We recently hooked up with the marketing director over at Griffin Technology and he kicked us down a box of goodies! I’ve been checking out some of their stuff this week, like the iTalk and lapel mic. Its really weird hearing sound coming out of the iPod through the little speaker. I’m thinking I’ll use it to quickly capture lyrical ideas when I’m on the move. I used to use a cassette recorder for that, but I could never find blank tapes to use, since I don’t exactly listen to cassettes anymore, and it’s such a pain in the ass finding the part of the tape with the song idea you want. Digital files have really simplified that process. Still, it is sort of interesting going back and listening to all the stuff I’ve recorded to tape since 1998. Some ideas I’d totally forgotten about. I was just telling Ryan about the recording I have of the very first time I asked him to “write me a song” and we sat down and jammed with guitar and voice. Maybe I should digitize some of that stuff? I guess I’d just use the Griffin iMic to plug the cassette player into and then record it into Final Vinyl, like I’ve been doing with the turntable… that’s what I did with some old LSD tape demos a few years back. That iMic might be one of the handiest things those guys came up with! I also use it to power my speakers and it sounds considerably better than when I plug ’em in direct. I’m excited for their SmartDeck connector to come out this summer. Right now I’m using an old 90’s CD car adapter and the cable is too fricken long.