Today Rip2iPod opened their doors to offer a CD ripping service where they convert your CD collection into a digital library. Granted, they are a little late to the game, but hey “better late then never,” right?

The CD ripping process is nothing new and not much has changed over the years on how it’s done. Same old stuff….put the disc in, start ripping, wait 6 minutes add the songs to iTunes. It is still an arduous task given all the technology we have – not in the sense of difficulty, but in the amount of time required.

Consider this: The average CD collection is 250 CDs. The average iPod [or similar] owner has less then 5% of their CD collection ripped into MP3s. Here is why: Ripping the average CD collection of 250 discs takes about 20 hours of work. That’s 20 straight, none-stop, hours. Obviously no one will pull an all-nighter to rip music, but even breaking that up over a several days will easily translate into a couple weeks worth of time. Who wants to deal with that?…and thus your 5%.

Take a minute and think about your CD collection – it’s your history where music marks your time – and a good chance they’re not in your digital library, but rather sitting on a shelf unused, or in a box put away. Rip2iPod can help with that effort. Starting at $100 for 100 CDs [and prices going down from there] they rip your music into a pristine digital library. The result: A full archive of your CD collection on DVD in MP3 format and ready to be dropped into your iTunes account.

Rip2iPod CD ripping service includes full meta data ID tagging, genre, album artwork when available and your choice of sample bit rates for quality control. For pricing and ripping services visit Rip2iPod.

At the time of this article, Buy.com has a set of AA battery chargers which re-powers via USB at a 72% savings. List price went from $24 down to $7 bucks!

Great stocking stuffer for the geeky Dad, brother or in-law.

Save the environment by throwing fewer batteries away! This Ni-MH battery recharges with any USB port and has a built in safety circuit to prevents overcharging. LED indicator light lets you know when your battery is fully charged.

Grab the Deal now!

Chestnut Hill has long put out their sound systems as a premium product. If you are in the market for a premium iPod player, then consider the George Audio Speaker System – CHS40001. Currently it’s available for $249 and free shipping!

All of GEORGE’s functions are controlled from the remote, meaning you can set an alarm, pick a song, or turn on the radio within a thirty-foot radius of the base unit. Great for desktop or bedside control, GEORGE fits anywhere.

Show off your mixing skills using GEORGE’s Jukebox feature, take requests and build a playlist, without ever leaving the party.

With 24 presets spread across four pages, you can mix your AM and FM presets and organize them by interest or genre. Every radio has presets, but who remembers which one is 101.7? GEORGE’s presets are self-labeling, meaning you’ll never have to guess again.

Most tabletop systems deliver audio through a single set of small-sized speakers, resulting in artificial high notes and muddy bass. GEORGE uses coaxial (2-way) speakers that outperform highly equalized single cone speaker designs, resulting in greater detail and accuracy. These stereo coaxial speakers are paired with a dedicated down-firing 4” subwoofer that is optimized for low frequency reproduction without excessive EQ or resonant ducts. The five speaker system is then bi-amplified for tonal balance.

Get the USB Dealz now.

Source: GetUSB.info.

If Nexcopy where to make a movie about USB duplicators and data loading USB thumb drives, this would be the movie trailer to draw your attention.

We must admit the unique idea of taking an angle like this to introduce a new product [one which is kind-of mundane] is interesting to say the least. The 1 minute video gives you just enough information to peak your interest, yet doesn’t bore you enough to click away.

The high definition version is posted on youtube, but you’ll get the point from this:

We’ve mentioned Nexcopy before with their flag ship 20 port system, but if the video got you motivated to do some serious USB data loading, click to learn more about the Nexcopy USB duplicator and SD duplicator solutions.

About 1 year ago, Nexcopy introduced their 20 target USB duplicator and just recently they announced all new 40 and 60 port USB duplicators.  These massive duplicators wouldn’t help the “average Joe” but for those who deal with flash drives on a daily basis, it’s worth a closer look.

One questions we have; how did Nexcopy get past the drive letter limitation with the larger 40 and 60 port systems?  Typcially you have a drive letter assigned to each stick you plug in but this clearly isn’t the case with the Nexcopy USB duplicators.

In the addition to larger capacity duplicators, Nexcopy also introduced some cool software features.  Two in particular include USB data collection and USB unique data streaming.

