Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has, as you’ve no doubt noticed, been raving about his iPod. Well, today he stopped by the Apple Store in the Pentagon City Mall to get himself a gadget that will allow him to play his iPod through his car stereo. (Alas, the Villainmobile is a 2003 Mercury Marauder and getting an iPod cradle built-in was not an option.)

Well… Your Maximum Leader had done a little homework and had read up on some of the various Mac/Apple adherent web sites about gadgets that would play his iPod in the Villainmobile. Most of them were fancy high-fallutin’ thingies that would plug into cigarette lighters and broadcast your iPod output over an unused FM signal to your car radio. Most of them cost between $80-100.

When your Maximum Leader got to the store he was immediately greeted by some very cheerful (but not overly so) Apple dudes. They asked if your Maximum Leader needed any help finding something. Your Maximum Leader responded that he needed a gadget. The Apple dude said, “Look man. I’ve got to ask you a question first. The question is, do you have a tape deck in your car?” Your Maximum Leader responded that in fact he did. The Apple dude said, “Great! Then you need this gadget.” The gadget in question was a souped up cassette tape with a cord leading from the side out to a little plug that would fit in the headphone port of the iPod. Your Maximum Leader laughed aloud and said that this low-tech gadget resembled something he once owned to get an old CD-Walkman to play in his late (and oft-lamented) Honda Civic. The Apple dude said, “Yup. It’s pretty much the same thing updated for your iPod. It may not look like much. And it will not charge your iPod battery. But it will work and never fail you. All these FM broadcasting things are subject to weird atmospheric, electronic, and magnetic interference. If you want a sure thing get the cassette gadget.” As your Maximum Leader pondered the Apple dude added, “Oh yeah. And it is only $20.”

Sold! (And by the way, it works wonderfully.)

Well then your Maximum Leader and the Apple dude (who was soon joined by a second Apple dude) started talking about the G4 Powerbook and the new Intel powered laptop. Your Maximum Leader mentioned that Mac based apps weren’t optimized to run on Intel chips - so wouldn’t one be better off waiting a year or so for the programming to catch up to the technology? The Apple dudes said you could do that, but the increased speed of the chip would offset the optimization problems… Well… Your Maximum Leader and the Apple dudes talked for a little bit longer. The subject meandered… And before you knew it, your Maximum Leader was considering plopping down $2500 on a Powerbook.

Then suddenly the spell was broken as your Maximum Leader imagined the response Mrs. Villain would have given him had he returned to the Villainschloss with a Powerbook…

Your Maximum Leader was flirting with the idea of joining that strange Apple cult.

Then he thought better of it.

But now he has filed the idea away in the dark recesses of his mind. It will, perhaps, be revisited some day…

Carry on.