Say you want to listen to your iPod at work, but discover that your iPod’s battery is dead. If you’re like me, you probably have a perfectly good computer at your desk with perfectly good USB ports which can be used to charge your iPod. (If you’re also like me, you won’t have the AC adapter handy, because, like, what fun would that be?)

The problem: when you plug an iPod into a computer’s USB port, Windows will grab hold of it, and mount it as a USB drive. When this happens, the iPod will not play music — it will ony display the “Do not disconnect” message and bozo sign. The basic issue is that an iPod will function as either a music player or a USB drive, but not both simultaneously.

The solution: plug the iPod into your computer’s USB port. Once Windows mounts it as a drive, go to My Computer, right-click on the iPod’s drive letter (or icon), and choose Eject. Windows will then unmount the iPod, allowing it to function as a music player, but it will still be on the computer’s USB bus, allowing it to charge.

Don’t forget to use Safely Remove Hardware before pulling the plug when you leave for the day!

This is a nifty feature, except for one problem: during Daylight Saving Time, it calculates the time at foreign locations incorrectly. For example, the two locations I entered were “California” and “Hong Kong”. During Standard Time, Hong Kong is 16 hours ahead of California, but during Daylight Saving Time, it is only 15 hours ahead. But while it is 6:08pm in California, the iPod is displaying 10:08am in Hong Kong. It is actually 9:08am in Hong Kong — 15 hours ahead.

The same error is made with locations within the United States that do not observe DST. For instance, it is currently 3:08pm in Honolulu, but the iPod displays it as 4:08pm.

The iPod and the Mac it’s connected to both seem to be configured to observe DST, so I’m pretty sure this isn’t a configuration issue. My conclusion is that this is a bug. A rather annoying and obvious bug that should have been caught before release.

BTW, I like the keyboard on this MacBook. I’m not typing double characters like I often do on other laptops.

The iPod plus my Grado headphones together generally put out very good sound. Additionally, most of my music has been ripped at 160kbps rather than the standard 128kbps for improved sound quality. With this setup, I’m hearing details I’ve never heard before in music that I’ve listened to for years. But even with this great sound quality, the iPod is not perfect.

I’ve experienced problems with the iPod’s EQ (equalization). On most songs, I apply the “bass booster” setting, which mildly boosts the bass. However, applying the “bass booster” EQ setting to songs with strong bass causes the iPod’s sound output to clip noticeably. (The powerful bass drum hits on Metallica’s S&M is where I first heard this.) This is rather disappointing, but since the Grados have good bass response, running with flat EQ is not a huge issue.

The battery has been a bigger problem. My iPod mini is a first-generation device, with a claimed battery life of 8 hrs. (Second-generation iPod minis have much improved battery life at ~18 hrs.) Unfortunately, I have yet to observe my iPod mini run for a full 8 hrs. Further, I’m having trouble keeping the battery charged by connecting the iPod to my computer via Firewire. It has to be left connected for several hours to get a full charge from my computer, and running a computer that draws 350 watts for 4-6 hours just to charge a battery the size of a poker chip doesn’t make sense. I’ve taken to using the included AC adaptor to charge my mini.

• Full-size, over-the-ear headphones
• Good sound
• Comfortable (one would think this would be automatic with full-size headphones, but alas…)
• Under $100

First, I tried a pair of Sony MDR-V150 headphones. Their sound was decent, but they pinched my ears against my glasses so badly that I could only wear them for 30 minutes or so.

I then compared two different Sennheiser HD headphones and two different Grado Labs SR headphones. The Sennheiser headphones were comfortable, but either produced blaring, muddy mids from the iPod, or couldn’t be driven by the iPod at a reasonable volume. Sennheisers are obviously intended for use with an amplified hi-fi system. The Grados, on the other hand, produced very nice sound with good volume, even from my little iPod mini.

I settled on a set of Grado SR60s, and I am digging these headphones. The best words to describe their sound is clean, accurate, and balanced. The bass is punchy, fast, and clean; it has quite a presence, but it doesn’t get in the way. The high stuff (especially cymbals, which, being a drummer, I’m picky about) sounds great and is supurbly accurate. And finally, the mids are sweet! For years, I’ve done the “V” thing when it comes to EQ: crank the bass and treble, and turn down the mids. Not with these Grados. To my ears, they sound best with a flat EQ or just a mild boost to the bass. That’s balance.

The sound is also incredibly rich. I can hear individual picks, the overtones in the bottom head of a tom-tom, and the deep but delicate tone of a bass guitar. In music I’ve listened to for years, I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before.

Wow.

I looked hard at the iPod Shuffle as a replacement for my USB keychain drive. But with the 1GB model priced at $149, the 4GB mini is just $30 more for a much more capable device… so I went with the mini.

Note: the primary improvement on the 2nd-gen mini is battery life: an improvement from ~8 hrs. to ~18 hrs. This is a major improvement, but I don’t believe that the shorter battery life of the 1st-gen will be a major issue for my situation.

The challenge now of course is to not piss away a bunch of money on accessories for it!