nurse chrissi said:
4. The Belkin car charger - plugs into the cig lighter
I have a Belkin charger/player! This thing is fantastic!
You plug it into your cigarette lighter in your vehicle. Then, tune a station - any station - on the device. Tune your car radio to the same station. Plug in your iPod and voila - you are playing your iPod through your car stereo! No tape adaptations, no wires hanging all over - and the iPod gets charged while playing.
This is more expensive (I believe it was over $100) but well worth it! I love it.
Also, for around $30 you can get a little device that plugs into your iPod that tunes to 4 radio stations. This device requires batteries, but is small. With your iPod and this small device, you can then tune any FM radio to one of the four preset devices and play your iPod! For example, I now play my iPod through my home stereo with this little device. This device can easily be found at any Best Buy.
While the Bose speaker system is fantastic, it is expensive. The Altech Lansing speaker system is also great. It's very portable (can use batteries or AC adapter) and even comes with its own carrying case. The iPod will charge as it plays. The speakers aren't movable, but they collapse to make transportation easy.
Lastly, iPods scratch. You might want to invest in or buy as gifts an iPod scratch remover/polisher kit. You can find more info
here.
Side note: Plenty of cases have been discussed, but now there are special U2 iPod cases. Not sure how good they are yet as they won't come out until the end of January. I bought a leather case, with a hole in front for the click wheel and a plastic protector for the screen. It also has a clip so it can clip to your belt or pants or whatever. It's about $30. I highly recommend a case of some sort to assist with carrying the iPod and preventing scratches.