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11 months ago I wrote about the opening of an Apple retail Store in my home town Almere. I was excited and wanted to support this local dealer by using them as preferred supplier. After they opened, I wanted to buy a Mac Mini and went there twice, but they didn’t have any. When I wanted to upgrade my MacBook Pro with more memory, they didn’t have a 2GB memory module, so I had to order it online. Two weeks after the introduction of the updated iPod Touch (32GB) I went there, but they didn’t get any yet. Yesterday I went again and they still didn’t have any. The Media Markt store in town had them on sale last week (all sold out) and Apple delivers within a couple of days. The sales person of Warnerraven at the iCentre Almere said I could order it and wouldn’t even be required to take it, if I change my mind. But why should I order it there, wait and go back to the store to pick it up (difficult enough with their limited opening hours), while I can order it directly from Apple and have it shipped home for free? This store obviously can not afford to have Apple’s popular products on stock. The main reason for me to go to a local retail store is to get a product directly without waiting and shipping costs. Lately, I usually come home empty-handed and instead order online (often cheaper).
In some areas retail stores still make sense (products you want to try out and feel or where you need service), but otherwise many stores are just obsolete, wasting valuable space in our cities and increasing the price of products.

Update: I ordered it online from Apple and it was delivered really fast on Tuesday already.

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Zune, the iPod killer? Let’s see, what CNN has to say.

Some more ‘positive’ Zune news and opinions:
Zune install screen raises eyebrows
Zune Marketplace’s Absurd Pricing Scheme

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The EFF proudly presents:

Hollywood wants Congress to give it new super powers over your TV, radio, and computer. Find out more in this animation, and write to stop the Broadcast Flag, Audio Flag, and Analog Hole laws.

If the EFF server is too slow, you can also download the files directly from this archive.org server:
The_Corruptibles-xvid.avi
The_Corruptibles.m4v
The_Corruptibles.swf

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I got my iPod Photo 60GB today. In an act of desperation (dead iPod Mini, dead external Seagate 2.5″ drive) I needed a replacement for both and since the new H&B CA-5555i car mp3 receiver seems to connect well with iPods, I decided to order one of the last iPod Photos. I didn’t want the newer iPod Video, which is much more expensive. I don’t have any interest in the video function. The photo capabilities of the iPod Photo on the other hand can be useful, so I also bought the iPod Camera Connector, so that I can empty some of our digital cameras if needed. I tried it with our Canon EOS 350D and it worked flawlessly. The FujiFilm S2Pro is unfortunately not being supported.
Strange is only the plug of the power supply which absolutely does not fit into our outlets here in the Netherlands – because it is a UK plug. Don’t understand, why a Dutch dealer is selling it like this but luckily I can use my old iPod Mini power supply and cables (including the firewire cable!), as well as the AC plugs from our PowerBooks (just the plug, not the power supply!).

Technorati Tags: ipod, apple

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Today I had time to install the new audio MP3 receiver in my car. I bought this receiver since it offers USB 2.0 and iPod support (according to the information on the web). My plan was to connect my old iPod Mini or a USB hard drive to this receiver.

The installation went smoothly within a few minutes. The user interface is easy to understand and without looking at the manual I was able to select radio stations and store them as preset.

Next I connected my 100GB Seagate USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive. The blue LED of the Seagate drive did not go on at all. So obviously the USB port of the CA-5555i does not provide enough power.

The Seagate comes with a double USB cable with 2 plugs, one for data+power and one just for power. So I plugged the power plug into my laptop and now the blue LED went on. The laptop did not mount the drive and the CA-5555i also displayed USB-Drive, but that was about all. It did not scan the drive for mp3 files. The hard drive has one FAT32 partition and according to the manual, this should be supported. So maybe connecting it to the laptop is a problem, but without a car USB-charger I can’t think of a better way to test it.

The interesting questions would have been, if the CA-5555i supports large USB drives like this one at all and I wonder how many files it can actually handle. As you can see, the manual mentions 200 folders and a maximum of 500 files. Would be nice if those were 500 files per folder, because otherwise it would be pretty useless connecting a regular hard drive or iPod. The manual does not provide any information otherwise about USB storage and iPod support, which is a bit strange since it is being advertised as ‘optimized for iPod’.

Last but not least I connected my old iPod Mini. It started charging but was not mounted as USB-Drive. Since the battery of my iPod Mini is hardly working any longer I was not able to try it with a charged iPod. Because I don’t have a SD/MMC card, I wasn’t not able to test this feature either.

The last image shows the CA-5555i at night.

Update – 2005/02/22:
I connected a different iPod Mini and an iPod Photo 30GB today and both worked fine and I did not notice a file limit. When the iPod is connected, you can not use the iPod controls, just like when you connect it to the computer. Both iPods have been initialized for Windows systems (as far as I know using FAT32). I also tried a CD-RW with ISO 9960 file system and some normal mp3 files but that did not work.

Update – 2005/02/25:
The reason why it did not read the CD-RW was, that the CD drive does not work at all! I would like to send it back but then I would have to send the package all the way to France (bought it at an Dutch online store!) on my own costs, so I am wondering if I need the CD drive at all. Today I also tested a 2GB SD card and it worked well but what I don’t like is the mp3 display and navigation of the CA-5555i. Finding a mp3 while driving would be a dangerous and almost impossible activity. So, the USB port for the iPod might seem like a good idea but it is not really a practical solution.

… to be continued

Technorati Tags: ipod, CA-5555i

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