iPod Hoodie - Hoodies

iPod in the hood

When I first saw the iPod Hoodie on the Gadget Show I thought "what a great iPod cover, probably expensive" - how wrong I was about the cost! You can get your hands on one of these for around £ 10.00.

The iPod Hoodie arrived on a cold, miserable morning. The first thing I did when I opened it was smile. Then I held it and I smiled even more!

My iPod Hoodie experience

It was time to strip off! I peeled the bright pink rubbery cover from my 1st generation iPod realizing quite quickly how 'out of date' I was. I then slipped it straight into the soft snug iPod Hoodie and my smile turned into a huge, beaming grin.

The iPod Hoodies come in an athletic grey colour outer with a very soft inner which is so snug it makes you want to climb inside of it! Complete with a 'Hoodies' tag on the side for the label worshippers out there.

Teenage approval

My teenage daughter (as you know teenagers know everything and are obviously more 'with it' than adults) saw it and immediately insisted that the iPod Hoodie would suit her 3rd generation iPod more than mine. She took the Hoodie and fitted it on her own. Yes, it fitted perfectly. Unfortunately, much to her disgust the iPod Hoodie went straight back on my 'ageing' iPod.

Who has the best looking iPod in the house now eh!

Who knows? Santa might put an iPod Hoodie in her stocking this christmas. It certainly won't break the bank and more importantly it is guaranteed to make her smile - isn't that what it's all about?

The iPod Hoodie comes in two sizes - Hoodie and Hoodie Mini.

• The Hoodie will fit ALL iPods except for the Mini, Shuffle and Nano.
• The Hoodie Mini fits the iPod Mini.
• Best of all, the iPod is 'Made in Britain' :-).

My verdict on the iPod Hoodie

It's very cool and made me smile, my iPod looks bad, which means good - get with it daddeo; it's affordable; it's perfect for any age - even me! I love it.

• iPodHoodie.co.uk for more info
• As featured on the Gadget Show

icombi iPod bluetooth headphones

icombi iPod bluetooth headphones

Wires are great, they carry our telephone calls, power our gadgets and connect our iPod to it's headphones. Well that was before the iCombi. The iCombi is a bluetooth transmitter (AP11H) and a set of bluetooth headphones. The idea being that you can ditch those tangle-prone iPod headphones and listen to your iPod wirelessly via the magic of bluetooth technology.

Set your iPod free

The iCombi will work with any iPod with a remote connector. Just connect the bluetooth dongle (the transmitter/receiver) to your remote input on the iPod. Turn on your headphones and you can listen to your favourite music wirelessly. It really is a lot of fun. The behind the neck headphones are reasonably light and I found them to be comfortable. The range seems to be about 10 - 20 feet in my flat, but for me the iCombi is an excellent way to listen to music on my bicycle without the pesky white headphones getting tangled up in my gears.

So, now I can keep my iPod out of sight in my backpack or in a coat pocket. No leads are visible and neither is my iPod. This new found wireless freedom is incredibly exciting and a lot of fun.

How does the iCombi sound?

Sound quality is a lot better than I expected. Occasionally I got a small glitch in use; where the signal would stop for less than a second. 99 percent of the time it worked flawlessly. These are open-backed headphones and seem as loud as the standard Apple buds. There is a little loss of quality, I wouldn't like to master my recordings using them but I think most people would be more than happy with these sonically. They sound fine with my music collection anyway. Die hard HiFi geeks may prefer a set of wired phones like the top of the range Sennheisers, but for me, these iCombi phones do the job; and this ever-so-slight loss in definition is more than made up for by the freedom they provide.

Fun for all the family

One of the fun parts of the iCombi is letting your friends and family have a go! If they are not used to over the neck phones, they will normally try and fit them over their head - made me laugh anyway! Everyone that tried the headphones liked them and wouldn't give them back.

Wireless iPod controls too!

Not only does the iCombi provide a wireless transmitter, but the headphones have forward, back, play, pause and volume buttons. So you can skip tracks, rewind etc. without touching your iPod. I found the skip and volume buttons a little fiddly at first, but now I don't have a problem using them. The device also does not restrict access to the iPod lock button, so it can be locked or unlocked in use - which is good if you want to leave your ipod out of sight in your backpack.

Will it kill my battery?

My iPod is over two years old and the battery is not as good as it was. Even so, I got 3.5 hours of continual use out of my iPod before the battery gave up. I was amazed I got that long out of my iPod. The headset will last for 11 hours and are rechargeable via the charger supplied and also via usb if you prefer from your computer. The iPod dongle is powered from the iPod's battery.

Is the iCombi for you?

It's quite an expensive device, but the freedom it offers is exceptional. I think it's only a matter of time before Apple build-in bluetooth to their iPods. The iCombi will set your remote control jack equipped iPod free. That freedom doesn't come cheap, but then again nor do iPods..