The day before my trip to China, I went to Future Shop and bought a battery pack for my iPod Touch. I only realized when I got home that it was the type that blocked the headphone jack. Back to Future Shop I went. My worry turned to despair as I discovered they didn’t have any battery packs compatible with an iPod Touch. How was I supposed to survive the 10 hour flight!? I certainly couldn’t depend on the China Air in-flight entertainment. And the book I was reading wasn’t going to last either.
On the way home, I had a eureka moment. I could just plug my iPod into my MacBook. My MacBook doesn’t last very long when playing video on its screen, but I could just plug in my iPod and play the video on that. Maybe I could even put my MacBook to sleep to increase the battery life. It turns out you can.
For maximum battery life:
- Fire up your MacBook (any laptop should work)
- Plug in your iPod via USB
- Close the lid on your MacBook to put it to sleep
- Voila! Your iPod should still be charging
Add a cheap audio splitter and you’ve got entertainment for two.
I’m sure I’m not the first to think of this, but I couldn’t find anything like it after a quick search, so I figured it’s worth sharing. Let me know if it works for you.