iPod. iBought. iThought.

iPods. Every Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally, Suzy, Lily, owns one today... a few years back, people would have envied someone who walks around town with a brand new, shining iPod in his hands and head-banging away on the subway train.

Now almost everyone I know has one... so now what? How to be "different"?

Accessories... yes... accessories. Everyone wants to buy that something different to personalize and dress up their iPod... make theirs look different from the rest. That "my iPod can beat up your iPod" thing... its quite funny too when you see that happening in schools and workplaces alike... how everyone wants to show off their latest accessories that they have bought for their beloved iPod... and I am as guilty as everyone else when it comes to this.

So we see silicon, aluminum, leather, exotic materials used for cases, even socks. (The lamest product Apple ever released, in my opinion). Don't shoot me, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but Apple releasing iPod Socks is the lamest product ever, but the girlies seem to embrace this idea... sooner or later some woman will come up with iPod Stockings in fishnet and laces... That would complete the range... I laughed as I wrote this... its hilarious!

So the boys now start thinking about how they can "ownz" one another with their accessorizing. Custom colors can be ordered from companies like Colourware, who will, for a fee, paint your iPod (or mini) to a color of your choice or there are companies who will offer vinyl stickers (or covers) and even plain sticker kits so that you can create your own graphics on your inkjet printer that is totally unique. (I cannot imagine seeing an iPod with a customized vinyl sticker with badly shot photo of a teenage couple in a mushy act-cute pose, it will kill me!)

Then comes the old boys, men, with higher disposable income... the one with the "hardcore toys"... yes, uncle Plastic here included, who will not "beautify" the iPod but instead, find ways and means to boost the performance of the iPod. How? Portable amps, kick ass in ear monitors, dock interfaces, etc... so here is a list of the things that I have done for my version of accessorizing the iPod :

CASES - If I have to start from the 1G iPod, this list will never end, so I shall only talk about what I am using at the moment. For just plain carrying the iPod around, I am proud to say that I own the only prototype Bodysac iPod case that I found by chance at a factory outlet that sells design house samples, and this case never really made it to the production line for whatever reason (as far as I know, because I have yet to see it on the shelves at stores). But hey, this makes the case even more valuable.



But when I have to carry the other add ons (see below), I have chosen a very nice all-weather Hayrer case that contains all the other add-on gadgets... this fits everything perfectly, as if it was designed with the "ultimate 'Podder" in mind.



CANS! - From AKG, Audio Technica, Beyers, Grado, Sonys, Shure, I have invested in more headphones, earbuds, in ear monitors than I am supposed to, and still looking for that perfect companion for the iPod. So the latest item-of-desire would be custom ear moulds for the Shure E3c that I am using right now when I am 'Podding on the move. My current most-used cans are the Grado SR-60s (sold the RS-1) and the Shure E3c for the road. But I am waiting to write a review to have a shoot out between Westone UM2 and my gig-use Shure E5s to see if it is worth it for my wallet to bleed some more...

The next thing of course, after owning a nice case, with high quality in ear monitors and headphones would be for me to get a portable amp. After selling away my Grado RA-1 (together with the RS-1), I decided to test out the Electric Avenue's Pocket Amp 2 and find that this amp does what it says and managed to help me get the kick butt audio quality for a fraction of the price of a Grado RA-1. (Mine's a review unit from Gary, by the way) Amazing work from Gary at Electric Avenues.

The last of the list (for now) was to find that perfect audio interface to connect the iPod to the portable amplifier, and that search ended with SendStation's PocketDock Line Out.

So while the rest of the commoners listen to their "beautified" iPods and live with the crap audio from the supplied earbuds, "true 'Podders" are head-banging to Audioslave on the heavyweight, (literally too) iPod+Portable Amp+PocketDock Line Out+in ear monitors combo. We are getting superb audio quality that causes the other "normal 'Podders" jaws to drop when they hear the audio quality that our "accessorized" iPod are producing.

This brings a big big smile to my face. iPod. iBought. iAccessorized. iBoosted. iSmile.

Hmmm, wait a minute. I am still lacking a custom moulded sleeve for my in ear monitor. So the iSmile is not complete. Duh...