There’s a storm coming, and all my other working friends were going home left and right. I had to buy something – so I took a chance and went to Megamall regardless of the possible traffic (and the fact that the mall may itself, close)
Luckily, there was no traffic, and the mall was operating like any other day.
“Targus Wireless Rechargeable Optical Mouse”
“Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter”
My optical usb mouse died on me. I think the wires gave way cuz of continuous folding and stretching. Anyways, I went to Megamall for another thing but ended up buying a new mouse while I was at it.
I mentioned in my previous post that having a wired, optical, usb mouse was my preference since all other wireless counterparts really lacked the perfect combination of being rechargeable. Or if you recharge it, you usually have to dock it somewhere and will not be able to use it.
Anyways I got myself a Targus Wireless Rechargeable Optical Mouse. The good thing about it is that you can charge it via USB cable. I haven’t tried it yet (I’m draining it as I’m typing this) but I surmise that it is still useable while charging – which is an extremely huge plus! Plus, its Targus, I mean it’s a fairly known brand and makes excellent products. Hopefully this doesn’t die on me prematurely.
The reason I went to Megamall However was to get an FM transmitter for my iPod. Being a semi-audiophile myself, this may have been a grave mistake in the eyes of others. But I’m not really worried that much. I got myself a Belkin TuneCast II FM Transmitter
The sound does indeed suck compared to real line-ins, since the FM frequency band inherently attenuates frequencies at the far end of the audio spectrum. Simply put, the sound sucks compared to say, listening to a CD on the same radio, or having an external music device connected through a tape-adaptor
Actually the tape-adaptor route has been a tried-and-tested method, and I would gladly use that. It’s cheaper and it does the job. If only our car radios still had tape decks 😉 Most of the newer car audio systems have phased out the cassette deck.
Having the car audio system rigged was the next (and actually best, in terms of sound) solution, but it costs the same as the FM transmitter. On a practicality standpoint, the two options balance each other out with pros and cons.
- Directly rigged meant best audio quality possible, but limited to one car.
- FM transmission meant degraded audio quality (arguably even the worst), but you can use it anywhere.
For my uses I took option 2, since I don’t use cars exclusively (I pretty much just use what I see in the parking space) so it would be an utter waste of money to rig a car I’m not so sure I’ll be using all the time.
Also, when I let my audiophile self shine through – not only should I have it directly rigged, but I would change the whole audio system, speakers, subs, amps, have extra batteries to drive the amps, have the interior dampened to “soundproof” it. If I’m willing to go that far, then I should be using a car exclusively, and if that was the case, that car better be pretty damn nice for me to throw money on it… and that scenario is waaaaay over my budget hahaha.
Suffice to say, the FM way will do just fine. I’m now “road trip” proof. Beach trip anyone? I got the sounds covered – any car will do, any radio will do 😉 And contrary to popular belief, it sounds quite tolerable if you know how to eq both the radio and iPod right. Of course the limited FM audio spectrum can only do so much, but considering those limitations, this TuneCast is doing pretty darn good!