It Never Fails
Posted by Shady Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:40:52 GMT
So I decided to pick up a new toy with the start of the semester. After spending several hundred dollars on books (strategies and websites that you can use to save some coin on books will be in an upcoming article. Really.), I decided to pick up a nice new video iPod. Since my music collection is around 15GB, I picked out a nice new shiny black iPod video 30GB. And yea, I was happy with my purchase.
Well, as I'm sure many of you probably know, yesterday apple announced some brand new iPods. Now, after looking at the iPod touch I decided that I was still happy with my purchase. The touch, while looking pretty awesome, comes in a maximum size of only 16GB. Since my music library is already 15, that would leave me little to no room for extra songs or, god forbid, actual video. So far, still happy with the purchase. The big change that affected me was the increase in maximum iPod size (my iPod model is not the "iPod Classic") to 160GB. Impressive. But what that means to me is that I could have, for the same price, gotten an 80GB iPod. All in all I'm still happy with the purchase I made, and even with video I'm only at about half capacity for the new iPod. It's just rather irksome to know that, had I waited 2 weeks, I would be able to have a larger one for the same price. Still, I don't feel as bas as all those iSuckers who shelled out 600 USD for the iPhone, only two have the price drop by 200 USD two months later. <Nelson>Ha Ha!</Nelson>
So, now that I have an iPod, I feel it is my solemn duty to review a few iPod accessories that will make the overall iPod ownership experience that much better. Up first: headphones.
The default iPod headphones suck. There, I said it. Aside from the fact that they don't match the black iPods they're also uncomfortable, and refuse to stay put. Plus, I was never a real fan of the ubiquitous white headphone drone look anyway. After shopping around a bit looking at headphones, I decided on a nice pair of Smokin Buds from the fine folks at Skull Candy Cool Name, sweet skull logo. But how do they stack up? Well, they are orders of magnitude more comfortable then the original iPod headphones. A nice silicone cushion acts to mold them to your ear, and filter out the outside sounds. They come in a variety of colors (I chose black), and to my non-audiophile ears, sound very nice. On top of all that goodness, they have a nice little skull on them. Can't go wrong with skulls.
The Smokin Buds model is an in ear variety. Skull Candy also makes a few other models, including a DJ style cover-the-ear model and a I'm quite please with my purchase so far, and would recommend the Skull Candy headphones to anyone else.
Now, although the iPod comes with its own little pseudo-suede case, this really isn't enough to protect it. In the past, when I owned a PSP I was a big fan of the martin fields screen protector. For the iPod, however, I was looking for a little more then just a screen protector. I wanted a case, to cover the entire iPod AND the screen. I also wanted something that didn't make the iPod look like it was coated in some kind of bulky-ass marshmallow type coating. The iPod itself looks very nice, and I would much rather show it off then cover it up. My search led me to the InvisibleSHIELD company. These guys offer both screen protectors, and entire cases, made out of a urethane material that they claim is used to protect the leading edge of military helicopter blades. They have a video on their site where they basically key the hell out of an iPod with nary a scratch left. Similar videos came up after a quick google search. So I ordered one. A bit price (about 25 bucks) for what is essentially a >1mm thick piece of plastic but the promise of protecting the iPod AND being able to show it off was enticing.
First the good things about InivisibleSHIELD: It really is as good as advertised. Seems to be pretty much indestructable. Scratches and pokes jsut seal right up up, and I don't even think it's possible to puncture it without some serious effort. A knife or pin would be required, and you would still need to apply some pretty good force in order for this to break.
It's also very thin. It adds no discernable weight or bulk to the iPod. If you apply it correctly (more on this in a minute) it's nigh invisible. It really is the perfect cover for an iPod.
Now, the downside. The installation procedure is a total bitch. A massive, gigantic pain in the ass. Now to be fair, I do suck at this kind of thing in general. I have the dexterity of an ogre with parkinsons. No lie. I had to have a friend install my psp shiled protector. I'm just not very good at lining everything up simultaneously before a single edge stick and the whole ^$#(%^& thing ends up of center. But I digress. The installation process for this really sucks. They provide you with some kind of solution that you can apply to your fingertips and the back of the screen itself to help with the installation process. It's a tiny ass bottle. I used almost the entire thing before I even had the back piece on. Each of the four pieces gets applied seperatley (one for the center button, one for the click wheel itself, one for the rest of the front, and one for the back) and getting it all to line up nicely took multiple attempts.
In addition to the mysterious bottle of solution, they also give you a very nice rubber scraper/squeegee type thing to aid in smoothing everything out and getting rid of the bubbles.
Sadly, in my case, after i had wiped the whole iPod down and actually installed the whole thing so it looked semi-decent I turned on the iPod again to see: a goddamn piece of lint. Stuck right on the screen. Underneath the shield. In order to reapply you need to have some of the solution left over. So after I peeled back the part of the shield, I found the tiny piece of thread to be pretty much glued on. Without any solution my only real option was to use the tip of a mechanical pencil to not-so-gently scrape off the thread. Sans solution, I was left with a big ugly smudge right where the thread used to be.
I've since ordered more solution. 5 bottles of it actually. In the meantime I guess i can live with the smudge since the iPod itself is nice and protected. The invisibleSHIELD really is an excellent product. I just wish installing it was easier.
In closing, I highly recommend both the Skull Candy headphones, and the invisible shield. Make sure you dont' completely suck at applying these kinds of things, however.