sound quality is moot)
So the annoying thing about earbuds is that I have to remove the hearing aids to use them, but in some places/times in my life, this is not a problem as it was more important for me to develop my own rhythm and hear the music. So, the earbuds are good because they don't seal my ears, so I can keep the music on low and still converse but if I need to the earbud comes out rapidly to allow for quick change to conversation that can be more focused, like at work or even when traveling and someone wants to converse. I like being more ready to converse with people and I prefer to be less antisocial than some with headphones.
One final reason that I like earbuds is that there is no pressure on my head. Since I wear hearing aids, I know I prefer custom shaped instruments in my ears which are too small anyhow for the inside ear phones (though they may fit you) and I dont like the giant over the head clip-pressure phones because I get tired easily from the pressure and clipping.

[hawkhandsaw.livejournal.com]

I prefer the earphones with the hook that wraps around your ear, because the earbuds fall out of my ears in the motorcycle helmet and the full headphones won't fit under it...