pod

There's apparently a booming business in marketing headgear that makes people look like idiots. How else can one explain the popularity of such products as the solar fan hat and the "Head Spa Massager"?

Witness the latest entry into the lucrative field of nerd apparel--the "iWalk" headphones, as seen on Coolest-Gadgets. This ingenius invention is kind of the MP3 equivalent of the beer hat, with a slot on one side that holds an iPod instead of a 12-ounce Bud Light. It gets better: The same player can be shared by two sets of headphones for … Read more

It was President Herbert Hoover who campaigned on the promise of prosperity under his administration when he vowed "a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage."

Michigan state Democrats want to do him one better: an iPod for every child. An unsigned editorial in The Detroit News is, to put it mildly, not a fan. "An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?" the headline screams.

The state is apparently facing a budget crisis--to the tune of $1 billion. On Thursday, House Democrats delivered a spending bill that includes the idea of putting $… Read more

Last month I wrote about the release of Korg's mini, battery-powered version of their Kaoss Pad audio effects processor. Well, I finally got my hands on one, and I'm happy to report it is every bit as cool as I had hoped. To refresh your memory, the Korg Mini Kaoss Pad is a palm-sized, battery-powered effects processor that lets you warp and remix any stereo line signal. My full review (with video) of the Mini Kaoss Pad posted on CNET this week, but it didn't have any audio samples to let you hear what it can do. … Read more

With all the iTunes/EMI DRM-free ballyhoo going on, it's easy to forget that sites like eMusic have already been offering inexpensive, DRM-free downloads for years. While Apple and Microsoft casually backpedal out of the DRM mess they've made, eMusic is announcing a very attractive new monthly subscription model that offers 25-cent downloads of DRM-free MP3s. It may not be Apple's reported 256kbps AAC quality, but for the average user a 192kbps MP3 sounds just fine--especially at 25 cents a song.

eMusic's new plans (called Connoisseur) come in three types 100, 200, and 300 downloads per … Read more

Want an iPod Nano, but stuck with a fourth-generation player? One DIYer has figured out a way to remove his iPod's hard drive and replace it with with an adapter that can accommodate plug-in flash memory cards.

Make Magazine spotted the most recent efforts of Mark Hoekestra, who posted his tips on Geektechnique.org. He took two iPods, a 40GB photo model and a 20GB regular model, and replaced the hard drives with a homemade adapter. After getting well-acquainted with his soldering iron, he produced a working iPod capable of storing songs on flash memory.

Flash memory is more expensive … Read more

It's the digital equivalent of the first few cracks in the Berlin Wall: soon EMI will be offering the bulk of its music catalog free of DRM restrictions. Steve Jobs was on hand at the press conference to enthusiastically endorse the idea--he did, famously, suggest as much in an open letter just a few short weeks ago. But is Apple simply fashioning its own hangman's noose? If the other major record companies follow suit, the one big advantage of the entire Apple "digital ecosystem"--iTunes, the iPod, and Apple TV--essentially becomes null and void. Jobs says Apple's superior design will keep the company's software and hardware at the top of the must-have list for digital media. For the iPod, maybe--but for the just-launched Apple TV, the answer isn't as straightforward. … Read more

The world has been waiting for the Beatles to come to iTunes for a while, but if you were hoping that was the topic of today's press conference between EMI Group and Apple, sorry; there's still no Beatles on iTunes. But in May, EMI's entire music catalog will be available in premium DRM-free form. In case you're wondering, premium means higher quality music files--as well as a 30-cent price hike ($1.29 vs. $.99) per song--for the privilege of downloading music stripped of digital rights management.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggested that half of iTunes' music … Read more

Apple's iTunes software has added a new feature called "Complete My Album," which allows users who purchase single tracks from an album to receive a credit towards buying the full album. This is a long-requested feature and a great addition to iTunes. Until now, users who preferred to buy one or two singles were placed in a tough situation if they decided later to buy the rest of the album. If a fifteen song album costs $.99 per song or $10.99 for the entire album, users who already owned one or two tracks would have to … Read more

OK, even I have to admit this is kinda sweet. DLO has upgraded its excellent TransPod FM transmitter to include video output to your in-car entertainment system, making it simple to play iPod content on all those handy screens mounted in the backs of headrests and flipping down from the ceiling. That's a bit overstimulating for me, but if I had kids--and an iPod, for that matter--I'd find this accessory hard to resist. The new TransDock, which will retail for $99.99, will continue to play music over the car stereo and charge the iPod. Here are some … Read more