Pimp Your Portable
Trick out your portable MP3 player with these add-ons and extras.
Headphones
The headphones that came with your portable player aren't nearly as good as you can get. Chances are the included earbuds don't even stay in your ears. If you find your portable's sound lacking, look into an upgrade.
Shure's E3c (1) earphones offer rich, clear sound for the rich price of $179. The E3c reproduces sound with great range and precision--so much so that I could hear all the limitations of tracks encoded in MP3 format. The sound-insulating earphones block out surrounding noise well--I could hear soft acoustic tracks even while riding a train through a tunnel--and the kit includes different-size earpieces for different-size ears. A quiet listening environment seems worth $180. If that's too steep, Shure offers the $99 E2c, a slightly larger and less comfortable model.
If you hate earbuds and earphones, try Sony's $40 MDR-G74SL. (2) The wraparound headphones bring out the deep bass tones and fold up into a portable package. The cushioned ear pads fit snugly and comfortably, so you can listen for hours torture-free.
Photograph: Kevin Candland
Portable Speakers
Now you can share your player's sweet sounds with friends, family, and passersby, thanks to portable speakers. Light and battery-powered, they're great for picnics or hanging out on the stoop. Most also have a power-cord option, should you want to listen in the kitchen or office.
For big sound in a small package, look to Altec Lansing's $150 InMotion. (3) Though the line-in jack on its rear panel allows the unit to work with any portable, the InMotion's gleaming white shell and integrated IPod dock are tailored for IPod and IPod Mini owners. The speakers produce great depth, with nice treble and bass tones.
Monster's ISpeaker Portable (4) is smaller and lighter than the InMotion speakers, but the sound lacks the depth of Altec Lansing's model. At $60, it's much more affordable, and it can still bring that seductive ambience to a romantic evening in the park.
FM Transmitters
Since most car stereos don't have a line-in jack, you're stuck playing CDs instead of accessing the gigabytes of music inside your portable player. There is an option: An FM transmitter can send music from your portable to your stereo via an unused frequency. Tune to fuzz (107.1 in my car), set the device to broadcast at that frequency, and press Play. It works in the house, too. If you live near a large city, you may want to try before you buy--it can be hard to find a vacant band.
The $35 ITrip from Griffin (5) for IPods broadcasts a strong signal with little interference, and the music has good bass and treble tones. The unit looks like a natural extension of the player when attached to the headphone jack.
For other portables, the $50 TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter (6) from Belkin performs the same function as the ITrip and has decent sound quality, but I had a harder time locking in the signal and encountered periodic sound interference.
Michael Gowan is a California-based freelancer. Richard Baguley is a senior associate editor at PC World.
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