My favorite toy, and it's fun to accessorize.

My experience with the 5th generation i-pod has been well beyond what I expected. I figured that I'd be listening to music through ear buds, some device through the car fm radio or tape deck, and through my computer (which would not have been bad since the computer [mac mini] is part of the home entertainment system). One car was pre-wired (to the trunk) for additional source devices and only required a cable (that was easy to find at Circuit City) to hook up the i-pod at the front console, the fm device that came with the i-pod (Comp-USA free with i-pod) worked well beyond what I was expecting. The i-pod was redundant because of i-tunes on the mini in the den (where I load the i-pod), but the i-pod Hi-Fi doesn't make me feel bad at all about loosing the cd player in the living room. I do have to admit that this i-pod is turning into my most expensive toy since I found it necessary to buy an old truck (new toy, or accessory) to customize around my black i-pod. The sound in the truck is so good that I'm going to have to upgrade the sound system in my Mustang convertible (old toy) to match. The 80gb i-pod holds my entire cd library (4200 songs so far) as well as 1400 music videos (that were recorded off of my satellite - including Soundstage & Austin City Limits concerts). The mini and a pvr have replaced the vcr, and the i-pod has replaced the video tapes for music videos and concerts. All this is taking up around 40 gb of space, leaving half the i-pod still open. I still need to get a new turntable that will connect to my computer so I can break out the old vinyl and get ALL of my music onto the i-pod. Prior to my i-pod purchase I had read reviews stating how easily the black i-pods were scratched, so I got the Belkin Protective Overlay and the Agent 18 Case. The overlay covers the front and the back of the unit as well as the selector wheel. The overlay will allow the i-pod to be placed in a dock while still offering a degree of protection from scratches. The Agent 18 case is a thick case that has access holes for the plug in points on the i-pod unit. This has been an excellent combination for protecting my machine from getting scratched. The hook-ups I am using in my cars and truck have my i-pod floating freely in the glove compartments and console, making for a high scratch probability. The radios in the truck and (to be) in the convertible operate the i-pod via the radio controls and also have a remote control with full information lcd display. In both of these cases the i-pod resides in the glove compartment, has a cable plugged into the i-pod, the control on the unit goes into over ride and ceases to function and can only be controlled via the radio controls. The vehicle also provides power for the i-pod for play and charge functions. The video screen also shuts off with this system. The (car) factory system and the fm adaptor have a cable that plugs into i-pod to provide power to the unit for play and charge functions. The i-pod control wheel retains it's song selection function, and the video screen also functions here; volume and tone is controlled through the car audio system. All four of these configurations allow for the use of the Agent 18 cover since the i-pod is not housed in a dock. Which ever case you choose for an i-pod, I would recommend that you include a Belkin Protective Overlay; you really cannot tell that you have one of these on your i-pod.

I bought the i-pod because historically I had been recording vinyl and cd's to cassette tapes for automobile use. Then the following occurred: 1) CD players replaced cassette players in cars, 2) My recorded cassette tapes were wearing out and 3) The home cd player conked out. I decided that it was time to either replace old technology or to REPLACE old technology.

The thing I love most about this i-pod is that I can take a wall of vinyl albums, a wall of cd's, a half wall of video tapes and record new stuff and carry it in my pocket. No more hernias for music...

The thing I hate about the i-pod is the time that needs to be spent on getting all of the OLD stuff converted and loaded. When I was organizing the i-pod initially, I was working on the i-pod instead of the mini. I found that I could not sync the computer to the i-pod, it works the other way around. I need to now go back and do my existing work over so I can auto sync my i-pod to the new music in the future. Live and learn...