My iCrotch
If I’d had a Christmas Wish List this year, an iPod would have been at the top of it. But, given the state of just about everyone’s personal economy right now, I certainly didn’t expect anyone to be showering me with expensive, non-essential gifts this year. So, imagine my surprise on Christmas morning when I learned that miscellaneous friends and family members had all gotten together, pooled their resources, and purchased me a 20GB iPod. It’s honestly the best Christmas gift I’ve received since the Kodak Instamatic X-15 of Christmas ‘71.
In addition to the iPod, I also got a Griffin iTrip, an FM transmitter that allows you to play your iPod through your car radio. Now, ideally, if you want to play your iPod in your car, you’d want a car stereo with an AUX jack that you could plug your iPod into. Unfortunately, I don’t have one, so my only other options are some sort of cassette adapter or an FM transmitter like the iTrip.
I was drawn to the iTrip for a number of reasons, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a perfect solution. Griffin Technology is very honest about some of the limitations of the technology. As part of their iTrip FAQ, they state the following:
What is the quality of the audio when played through the iTrip? Is it better than FM?
Simply put, FM radio is not the best quality audio in the world. It lacks some high and low frequencies, it has a fairly poor signal-to-noise ratio and it is nowhere near CD quality. The iTrip simply creates a mini FM radio station on top of your iPod, therefore it will never sound any better that the best FM radio station you’ve ever heard.
However, it still sounds pretty good. With a clear frequency the iTrip will deliver your iPod’s music at a surprisingly clear and high level of quality. And unless you have an AUX input or cassette adapter - it’s the ONLY way to play your iPod in your car. As far as comparing the iTrip to ‘other’ FM transmitters, the iTrip’s sound quality will win every time.
Of course, the real catch is that bit about “With a clear frequency…” I don’t live in the most densely-populated or cosmopolitan area of the United States, so I assumed that it would be fairly easy to find a chunk of the FM band that wasn’t being used, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. While the FM dial in my area is certainly a cultural wasteland, it’s a crowded wasteland.
So, as I’ve been driving over the past few days, I’ve been experimenting with various frequencies and I finally settled on 95.9 MHz. It seemed to provide the clearest sound with the least amount of interference from surrounding stations. But as I was driving home in a snowstorm the other night, I started getting some bleed-through from a Christian evangelical station right in the middle of Blossom Dearie’s “Give Him The Ooh-La-La.”
I reached over and picked up the iPod off the passenger seat and as soon as I touched the iPod the interference went away. When I put it back down, the garbled calls to repentance reappeared. My body seemed to be acting as an auxiliary antenna for the iTrip, but driving one-handed through a raging snowstorm at the Point of the Mountain was not an option. So, not knowing what else to do, I lay the iPod down on the driver’s seat between my legs until I had better driving conditions and could deal with the problem.
Now, I don’t mean to be indelicate or sound boastful in any way, but I have discovered that there is something magical between my legs…or, rather, in the space between my legs. With the iPod nestled there, the sound is crystal clear and all outside interference disappears. I’ve tried other locations on or about my person…under my right thigh, in my pockets, etc…but nothing works as well. The sweet spot seems to be, well, there. So, if you have been having similar difficulties with your iPod/iTrip, you might want to give my iCrotch solution a try.
I hesitate to even speculate as to why this works. Maybe it’s a “guy thing,” in which case women would need to find an alternate solution. (iCleavage?) But there is also the chance that this solution will only work for me. Perhaps there is something extraordinary about my loins, or it could be that I just have exceptionally receptive pants. Both, I think, are plausible explanations and, oddly, those same assertions have been made by others in the past, though under very different circumstances.
