Highlight:
The Smart deck allows those with now seemingly archaic cassette players in their cars to put them to good use. It allows you to control your iPod through the forward and rewind buttons to skip songs.
Original source:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/news/100105griffin/
Summary:
* If you're one of the three people in the world - and that includes me - who don't yet have an iPod, here's yet another reason to go out and get one.
* Griffen Technology, Inc., a company that makes all sorts of very cool computer-related accessories, has announced that they're now shipping the SmartDeck Intelligent Cassette Adapter for iPod.
* Sure, the SmartDeck lets you hook up your iPod to your cassette deck.
* What sets the SmartDeck apart from all the other cassette adapters is that it allows you to use your cassette deck's forward and rewind buttons to skip songs forward or backward on your iPod.
* Likewise, the pause and stop buttons on the cassette deck do the same for the iPod - and, if you eject the SmartDeck or switch your car stereo from the cassette to the radio, the SmartDeck will automatically pause the iPod.
* Griffin says the SmartDeck includes an intelligent level control that sets optimum input levels as well as optimal volume on the iPod for the best audio quality.
* The SmartDeck works with the iPod mini, iPod Photo, 4th Generation iPod with Click Wheel, and 3rd Generation iPod with touch wheel and buttons - although the play/pause feature is not supported with the 3rd Generation iPods.
* Apple Macintosh owners can also thank Griffin for the soon-to-be-released FireWave, an external device that will bring Dolby Digital surround sound to Macs "for gaming, DVD players and iTunes."
* It's small enough to use with a laptop, gets power through its FireWire connection (no extra cables or power adapters!), and includes an extra FireWire port for daisy chaining other peripheral devices through the FireWave.
* The device's built-in Dolby virtual surround sound processing can be used to create computerized multichannel nirvana from any two-channel signal.
http://www.newstarget.com/007367.html