I tend to extensively research anything that I know I’ll be spending a lot of time with and/or money on. And so it was with iPod accessories. I’m glad I did, because I now have many quality accessories. To try to save you time, here’s a list of the accessories that I consider to be the best, and most essential to enjoying your iPod or iPhone to its fullest (listed in priority order).
- Case / Skin
The iPod scratches very easily, especially the screen (I didn’t even take my iPod out of the box before I got something to protect it); you’ll want to get something to protect your investment. There’s a TON of cases out there, all that suit a different purpose… you may want to just buy locally so that you can browse through them… the Apple store, Best Buy, etc will all have various cases. The skin i got was just a simple clear film, but it’s been really nice to have. Over a year’s time, it gathered many scratches. I recently replaced it, and it felt like I had a brand new iPod.
iPod Video/5G Enhanced Crystal Shield [~$5 from DecalGirl] - Earbuds
The earphones that come with the iPod will end up hurting your ears after awhile… they’re too hard and inflexible. I’ve been overly-satisfied with the earbuds I got. They were inexpensive, very comfortable, and sound great. I’ve bought 6+ pairs of these (2 for myself, and others as gifts).
Griffin EarThump Earphones [~$14 from Amazon]
(a couple Sony ones are also popular, though I didn’t care for them):
Sony MDR-EX81LP Bud-Style Stereo Earphones [~$34 from Amazon]
Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia Headphones [~$26 from Amazon] - Car Cradle & Charger
Other than using my headphones at my computer, my car is certainly the place where I listen to my ipod the most. I feel sorry for those people who dont have an ipod car solution. When I began the search for a car solution, I was looking for a few qualities: ease of plugging / unplugging the ipod, sound quality, nice looking, and flexible configurations. I put a lot of time into this search, and after returning three unsuccessful products, I’m not in the least bit disappointed with what I ended up with. It’s called the FlexibleDock, and it’s a pretty difficult to get a hold of. It plugs into a car’s 12 volt outlet, and a flexible-yet-strong gooseneck arm extends up from there. The iPod easily clicks in and out of the top. There is a 3.5mm jack at the bottom, in which a cassette adapter, fm transmitter, or a straight line-to-line cord can be plugged into.
Ten Technology FlexibleDock [~$50 from ???] (seems to now only be available used) - Cassette Tape Adapter / FM transmitter
In order to listen to the ipod in your car, you’ll need to choose 1 of 3 possible methods (there are other solutions, but they are custom & expensive). The first and best method would be to plug the ipod directly intot the stereo through a line-in cord. If you have a 3.5mm hole somewhere on your car stereo, you’ll be able to do this (in which case you would just need a stereo line-to-line cable). Most people don’t have this. The 2nd best solution is a cassette tape adapter, although the quality can vary greatly among brands. I tried about 4 brands, this one was head and shoulders above the rest.
[~$11 from Amazon]
For those people without a tape deck or a line-in jack, a method that has limited success is to use a FM transmitter. I bought one of these and it worked ok in rural areas:
[~$13 from Monoprice] - Loud Portable Stereo
For parties & trips, for charging / docking the iPod at home, for outputting the audio / video to another system. The one I got is really popular. It comes with a remote controller, and it can reach very high volumes.
[~$183 from Amazon]
For more accessories, iLounge’s “iPod & iPhone buyer’s guide” is a very well laid out guide for anything iPod or iPhone related. iLounge.com is the best site I’ve found for all things iPod related: how to guides, articles, reviews, product descriptions, etc.
Good luck finding the best accessories, and let me know what you’ve found & if this article has helped you! …and stay tuned for part 2 of this article.
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