Aaron Adams’s Lame-ass Blog

I love my iPod shuffle because in 99% of the situations where I listen to music, I want a randomized playlist of songs I’ve chosen beforehand. The shuffle fits that purpose perfectly, and to top everything off, it’s small, light, simple, and inexpensive. I love my iPod shuffle so much that I sold my regular iPod on ebay and have only the shuffle now.

Because of the shuffle’s size and weight, I find myself carrying it around much more than I did my iPod. I do my damnedest to take care of my electronics, to keep them in near-new condition, but I know that one day I’m going to drop or toss my iPod shuffle and it’s going to be damaged. In an attempt to prevent that damage, I started looking at the array of shuffle cases out there. All kinds of designs are available, and I wanted to get the right case to protect my shuffle. I had a preconceived idea of what the case should be, and it took a while to find it.

I didn’t want a case that covers the entire shuffle. I didn’t want a case that weighs as much or more than the shuffle itself. I didn’t want a case with screws or snaps or clips that hold it together. I didn’t want a case that hid my iPod shuffle. I wanted a durable rubber-like casing that fit the outside of my shuffle. I wanted a case that was simple to fit my shuffle into and remove. I wanted something with a loop or hook attached.

Marware had what I wanted.

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I take my PowerBook with me just about anywhere I go. I use it during the day to make a living and I use it in the evening to work on personal projects (such as this web page). With all the traveling me and my PowerBook do, it’s imperative that I have a good bag or case in which to carry it.

Until recently, I used a Matias Laptop Armor case to carry around my PowerBook and a precious few accessories. And that was the problem Ñ there wasn’t a lot of room in this case to carry around the incidentals that I needed for every day computer use. Laptop Armor provided excellent protection against damage to my machine, but after putting the mouse and power adapter into two inner pockets, the side of the case bulged out and I just knew that those two things were pressing up against the lid of my PowerBook, which seems like something bad. After the power adapter and mouse, there was no more room for anything else in the case, and I needed those other things. The Laptop Armor just wasn’t going to do what I needed.

After watching a friend’s PowerBook accidentally plummet to the floor in the Cincinnati Apple Store last year when a strap on his bag broke, I wanted something that would protect my own computer from such disastrous damage, but I also wanted something that provided plenty of room with lots of pockets to hold small bits and pieces. I knew RadTech had a selection of such items, and John Grzeskowiak and the RadTech staff had always treated me great, so I decided to solicit an opinion from him.

His suggestion: RadTech’s MacTruck and Curve shoulderbag.

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Griffin Technology recently released its much anticipated radioSHARK USB-powered AM/FM radio for both Mac and Windows. It features live audio recording and subsequent export to iTunes, time-shift recording, scheduled recording, and other features you’d expect from a computer-controlled radio.

Read more for details about the radioSHARK.

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In my opinion, the earbuds that ship with the iPod aren’t bad. They sound just fine and they fit pretty well into my ears. They’re certainly not high-end gear, but they’re not intended to be. For most of the situations where I listen to music Ñ at the gym, working around the house, during a walk, in the car Ñ they’re more than adequate.

One thing I’ve noticed is that when I tilt the buds to point more directly into my ears, the sound improves noticeably, especially bass response. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would build an earbud attachment that would hold the buds in that position? Griffin Technology has, and they’re named EarJams.

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The folks at RadTech have been extra nice to me, so I feel obligated to repost the review of IceCreme I wrote for them. The following review was rescued from the Google cache of my site. Thank you Google!

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