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By Bob LeVitus
As I promised on December 19th, here are other iPod accessories
I found a cut above the rest:
Matias Corporation’s iPod Armor
is a near-industrial strength hard-shell aluminum case with
superior shock protection for your precious device, making
it the perfect choice for active, athletic types as well
as clumsy oafs like yours truly.
The rugged aluminum outer shell never comes into contact
with your ‘pod—a layer of open-cell EVA foam
acts as a shock-absorbing cushion on all sides. A piano-style
aluminum hinge runs the width of the case and is solid as
a rock.
And, since it totally surrounds your iPod, with only the
top ports accessible, it’s less likely to be scratched
or nicked.
At fifty bucks iPod Armor isn’t cheap. But if you
are a skier, skateboarder, complete clutz, or other iPod-listening
thrill seeker, it provides better protection than anything
else I’ve seen.
I set aside my iPod Armor a couple of weeks ago to check
out the new Xtremeity iPod Accessory System, which is half
the price and makes a great choice if you don’t need
armor-like protection. The high-strength LEXAN exterior
case offers more-than-adequate protection for less vigorous
iPod users.
But unlike most other iPod cases, this one doesn’t
have a post sticking out of its back for hanging it on a
belt clip or dash mount, so it lies perfectly flat. Instead,
it’s got two recessed channels on its back—the
SecurSlide™ system—for connecting accessories
including the flip-up, ClearShield faceplate, swiveling
belt clip, and low-profile dash mount (all included with
the system).
I stopped using my old iPod case as well as a cell phone
holster because they had big, honking posts sticking out
of their backs, and wouldn’t lie flat on my desk.
XtremeMac’s SecureSlide system is brilliant and ever-so
welcome. (I hope my cell phone holster-maker licenses it
soon ‘cause I’m getting tired of carrying my
phone in my pants pocket.)
Next up is the Voice Recorder, from Belkin,
a tiny device that plugs into your iPod and lets you record
memos, lectures, interviews, conversations, Phish concerts,
or whatever. You can store hundreds of hours of audio on
even the smallest ‘Pod, and it even has a tiny built-in
speaker, so you can review your recordings without headphones
or a computer.
The quality of the recordings is nothing to write home about,
and playback through the miniscule speaker is equally mediocre,
if you want to record voice notes using your iPod, it’s
good enough, and cheaper than buying a separate voice recorder.
Last, but certainly not least, we have
iCleaner and iCleaner Pro. iCleaner is a non abrasive,
alcohol free liquid that removes small scratches from the
plastic of your iPod (and/or white plastic iBook). iCleaner
Pro includes an advanced polish so powerful it can remove
the scratches and swirls from the metal back of your iPod
without harming the laser engraving, and can also be used
on deep scratches in white plastic surfaces of iPods or
iBooks.
You need to apply quite a bit of elbow grease, and may have
apply one or both products several times, but both products
performed as promised, removing most (if not all) of the
small and deep scratches (and there were many) from my old
iPod in less than an hour.
If your ‘Pod (or iBook) is scratched up, this stuff
can probably fix it.
iPod Armor. S.R.P.
$49.95. Matias. www.halfkeyboard.com/ipodarmor/
Xtremeity iPod Accessory System.
S.R.P. $29.95. www.xtrememac.com
Voice Recorder S.R.P. $59.99
www.belkin.com
iCleaner Scratch Remover. S.R.P.
$17.00.
iCleaner Pro Scratch Remover.
S.R.P. $25.00. www.ipodcleaner.com
Bob LeVitus
is a leading authority on Mac OS and the author of 41 books,
including The
Little iTunes Book and
Mac OS X for Dummies, 2nd Edition. E-mail comments to
doctormac@boblevitus.com.
Copyright © 2003 Bob LeVitus
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