Macworld | iPod Product Guide: Griffin Technology TuneJuice

Griffin Technology TuneJuice

Basic Information

Price as Reviewed:	$20
Company:	Griffin Technology
Rating:

Review

We've reviewed a few iPod battery add-ons that extend your iPod's playback time significantly -- some as much as 100 hours! However, one major disadvantage to these batteries-on-steroids is that they tend to be heavy and bulky. What if you're not looking for 40, 60, or 100 additional hours of battery life, but rather just enough to get you through a cross-country flight when you forgot to plug your iPod in the night before? Griffin's TuneJuice is just the ticket: This runt of a battery pack -- just 2.3" by 1.6" by .8" -- uses a single 9-Volt battery to provide approximately 4 hours of playback time to a dead iPod or 8 additional hours to an iPod that's still running on its own power. Simply plug the TuneJuice's 4" cable into your iPod's dock connector port and your iPod's "remaining battery life" -- as displayed by the battery meter in the menu bar -- will increase accordingly.

In my testing, the TuneJuice worked as advertised. However, note that the TuneJuice provides just enough power to extend playback time -- it won't actually recharge your iPod's battery, even if you plug it in overnight. Still, it's a handy accessory to carry in your travel bag, and its diminutive size and light weight means it won't add much to your load -- unlike those 100-hour bricks.--Dan Frakes