Do More With Your iPod and iTunes

The funny thing is that since this photo was taken, Apple's market share of the MP3 portable music player market has grown to a truly unprecedented 82%. It's therefore quite likely that you, or almost certainly a member of your family, is one of the millions (feels more like billions?) of happy iPod and iTunes users.

Apple's been wildly successful with the iPod because it's easy to use it as it's intended: put some music on it, plug in the ubiquitous white headphones, and off you go. But is that all there is?

In this article, I'll cover some other options we've used for our clients to better integrate the iPod and iTunes into their homes.

Get It Under Control

The iPod is wonderful for what it is, and it's easy to hear the sound of your iPod over your home theater system. But using it at home can be less than perfect, because the iPod is seemingly only controllable from its own scroll wheel. But there are indeed several ways we've provided our clients with more traditional control -- and in some cases, a lot more control.

Control starts with the basics of play, pause, and moving between tracks, and the ability to do so from a custom-programmed universal remote control or touchpad. But even better is the ability to see your music library (as housed on your iPod, and managed in iTunes), and select from it -- quite a challenge, because even with its new video chops, the iPod wasn't designed with large-format video output in mind.

Sitting by the Dock of the Bay

The most simple solutions we've implemented have been those that use a "dock" -- not the standard one that comes with the iPod, but variations that add infrared remote control and in some cases, video output that re-creates the iPod's LCD interface on a TV.

The first part, infrared control, is a must. This allows you to control the iPod in a basic manner without having to get off the couch and use the scroll wheel. These work quite well -- for what they are. Much better than the $10 patch cord we mentioned in the May 2005 issue, but you can't select songs this way, so it's still far from ideal. This is where the more advanced docks come into play.

Video Killed the Radio Star?

New, more advanced docks just now hitting the market have infrared control, of course, but also video connections that allow the display of your iPod's interface on your TV screen.

This has real potential -- you can now select and play music from your entire collection while sitting in your favorite easy chair, all without touching the iPod. So this is the answer, correct? Unfortunately, no.

That Jobs Guy is Pretty Smart

The docks that simulate the iPod's on your TV are good, but here's some news: the iPod (and iTunes) are incredibly popular primarily for one reason: no company has been able to improve upon that wonderful Apple interface -- and that certainly includes the A/V companies making these advanced docks. Suffice to say, Denon, Onkyo, and Harman Kardon have quite a bit to learn from Steve Jobs and his team at Apple in terms of usability (and elegance).

Since there's no scroll wheel on your remote, browsing through albums, artists, and songs is a real chore. You'll need to press the "down" button once per entry in a list to scroll through that list. It works but it's inferior to the iPod itself, and makes it very frustrating to use. So you won't use it, and now you're back to square one.

A Mini is the New Maximum

What if you just didn't even use the iPod? We now feel this is the best solution for clients that are really into music, and really into their iPod and using iTunes. But where does the music come from if not from your iPod?

Remember, in order to put music on your iPod, you first put it on a computer -- typically by either "ripping" it from an exisiting CD, or by purchasing or otherwise obtaining compatible files. Thus, all of your music is also on a computer, and this music is playable via iTunes.

So what we're doing now for those who are looking for real control of their music is actually quite simple -- at least in concept. We just connect Apple's relatively new and uniquely tiny Macintosh Mini to a traditional home theater system. Your 50" plasma display is now your "monitor" and your killer 5.1 sound system is where the Mini's sound plays. The music files can either stay on your current computer, or you can move them to the Mac Mini -- it really doesn't matter. Your iPod works as it always has. Plus, when you take it with you, the music is still there in your home -- and how!

The full iTunes application is now at your disposal from the sofa, and you'll realize these and other benefits:

• Audio quality: Music enters your system digitally, not via a silly headphone jack adapter or analog dock. The sound is markedly better.
• Control: You're using iTunes, so it's the great Apple interface, and all your playlists are there, but you can still use your standard remote control.
• iTunes Store: Because you're running iTunes, you can hear songs purchased at the iTunes store -- you can't do this any other way (other than by connecting an iPod).
• It's a computer: And of course, it's a full-on Macintosh, now accessible away from your desk. If you're so inclined, inexpensive Bluetooth wireless keyboards and mice make browsing on the big screen easy, and iTunes video amazing.

I'm not sold on "media center PC's", but for $500 or so, this is a great, flexible and fully integrated solution. And frankly, Apple has it all over Microsoft in terms of audio and video.