Do you remember how you felt the day the music died? I do, because it happens pretty regularly. I’ll be listening to songs on my iPod, driving along or away somewhere on holidays, when the battery runs out — usually in the middle of one of my favourite tracks. It makes a car charger a pretty handy accessory, not to mention an adapter for when you find yourself in a foreign country.
So far, so usual. There’s no shortage of iPod accessories on the market but a new brand has appeared that claims to sell these products at a lower cost than the competition. What’s more, it’s Irish. Jivo Technology (pronounced jive-o) is a brand created by Dublin-based TNS Distribution. It designs the products in Ireland and has them manufactured overseas.
At the moment there are 18 items in the Jivo product range including an international travel charger for iPods, a car charger with sync cable for an iPod as well as coloured silicone ‘skins’.
The car charger is coloured black and is a compact unit, docking neatly with any format of iPod. A green LED on the charger lights up when the unit is taking power from the car’s cigarette lighter. Best of all is the price: this retails for just €14.99, just half the price of some competing chargers available to buy online.
Also available, this time in white, are a standard mains adapter (€19.99) and an international travel charger kit that comes with fittings for US, European and Australian plugs. The latter is slightly more expensive at €25.
There are silicone cases for first- and second-generation iPod Nanos, available in silver, pink, black, blue and green. Cases to fit the larger-format iPod video come in clear, pink or black. All of these cost €14.99.
The cases have a hole for the lanyard as well as a slot at the back for attaching it to the armband. Better still, what you also get for your money is a chamois cloth for cleaning your iPod, as well as a lanyard and an armband for taking your music player to the gym or out on a run. The Velcro strapping that’s supplied in the pack is good and sturdy and is elastic so it will stretch to fit.
There’s so much talk about rip-off Ireland that seeing a quality product from an Irish name at a good price could come as a shock. But it’s good to know that supporting a local company doesn’t necessarily involve paying through the Nanos. Jivo products are available in Ireland in most shops where iPods are sold, including the O2 and 3G retail chains.
Price: Various
STAR RATING
Handling: ****
Features: ***
Performance: ****
Value for Money: *****
Pictured — Jivo autocharger
By Gordon Smith
