new toy

[cellio]

I've entered the 21st century: I now have an iPod (nano), a birthday present from Dani. This was totally unexpected; I haven't had portable music since way back when I had a Walkman (TM). But I'd been lamenting the hassle of moving CDs between the home and the car (the one you want is always in the wrong place), and this solves that. Dani also got me an interface between the iPod and the car stereo; it broadcasts via FM, raising questions (not answered in the documentation) about signal distance. Can I end up in conflict with the guy behind me at the traffic light? Time may tell, nor not. (Neither Dani nor I is really an earbud kind of person.)

The itty bitty iPod comes with an itty bitty manual. Fortunately (I suppose), also a short one. (I read it with a magnifying glass.)

The UI seems a little jumpy, and I do hope there's a global switch so that turning it on requires intentional action. As it is, just brushing the face sometimes turns it on, which can't be good for battery life.

I haven't used iTunes before, and parts of the interface are (deliberately?) counter-intuitive for Windows, but I think I've got the gist of it. So far I'm just working at the album level; I haven't created playlists. I assume that eventually I'll have too much music in iTunes for the iPod and I'll need to select what to put on the iPod, but I've only scanned about half a dozen CDs so far so that's not an issue yet.

Cool toy!

Comments

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Can I end up in conflict with the guy behind me at the traffic light?

Probably not, but the real question is whether or not you'll be able to find a clear channel on your FM band for the tuner to use. darkwolfie and I have given up on trying to listen to our iPods using that method in Massachusetts. There is something on every frequency. If we had a tape deck in the truck we'd be laughing; we could just use a cassette adapter. But alas -- we only have a CD player.

As for listening methods, you can use any listening device you like, as long as it fits in the headphone jack. I don't like earbuds, but I like in-ear headphones a lot. I have Shure E2c (http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Earphones/ESeries/us_pa_E2c_content) earphones, and I love them (review (http://gear.ign.com/articles/409/409957p1.html) on IGN). They effectively blocked out the sound from the diesel generator and light sets outside my tent in Kuwait, and such a relief that was, I cannot tell you.

As for listening without headphones at all, there are a lot of speker solutions, many of them portable. I have a set of Altec Lansing inMotion speakers (http://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-inMotion-Portable-System/dp/B00017IX10/sr=8-1/qid=1159222377/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1237553-4003300?ie=UTF8&s=electronics) that fold flat to about the size of a largish paperback book. The sound is quite good for the size of the speakers, and they run on both AC power and batteries, and will charge your iPod while it's in the dock, which is nice. I leave mine set up in my workroom so I can listen to my iPod while I sew. I also have them plugged into my laptop, because sometimes they sound better than my laptop speakers.

In regards to the hypersensitive clickwheel, there is a hold switch at the top of the iPod -- switch that on when you're not using the clickwheel; it renders the wheel inoperable until switched off. PDF manuals for all sorts of iPod stuff can be found here (http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/ipod/).

I have more music in iTunes than will fit on my nano (only 4gb), so I set the nano to manual update and load it by dragging and dropping. You might also find that you enjoy podcasts -- there are 'casts out there for every interest, and they are free, from the iTunes music store and from other sources.

So yeah, I'm a big fan of iPods, can you tell? If you have issues or questions, I'd be glad to try and help.

[cellio]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll send questions your way as they arise. :-)

Our FM spectrum isn't quite as crowded as yours, but I'm having a little trouble with that. I do have a tape deck in my current car, so if I can't solve the problem I'll try that adapter instead.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

When we had an iTrip (before we got the built-in connector, all fancy-schmantzy), we usually ended up at the very low range of the radio dial. And often we could switch up or down a couple of decimal points if we found a radio station popping up over our music. The real trick was keeping the iPod close enough to the radio receiver. We ended up having to have it on the dashboard in order to transmit as powerfully as possible.

If you're interested in the built-in system, at some point, give hakamadare a holler. I forget what it's called, but it's hardwired into our car.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips. In particular, I hadn't considered that proximity of the iPod itself might make a difference. (I assumed that the plugged-in gadget, not the iPod, was the source of the broadcast signal.) There's a cup-holder right in front of the dash near the radio; I'll try that.

(I'm definitely replacing my current car before the warranty runs out in early 2008, so even if I never get the built-in gadget for this car, it'll be something to look for in the next one.)

