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Ok, so many things to look at right now…here’s a list of what we’re in the market for right now:

• iPod. Probably the 4G 20GB version. No VC can really invest in consumer products without having an ipod. They are their own universe right now. Man these these things are expensive. About 50% more expensive than non-Apple. For instance the 20GB 4G iPod is $287, but the 20GB Creative is $215. The differences are even more startling in the 40GB range. The Apple discounts are essentially zero, with the discounters selling for $13 off the list price, so you might as well get it from Apple.com directly.
• iPod Photo. Not quite out yet, these are a breathtaking $500 for 40GB and $600 for 60GB. So you pay a $100 premium for a 2.5″ color screen. Wow. Apple folks seems to love it, but the Cnet folks think it is way expensive for a small screen. For instance the iRiver PMP-120 is a 3.5″ screen but does weigh nearly 10 oz. and only has 20GB at $500.
• iPod accessories. The JBL speaker station, the Griffin iTrip FM transmitter, Altec-Lansing InMotion and the JBL Creature II 2.1 speakers for at home a bunch of other cool things noted at the iPod Lounge
• Etymotic ER6. These are in my humble opinion the great headphones I’ve ever used. Insanely expensive, but the sound quality is amazing. Headphone has them for just $107 right now.
• Audible. These guys do books on “tape” as it were. And, if you buy their service for a year, you get $100 off an iPod!
• iRiver iHP-120. If you want something that is not an iPod but that enthusiastist love. I have an IRiver CD Player and I can attest they are the nerds dream. Headroom has a good reveiw of non-iPod players.

In scary caveat, 4G iPods appear to have some sort of defect that iPodLounge is tracking. There is a strange whirring and noise at the start of each song. It is in over 40% of the iPods that iPodLounge users have bought, so it is no small deal.

Well its taken forever to figure out how to fix the various problems. There are lots of postings. I basically got the install problem to work with XP SP2, but I’ve been unable to synchronize because when I go to the Desktop Manager and choose Intellisync/Configure PIM/Address Book/Choose/Browse, I don’t get an folder enumerated. Also, there is an error generated in the ptrace.log file in the Blackberry folder

(BTW, a quick thing to do is to move this magic folder out the Application Data area up to My Documents because you’ll be looking at it a lot)

In the ptrace.log, I see a sea of errors that look like:

D:\Work\Mav1039513_301\dev\ilxolk2\olkapi\pumapist.cpp line 355 Sun Oct 24 22:49:41 2004: Error 0.30042 at D:\Work\Mav1039513_301\dev\ilxolk2\olkapi\pumaufs.cpp line 125
Sun Oct 24 22:49:41 2004: Error 30042.30042 at D:\Work\Mav1039513_301\core\sync_sdk\il_sdk\sdk_data.cpp line 2223
Sun Oct 24 22:49:41 2004: Error 30042.30042 at D:\Work\Mav1039513_301\core\sync_sdk\il_sdk\callback.cpp line 3111

These seem to say that somewhere inthe Pumasync that Blackberry has licensed, it is having a heart attack.

Well, it turns out that the problem is that you can corrupt some of the settings particularly when the profile you have for Exchange is in cached mode, so the fix is to create a new profile just for the Blackberry. Go to Control Panel/Switch to Classic View/Mail/Show Profiles/Copy and copy your current profile to a new one called say, “uncached for blackberry”

Then go to click on that profile and choose Properties/Email Accounts/View or Change Existing Email Accounts/Next/Change and unclick the Use Exchange Cache Mode button (yes, I know, what a user interface!).

Now start the Desktop Manager and Choose Configure PIM/Choose/Options and select the “uncached for blackberry” profile and press ENTER. Now choose Browse and you should be able to see the hierarchy and the bug is fixed.

You have to go to each entry Calender, Notes, Tasks and do the same Choose/Options and select the profile.

If this doesn’t work, you can restart the whole process by deleting the Blackberry folder found in Desktop Manager/Options/Data Folder Settings and try again as above

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Need one of these portable speakers for presentations. Got an el cheapo Radio Shack thing for $40, but it is incredibly heavy and you have to bring two speakers. That’s because it uses 4C batteries each and is very bulky.

The reviews for portable speakers absolutely stink from the mainstream sites, but Ipod lounge seems to really care. The main frustration is that they aren’t reviewed scientifically for audio quality which is what a high end person would want. So what to do, most of the speakers are really bad in quality and most interestingly are designed now for the ipod. Here are some options:

• Tivoli Audio — Home of the Henry Kloss Model One Radio – Home. Kind of a neat idea, it is a traditional mono system that just sounds really great. Kind of like the Bose soundwave, but smaller. They make a 2lb single speaker called the iPAL. Ironically, it doesn’t actually integrate, but has the same colors and is smaller. It is kind of fat at 6×4×4 and expensive at $129. OTOH, if this actually does sound nice, it would be cool to have in a hotel room and it is a famous name. Because it also has an FM receiver, you could use it with the iTrip FM transmitter and the iPod. Mono only though. You can get via ABT Electronics
• Radio Shack. They sell that portable speaker. I may just cut off on of the speakers and then use it. It is about the same dimensions. I’d estimate that it is about 5 pounds for the two speakers.
• Altec-Lansing iM3. Its expensive at around $149 street from Amazon. They have new newer one called the IM3 that is a little smaller and has a remote control. The older InMotions are less at $107. The best thing about it is that it is 8×1×6, so it is flat enough to fit into a bag. It is also about one pound. It is smaller and sleeker and has a remote control too. The sound is pleasant enough, but nothing to write home about.
• Altec-Lansing iMMini. This is the Ipod mini version of the above, it only has two speakers though, but you can get it for $40 street ($129 list). At least iPod lounge think it sounds better (less boomy than the im3).
• Altec-Lansing IM2. Less sexy in appearance than the IM3, but it is only $40 and it has the same speakers, etc.
• JBL Creature Active 2.1. Just $68 at Amazon, it has a subwoofer and isn’t portable, but sounds pretty good so is great if you don’t need it to be portable. Its a best buy
• JBL On Stage. These are expensive at $200, but sound much better than Altec Lansing, but still don’t sound as good as the Creatures.
• Monster iSpeaker. These sound like crud and cost $60, but they are flat planels, so are the size of two CD cases.