TechTalk

Nano owners complain about damage

Problems with the recently launched iPod Nano are emerging as owners complain of broken or scratched screens.

The smaller version of the popular iPod was unveiled at the beginning of September to much fanfare and delight at its sleek design.

Its delicacy was heralded as a design break-through.

But some fans are beginning to question whether the machine is too fragile for everyday use.

Owners are complaining about cracked, scratched or inexplicably failing screens, sometimes within hours of buying the machine.

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Belkin Prepares To Release The TuneFM

Our friends at iPodStudio.com are reporting that iPod accessory company, BELKIN, is about to release a new device known as the TuneFM.

TuneFM is a FM Transmitter that allows you to listen to music on your iPod via any FM stereo receiver.

Belkin explains: “Proximity switches give you total control at the touch of your fingertips, and the LED display indicates FM frequency and memory preset, eliminating the need to use the iPod interface for frequency selection; because the TuneFM is powered by the iPod no batteries are required.”

No price info is available at this point.

Audica's iPod hi-fi

After initially being a tad snobbish about the iPod's compressed sound it appears now that the whole hi-fi industry has woken up smelt the cash and hopped aboard the MP3 bandwagon. The good news is though that the quality of mini systems designed for the ubiquitous Apple player and its MP3 chums appears to be getting better.

I rather like the look of this – the Audica MPS1. Unlike other speaker systems it has generous power at 25 watts (as opposed to 2.5 Watts) per channel. It also looks rather tasty and in particular comes with a pair of stylish polished extruded Aluminum loudspeakers. The system has three inputs selectable on the amplifier module or by remote control and USB and FireWire connectors enable portable music players to be charged. Cleverly one of those inputs is extra sensitive to allow for low-level outputs such as PC systems so that sound level differences when changing inputs are minimised. It goes on sale in late November for around £250. More info here

Bamboo iPod Shuffle Cases

This is probably the most original iPod case I have yet to see. A handmade bamboo case produced in Japan may be the latest contemporary trend. Available in Kuro, Tennen and Aka, the cases are said to be available on Sept 6th. Produced by Temas Design, the cases will be selling for 6,000 Yen.

Hilton iPod Alarm Clock

T he Hilton Family of Hotels introduced the new Hilton Family Alarm Clock, which will be installed in Hilton hotels nationwide.  The custom designed clock allows guests to plug their iPod or other mp3 device to listen to tunes without headphones.  To celebrate, they are giving away iPod minis and free hotel stays when you enter their Hilton Family Timing is Everything Sweepstakes.

The best digital music players

It might be easy to forget that there are companies besides Apple Computer that make portable digital-music players. In fact, the market for portable players, which initially used flash memory instead of hard drives, was born way back in 1998.

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EWT950 Wireless FM Transmitter for $10 shipped

Surplus Computers still offers the Emerson EWT950 Wireless FM Transmitter for $9.99. With free shipping, it's among the least expensive FM transmitters we've seen. Of note, the Griffin iTrip and iTrip mini FM Transmitters are still $24 each at Amazon.com.

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Dorothy Parker's iPod Shuffle range

So the latest influence on iPod accessory designs is err Dorothy Parker… Looking like an art-deco refugee from the Algonquin Hotel in New York in the 1920s the DecoDock is basically a standard station for the iPod Shuffle. The only key difference is that its retro white columns illuminate when the iPod Shuffle is plugged in. It’ll be available in the US shortly for both Mac and PC owners at the pretty reasonable price of $28. Read.

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Sharper Image iPod Travel Soother

Sharper Image has come up with this Travel Soother that will work with your iPod. The Radio Alarm Clock will connect to iPods and other players, supplying an external speaker for you to listen to your music files out loud - although just how good the sound quality is going to be from one speaker remains to be heard. Not only that, the Travel Soother also has a built in Sound Soother which basically plays calming sounds to drown out noises that might disturb you. Sounds include things called "Fireside," "City" and "Wind Chimes." There's an FM/AM radio with a choice of alarm sounds with 6 presets for FM and 6 for AM. Not quite sure what to make of this, but if you're looking for some external speakers for your music player, it might make a decent solution - with the added benefit of the extra features.

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Apple bites back

Oh dear. It looks like Apple has already found a way of disabling the Pymusique bypass of its Digital Rights Management system. While we always believed that Pymusique had the life expectancy of a music pirating hippy in a room full of corporate lawyers, this little affair has had an unfortunate knock-on effect. From now on all those wishing to purchase and download Apple music must download the latest iTunes (version 4.7.1).