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Huh. Is the iTrip not plugged directly into the iPod? WIth ours, the proximity of one was virtually the same as the proximity of the other (wrt how close they were to the radio receiver). But that was ... two years ago, at least. Dunno if they've remodeled the iTrip since then.

[cellio]

Ah, we might be talking about different gadgets. I don't know what an iTrip is. What I have is an adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter (have you noticed that they no longer contain cigarette lighters? :-) ), and the iPod plugs into the other end. THe cord is about four feet long, so I've been putting the iPod on the front passenger seat.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Huh. I say you experiment, then! Try putting the iPod as far as possible from the antenna, and see if it's different from putting it as close as possible. Be sure to control for factors such as moving away from or toward a conflicting radio station (stay put), etc. I hypothesize that having the iPod closer to your antenna will give you better signal. ;)

[cellio]

My antenna is on the back center of the roof. I first tried putting the iPod in the back seat (the cord just reached), and that didn't help at all. I then picked it up while thinking about what to try next, and the signal got better. I tucked it behind the visor near the roof, and it got nice and clear. So elevation, or maybe some approximation of "line of sight", makes more of a difference than raw distance. (I'm pretty sure it was closer in the back seat, but not pointed at the antenna.)

[jducoeur]

Sounds like the same device I have. Yes, what matters there is the proximity of the gadget itself, not the iPod. I eventually decided that the interference was Way Too Annoying (see previous comments about the crowded Boston radio dial), and switched over to a cassette adaptor, which worked smashingly well -- until that stereo broke, and I discovered that getting a new one with a cassette player is a pain nowadays.

So I wound up choosing my new car stereo mostly *for* the iPod. I got one with an AUX input, had the installers hang a jack wire out the front, and I simply plug the iPod into that for automotive use. (They even make an iPod adaptor for the thing, which lets the stereo front-panel control the iPod, but it was an extra hundred bucks that I didn't care to spend...)

[cellio]

When I buy my next car, iPod support (of some form) will factor into the choice of audio system.

The best place in my car to put the iPod (at the end of its tether to the adapter) seems to be behind the visor. (See my comment above to chaiya.) I would not have expected that.

[geekosaur]

Basically, being Part 49 (unlicensed) transmitters, those little FM transmitters have a very limited range — and since the body of a car (if it's not all plastic, at least) makes a pretty good Faraday cage, there's essentially no signal outside the car. This also means that they can easily be overwhelmed by real transmitters; there's one patch of 279N that I found to be completely hopeless with the one I used to use (restricted choice of frequencies; some others let you use the whole FM range, which would have helped).

[cellio]

Thanks. The one I have gives access to the whole FM band, not just presets, which helps. (That said, the display is very hard to read, so there's strong incentive to not fiddle with it too much.)

[goljerp]

I do hope there's a global switch so that turning it on requires intentional action.

At least on the Mini and the "regular" iPod, there's an orange switch at the top which switches on/off "lock" mode. When lock mode is on, the iPod doesn't respond to button/scroll wheel presses at all. So if you turn it off, then lock it, it stays off.

[cellio]

Thanks -- found it. On the nano the switch is white (same as the case; it blends in), but when it's in the locked position some orange background shows.

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

Yay, gadgetry! Enjoy... oh, and make sure you don't do what I did: unplug the iPod from the computer without having made sure it was disengaged from iTunes.

[cellio]

With some trepidation I ask: what happens if you do that?

some tips

[anukul.livejournal.com]

FM transmitters can be really frustrating (everyone says a direct jack and even a cassette adapter are better) but the following things have made my limited usage acceptable:

- 87.9 (if your radio and transmitter go that low) is great in Pittsburgh and ok in much of DC/NYC. I usually give up searching for any other good stations within a couple of minutes. I didn't have much luck with griffin technologies lists of good stations by region (google for it).

- Have the volume on the iPod around 80-85% during transmission; if it is too low the signal won't be quite strong or balanced enough and if too loud the music will clip & distort early because of the quantity of noise. This only matters if your FM transmitter is affected by the headphone out volume vs. a line level output which might be available via the dock connecter at the bottom of the nano.

- The transmission quality varies with power applied to the FM transmitter. If the transmitter has its own weak batteries or flaky power connection, it may have poor power performance that leads to inconsistent or whiny sound.

Re: some tips

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips. The volume suggestion in particular made a difference for me; I had maxed the volume on the iPod, figuring that would maximize signal strength, but 80% or so (and compensating with the radio volume) seems to be doing better.

I'll give 87.9 a shot. Currently I'm using 90.1.