32 responses so far ↓

• 1 tien // Jan 30, 2004 at 9:59 am

  i love that first image.

  and that’s not your hand, right?

• 2 rachelle // Jan 30, 2004 at 10:10 am

  what? you think i have manhands!?

  that’s eric’s hand. he was looking at laptops because he wants to trade up on his old one.

• 3 tien // Jan 30, 2004 at 10:12 am

  um…i just thought they weren’t pale enough to be your hands.

• 4 Mike // Jan 30, 2004 at 10:40 am

  This entry was blocked by my firewall as containing Apple porn.

• 5 Nedward // Jan 30, 2004 at 10:46 am

  A little advice on the iTrip… I live in Boston, where the spectrum is very cluttered. This has made using the iTrip a real disappointment.

  I have to commute 25 miles, so even if it works in Boston, by the time I’m on the road, the static starts creeping in… sad.

• 6 rachelle // Jan 30, 2004 at 10:51 am

  that’s funny, mike. are there other transmitters that work better? would you suggest those mini speakers they have instead of the transmitter?

• 7 chuck // Jan 30, 2004 at 10:52 am

  I bought some frequency transmitter thing about six months ago. i forget exactly what it’s called — the graphx or something — it looks like a miniature pager with a curly cord attached to it. it’s worked very well. it runs off a battery.

  also, rachelle, i have had more time with the in-ear apple earphones, and i now like them. i had to upgrade from the the smallest rubber tips to the middle, so that they stayed in my ears. this has rectified the low=bass problem i mentioned earlier.

• 8 rachelle // Jan 30, 2004 at 11:01 am

  yeh, i remember your transmitter now.. and now that i think about it, it didnt look like the itrip. the curly cord hangs off it, right? thanks for the update on the in-ears.

• 9 Mark Shewmaker // Jan 30, 2004 at 11:40 am

  I’ve heard nothing but complaints about transmitters (check ipodlounge, ipodding and epinions .coms). A. Apple Store sales rep actually talked me out of buying the belkin model because he was sure that I would end up returning it. By design, transmitters aren’t allowed by the FCC to broadcast a signal strong enough to compete with the signal generated by a radio station, causing inevitable interference. Chuck may be on to a uniquely successful transmitter; I’d ask to borrow his and see if it’s as successful for you.

  I ended up buying the Sony cassette adapter. It’s an inelegant solution; obviously requires a car with a tape deck, but it works. There is some noticable(at least by my hyper-sensitive ears) sound degredation, but I hear (har, har) that the same can be said for transmitters.

• 10 rachelle // Jan 30, 2004 at 11:46 am

  Mark, didn’t you have the same transmitter as Chuck when we were in Baltimore? Also, I would most likely be in a UHaul.. So I wouldn’t be able to test Chucks..and I’m wondering if U-Haul trucks have tape decks. hmm..

• 11 Ed // Jan 30, 2004 at 11:54 am

  Yeah, I have an iTrip and I don’t recommend it. I just drove from LA to SF a few weeks back and couldn’t get reception even in the most deserted parts of the state.

  If you scroll through this thread, you’ll get more insight on transmitters…Keith (HeadCase on the message board) advises using one that charges the pod while it transmits.

  http://www.spundae.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3154

• 12 Richard // Jan 30, 2004 at 1:31 pm

  what do you mean, if you end up moving to Chicago?

• 13 jeannette // Jan 30, 2004 at 1:36 pm

  you have to work on a pc?? why?

  i’m being forced to use netscape communicator right now for email. yuk.

• 14 Mark Shewmaker // Jan 30, 2004 at 1:43 pm

  Chuck and I have the same model of iPod, but I never bought a transmitter. Without a tape deck, you’d be SOL. All a transmitter requires is an FM radio, preferably one with digital tuning to lock on to an exact frequency.

• 15 rachelle // Jan 30, 2004 at 2:27 pm

  I said if i end up MOVING MYSELF, not if i end up MOVING. I’m still pricing out movers vs. moving myself.

• 16 callalillie // Jan 30, 2004 at 2:53 pm

  Blah! PCs aren’t that bad…and I think that the Apple Store is one of the most obnoxious places in the city. Genius Center my butt.

• 17 rachelle // Jan 30, 2004 at 2:55 pm

  let the mudslinging begin

• 18 Richard // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:13 pm

  i think you added the word ‘myself’, cause there’s no way that i could have read it wrong. not me.

• 19 Mike // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:15 pm

  This summer I moved from CT to New Hampshire and I took a Uhaul. It was a 26 footer and I hoped it would have a tape deck for my tape adapter and iPod, but no luck there. Luckily i was able to catch a few good radio stations along the way.

