revjim.net

Unhappy with the "cup holder FM transmitter":http://revjim.net/2006/09/26/in-record-time/ I picked up a few days ago, I've been on the hunt for a better solution ever since. I'm about to give up, though.

The problem with the cupholder transmitter is that it holds the iPod too low to see and operate and, once you pull it out of the transmitter, it stops broadcasting. So, I either need something that stays attached to the iPod, or something that mounts higher. Thinking it would be cool to have something attached to the iPod so that it could be passed around the car and easily moved from vehicle to vehicle, I went in that direction.

A few days ago I went into Best Buy and picked up the "Griffin iTrip Nano":http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itripnano/. As much as I hate uni-taskers, this device accomplished exactly the task I wanted, no more, no less, so I figured it was the right thing to go with. Nope. Unlike their website, the packaging gave no indication that this product was for a 1st gen iPod Nano and didn't work with a 2nd gen nano. I walked right back in and returned it.

Why would this matter? Well, it seems that apple decided to move the connection port and the headphones port just a little bit. So, anything that depends on the location of those ports in order to attach to the nano will find itself unable to attach to a 2nd gen nano.

So today, at Frys, I was on the hunt again. I found a device that indicated it was for a Nano. Again it didn't indicate 1st or 2nd generation. I noticed that, unlike the iTrip Nano, it didn't have a headphones connection. So, I hoped with all my might that Apple only moved one of the two ports and hadn't moved the larger one in relation to the rest of the Nano. The date on the packaging said 2006, and that gave me hope, so I went with it. $80 and 3 minutes later, I realize that it, too, doesn't fit, and promptly return it.

The time and energy I'm wasting on trying to find the correct solution to what must be a common problem is ridiculous. But that's not even what upsets me the most. The reason I decided to stick with the iPod instead of bringing it back had to do with market share and availability. This realization came to a head when I was at Frys the first time. There was an entire end-cap devoted to iPod brand products. Then, following that, an entire side of an aisle devoted to things that go with your iPod. In contrast, half of the other side of the aisle was occupied with all the other players as well as all the accessories sold for them. iPod has so many accessories available that I figured it would be easy to get what I was looking for later. Was I ever wrong?!

Here's the thing. If I'm going to be stuck having the Nano secured in one location in the car, and also stuck only being able to use the transmitting equipment in the car, then why bother transmitting at all when I can just hard-wire it? So, I'm going to look around online for one more solution. If I can't find anything that specifically says 2nd generation Nano, then I'm going to return the cup holder transmitter and just go with a dash mounted device cradle, a 12V power charger, and a plain old headphones out to RCA in.