USB data collection does the opposite of what a USB duplicator should do…it extracts content OFF the drive.  This feature was designed for schools and universities where teachers and faculty collect homework and test results off USB sticks.  My 5 year old is already required to have a USB flash drive for school, so I can see how collecting content from a USB stick will be a needed requirement.  Plus, it’s time consuming for a teacher to do this one-by-one.  The Nexcopy Data Collection feature makes this a snap.  You plug in 20 [or 40 or 60] devices and click a single button.  The software creates a directory for each stick and dumps the students content into that folder. It’s an automated process which could save a teacher hours of time.

The other feature Nexcopy introduced is the “unique data streaming” feature.  This function is designed for users to put unique files on a specific group of flash drives.  GetUSB.info mentioned a basic application – putting a unique serial number to each flash drive.  With the Nexcopy API, the user can write a script to shoot a unique file to a specific port/device.   Again, a nice time saving feature because the other option is copy-n-paste one at a time.

The Nexcopy USB duplicators are the USB400PC and USB600PC.  Visit Nexcopy to learn more about flash memory duplicators.

It’s probably fair to say most of use have damaged a USB drive while stuck inside a computer by bumping it, jamming it or stuffing it in via the wrong direction. To reduce the possibility of damage and increase the life of your USB stick, designer Damjan Stankovic has come up with a flexible USB device.

The “USBee” is a new prototype design which includes a flexible neck just after the USB connector but still keeps the flash memory useable for data storage. The USBee is shaped like a Bee and has thin wire between the USB connector and flash memory to provide flex under stress.

It does look like a manufacturing nightmare, but hey, if we can build automobiles with robots, I’m sure we can string out some wire between point A and point B to make a flex drive.

In addition, the tip has a rubber flap-back lid for quick access to the USB connector and quick protection for the USB connector. Stankovic calls it the “lid-snap system.” The USBee can also twist, turn and flex in any direction to save itself from your daily abuse.

This device is not in product, just a prototype.

Source: GetUSB.info.

It’s not all that often you come across a deal that is worthy of a second look, but today I found an 8GB flash drive for only $22.  That’s not bad.  I will admit, my current flash drive (I have lots but only use one most frequently) is only 2GBs and seems to be holding up just fine [on storage].  However, I wonder if life would be that much easier if I could easily store 8GBs when ever, where ever…

Dane-Electronics is offering up their zMate 8GB UFD for only $22 plus free shipping. If you have never used Google check-out you could drop that 8GB drive to $12. Now that aint bad for 8GBs of memory.

Grab the GetUSB Dealz now!

The company line:

Small, practical and high-performance, the zMate Pen lets you carry all sorts of computer files wherever you want (music, video, spreadsheets, texts, pdf, etc…). The Dane-Elec zMate Pen is certified High Speed USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 compatible. The Dane-Elec 8GB zMate Pen is your perfect companion either at work, at home or abroad.

Dane-Elec zMate 8GB Dealz page.

So how about this 7 inch widescreen LCD digital picture frame with clock, calendar and alarm? It’s only $59 (after $20MIR). The picture frame is widescreen which makes it easier to display landscape pictures and with a remote it’s easy to flip between pictures, click over to the calendar or clock setting.

It’s safe to say any Mother loves pictures of her kids, grand kids or anyone else in the family tree. That’s why you can’t go wrong with a digital picture frame.

With Mother’s Day still a couple weeks away, you can order this perfect gift today and have plenty of time to load it up with family photos. I did a similar thing for last years Christmas and it was a hit. Brought tears to Grandma’s eyes.

Considering the $60 isn’t too much for a Mother’s day gift, feel free to check out more details on the 7 inch widescreen picture frame.

As for the company line we have:

“The full-featured AXN-9702 7-inch digital picture frame functions as a calendar, clock, and alarm, and also supports MP3 music playback. It comes with a card-style remote control, built-in memory that can store up to 15 pictures (depending on size), USB input jack, and an AC/DC power adapter. The super-slim remote controls viewing and music options to enhance your experience without leaving the sofa.

Use the USB jack to download media directly from a USB flash drive. SD, xD, MMC and Sony Memory Stick flash media compatibility make it easy to show off pictures without a PC. MP3 playback, built-in speakers, and the calendar and alarm functions round out a cool, convenient multimedia experience.

Comes with manufacturer’s limited warranty (90 days Labor; 1 year Parts).”