Practicalmadness

Griffin Technology has announced a new Nano-sized version of the iTrip that, among other cool new features, uses the Nano’s screen for its controls. The iTrip is one of those FM transmitters that lets you listen to your iPod music over a car stereo, and if you’ve ever used one you may recall how you had to use a playlist on the iPod to change FM frequencies (containing audible tones that would then get mixed in with your other music while using Shuffle Songs), which made the experience of using an iTrip somewhat horrifying for people who expect their iPods to “just work”.

Apple has so far not offered any way to add software to an iPod or to use the iPod’s controls to run another piece of hardware. I’m not sure if this is a hack or a new, more open interface for the iPods — either way, this may mean we can look forward to a bright new era of stuff you can buy to go with your $200 music player. You can learn more about the iTrip for iPod nano on Griffin’s site.

Speaking of the Nano, yes, it’s finally happened: lawyers in California and Ohio have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple over the infamous scratch problem. This is what my mom would have called egregious and decadent, my friends down South would call “tore up” and I would call jerk-tastic. And it’s not like the Nano is the first-ever iPod to get scratches — over the past 18 months I’ve found myself hoping that my iPod would break or be stolen so I’d have an excuse to get a new one that wasn’t so scratched up.

Anyway, the suit not only demands a full refund for anyone with a scratchy Nano, but also a share of Apple’s profits! To quote the Signal vs. Noise post on the lawsuit, “this is a great example of taking a valid claim and turning it into something ridiculous. And that’s the American way (at least when lawyers are involved).”