  My drive was pretty short compared to yours. I went to college in Chicago so I know what driving from CT to Chicago is like. It can get pretty boring across Ohio and Indiana. Straight and flat. I was glad to have a CD player along for the ride (pre-iPod days of course). I wouldn’t recommend wearing headphones while driving, but I had a $20 radio-shack FM transmitter that I used for my discman in my old car which was without a tape player and if it was me, I would surely pay that $20 bucks to elude boredom on the treck out to Chicago.

  By the way, I’m jealous. I moved back from Chicago in 2000, and every once in a while I wish i hadn’t. But such is life. Good luck with the move and the job. and with the PC… Great site too, btw.

• 20 joel // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:33 pm

  Mike - what part of CT are you from? I grew up in the Hartford area (wethersfield actually).

  And yeah, in an attempt to add some value to this comment, my iPod-owning friends swear by this other method - here’s a some info my friend john wrote in a messageboard I hang out in -

  “ no, FM adapter sounds like ass.

  there’s a company called Blitzsafe which makes adapters that plug in to your factory CD changer wiring. The adapter provides a component audio input. So the iPod is basically my CD changer as far as my radio is concerned - the radio can’t control the iPod, but the sound quality is excellent.

  I think the adapter cost about $50, and I had to buy a big Y cable with a mini-headphone jack at one end and two coax component jacks at the other, and it works like a charm. The sucky part is that my CD changer is in my trunk so I had to run that big Y cable under all my seats and the trunk carpeting. Still, it only took like 20 minutes and it’s pretty much invisible.

  If you’re looking to hardware your iPod, just find a forum where people who own whatever car you have hang out - you’re bound to find people who have spent many hours doing the research regarding the cleanest ways to install an ipod in your car.“

• 21 joel // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:36 pm

  guess movable type doesnt like i tags finishing on a line further down … oops

• 22 nick // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:39 pm

  awww. someone thinks their PC isn’t that bad - how cute.

• 23 callalillie // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:41 pm

  Don’t get me wrong– I do like Apple products, though my iPod experience and their marketing of cheap, crappy iMacs to schools has only reinforced my distaste for the company.

• 24 Keith // Jan 30, 2004 at 3:48 pm

  Did someone just dissed the Apple Store?! Now the cult of Macs heads are coming to get you…

• 25 joel // Jan 30, 2004 at 4:04 pm

  I have an idea.

  PCs. Macs. Linux. Windows. OSX. All of them. All computer related stuff - just plain sucks.

  CMON GUYS AM I RITE?!?!

• 26 callalillie // Jan 30, 2004 at 4:30 pm

  I’m with Joel. Can’t we all just get along?

• 27 Ed // Jan 30, 2004 at 4:39 pm

  What are these computers you speak of…

  I would type more but the squirrel running on the wheel that powers my connection is getting tired.

• 28 Keith // Jan 30, 2004 at 4:52 pm

  Oh I’m not hatin’ here, I just keep forgetting that my computer geek sense of humor doesn’t translate well in text form. I’m all love here, computer user or not, as long as you are not trying to rob me or kill me you are cool in my book

• 29 joel // Jan 30, 2004 at 5:20 pm

  really though … computers suck.

• 30 Ed // Jan 31, 2004 at 6:36 am

  Try this: while sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number “6″ in the air with your right hand.

  Your foot will change direction and there’s nothing you can do about it.

  How smart do ya think you are now, Mr. and Ms. smarty Mac user! lol

  I can’t sleep…f’n Friday night margaritas!

• 31 Rob // Feb 3, 2004 at 7:37 pm

  there’s a company called Blitzsafe which makes adapters that plug in to your factory CD changer wiring.

  I did something similar with my stereo, after taking a year and a half to put it back in the new car. Pioneer sells a dingus that plugs into the stereo’s CD changer port and gives you RCA line-in jacks that you can select as “aux” with the source button. I clipped a short length of patch cord, soldered it to a headphone jack and mounted it in the pocket under the stereo. Now I just run a short cable from that to the iPod.

  Plus, the Pioneer lets you label the inputs, so it says “iPod” on the display (gotta love a stereo with upper and lowercase letters with proportional spacing!   : )

  No question that direct-connect is the way to go. A noticeable increase in dynamic range over the cassette adapter that I had been using with the factory stereo for the previous year — and no more 15 minutes of initial rattling from the adapter when starting up on winter mornings!

  Remember: PC Laptops Make Baby Jesus Cry

• 32 Ed // Feb 19, 2004 at 4:00 am

  A sure-fire way to win iTunes every time you buy a Pepsi –> http://www.macmerc.com/news/archives/1270