Gshocker's Toys

Japanese iTunes

Well for anyone that was crushed when the itunes store Japan opened and you could not purchase from there.. this is for you. Last month I discovered and tested purchasing an iTunes card from jlist.com . They will sell you a Japanese card that you can redeem to buy your Japanese music on iTunes.

I have tested this service and you can have both your own countries account music and a Japanese account music on one machine. Works great and the Jlist people will even email you the code if you do not want to deal with shipping of the card itself.

If you want some Japanese music and are still wondering why you can not get it on the US iTunes store here is your chance. For now Apple has not tried to put a stop to this.

Best headphones Ever !!

I thought the Sure headphones were the best thing since sliced bread till I tried these. Now I have to admit that the Sure units are in the ear and are still in my opinion the best out there.. but sometimes you need to be able to hear what is going on around you a little and inner ear units are not good for that. I wanted to get some non inner ear units and had tried several headphones that clip to the ear but they always seem to get uncomfortable after an hour or so for me.

I tried these on at the store and was sold immediatly. They are so comfortable and they sound great. As far as I can tell these are not out in the US and not sure if they will ever make their way over there. If any stores import these let me know and I can post a link. There are a few models of this that range in price from $40 or so all the way up to $180. All of them feature this hook style with the flexi rubber. If you are at a store that has these (I got mine at Yodobashi) I suggest trying them on. (product link)

Sony takes on iPod

Sony is taking on the iPod with their latest version of the network walkman. This NW-HD5 looks pretty sharp. I can't wait to get my hands on one to hold. Looks pretty nice but the big question will be how is the user interface.

Shuffle beware

While I do not think this is going to really put the hurt on the iPod Shuffle this new model from Sony certainly looks slick. In the style department this one wins hands down in my book. It is a little more expensive but it does features a display and 50 hours of play time. There will be 4 models of this going from 512 to 1GB. Some models will also include FM tuners. Prices range from $130 to $200 for these units.

Certainly keep an eye out for Sony who has made it clear that they want to regain their dominance in the portable music market.

new iPod's today

Well the rumors were true. Today Apple announced new iPod models. The mini was updated with a larger capacity which brings it to 6GB now for the origianl price. They also kept the 4GB version and dropped the price on that one to $199. The button labels on the wheel now match the color of the mini which is a cool little accent.

New iPod photo models were also released. These start at a 30GB version and move up to a big 60GB version. There is now built in support for an external card reader to be released next month. This will let you use your iPod as a portable storage device for your digital camera.

I would not say these updates were anything major. Just kind of some small upgrades. The standard iPod was not changed and remains the same price.

Doraemon iPod Mini

Now this is really cool. In Japan they are releasing a limited edition iPod mini Doraemon edition. This will come with : Case, custom wheel covers and a cool engraved iPod mini. I read there will be 1000 of them made and I am sure they will be hard to get.

Leave it to Japan to get these cool items. This is the second limited edition iPod that has been released  in Japan. The first being the Neon Genesis Evangelion iPod. I wish some of these would make their way over here.

Podcasting Gear

Well Podcasting is the new blogging trend and leave it to someone to start a company that sells gear for all the podcasters out there. Podcastgear.com is a site that has all the things that you need to get going. I have considered giving this a try as it could be interesting. So far my favorite podcasting app is ipodderX.

Hack it!!

Hack your iPod by changing the graphics. I saw this yesterday on a few sites but did not have time to get it posted here. Hack a Day has information on how to change the graphics on your iPod. Actually this link seems to head back to Engadget where there are detailed instructions on how to do this. This lets you change any of the icons on the unit but for now it requires a wipe of the iPod and the app used to do this only run on a PC for now. Certainly is something that would be fun to give a try. May try it out this weekend if I can find some cool graphics to change the stock ones to.

iPod rumor images

Ok so here is a mock up of what this designer things the flash based iPod will look like. I must say this is pretty cool looking and if they had gotten this out before Christmas I am sure it would have been a big seller. More mockups floating around the net and I am sure we will see more before the official announcement.

iPod rumors

Well it seems all over the net there are iPod rumors floating about. I thought I would post a few of the more interesting and possibly realistic ones that I have read out there.

The first one seems more like a fact than a rumor. The fact that Apple will release a flash memory based iPod seems almost a certainty. The exact specs on such a unit are where the rumors come in. This will certainly hit another segment of the portable music market and hoepfully the price will be low enough to draw in users.

Next I read that the mini will get a 5GB hard drive update. This to me seems like something that they should have done a few months ago or at least before Christmas. With all the other iPod mini clones and competators out there sporting 5GB drives Apple seems to be behind the ball.

The last one that I will post is the satelite radio iPod. This one seems interesting but I am not sure how they could cram the needed things into the current shape. If you are going to put a radio in there this seems like a hip way to go but then again paying to listen to the radio is a hard thing to swallow for me.

Well at Macworld we will see which of these is true.. maybe all of them..