5299 The descriptively named Proporta Universal iPod Dock provides a place to park your iPod or iPhone for storage and charging - a much more elegant solution than just laying the device on the table or desktop beside your computer when you plug it in to charge it or synch with iTunes.

There were six separate items in the blister pack that the Universal iPod Dock arrived in, plus the complimentary bag of real British tea that is a charming Proporta signature custom - in this instance English Breakfast Tea by Taylor's of Harrogate. Inciudentally, Taylor’s is one of the most respected names in the British tea industry (and worldwide), has been in business since 1886, and is still family-owned. They operate on a fair trade policy and have received The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development and Business in the Community.

Back to business, the Proporta Universal iPod Dock comes with four interchangeable snap-in connector insert trays bezels to accommodate the four sizes of the iPod line (touch, nano, and two sizes of Classic plus the iPhone) as well as a spare USB sync/charge cable, and unfortunately no instructions, at least with the pack I received. The latter is an unfortunate omission, because assembling and configuring the Proporta Universal iPod Dock is not very - how shall we say? - "intuitive." I've been taking stuff apart and putting it back together with reasonable success all my life, but figuring out the Proporta Universal iPod Dock took some serious eyeballing and concentration.

The nearest thing to an instruction sheet was a small, cryptic embossed set of locked/unlocked padlock symbols with opposite facing arrows on the bottom of the Dock's main housing, It turns out you simply twist the upper and lower halves of the housing in opposite directions and voila! - the case separates. It's quick and positive once you get the idea.

Next, you have to choose the appropriate tray inserts to accommodate your iPod or iPhone, and snap it into place. At least you can look at one of the alternate tray inserts to suss out where the retainer catches are located. Each of the snap-in insert trays has a receptacle to hold the iPod end of the sync/charge cable in place so it can extend through the floor of the tray for the iPod to slot into. Sleuthing out how this assembled was much less straightforward than opening the case. A small retainer clip with squeeze-release latches has to be removed, the cable plug inserted in the appropriately-shaped recess, and then the retainer re-inserted to lock in place. It took me about 20 minutes to determine the necessary steps, although once you get the drift it can be done in seconds. Incidentally, the cable retainer clips are engineered to keep the plug's spring-loaded catch releases depressed when it is mounted in the dock so you can slip the iPod on and off.

However, I found that the supplied USB cable was less than satisfactorily secure in situ because the plug at tis iPod end has rounded corners and the anti-fatigue boss where it joins the cable was a bit too bulky to fit in the recess provided and reluctant to bend tightly enough to clear the bottom of the housing when the halves were reassembled. Happily, the standard Apple USB cable had neither of these problems, being square-cornered and more delicately flexible, so the solution is to use the Apple cable with the Universal iPod Dock and the Proporta-bundled cable for free-standing connections, for which it works just fine.

THe cable is then routed through channels around the periphery of the Dock's housing to emerge through a provided cord aperture at the back. Insert the USB connector in you're computer's USB port, perch the iPod in the Dock aperture, and you're in business.

Since I didn't have any current-generation iPods handy, I had to test the Dock with a second-generation iPod nano, and found it worked fine and could even accommodate the nano without removing it from its Proporta Crystal case if I used the largest-aperture insert tray bezel - which presumably ins intended for the 160 GB iPod Classic. Essentially, any USB iPod that will physically fit in one of the provided tray bezels should work with this dock.

The Proporta Universal iPod Dock is four inches in diameter, and the bottom housing module is weighted to make the assembly difficult to tip or knock over. There are also three soft, rubber-like traction and anti-scratch pads on the case bottom.

The Dock dock comes in either black or white to best match of compliment the color of your iPod or iPhone. If you have both colors, you can even mix and match top and bottom housing modules. As usual with Proporta accessories, the unit is nicely finished, in this case with a high gloss, and the quality and functional tolerances are good. It certainly compliments the iPod nicely and won't look out of place in your office or living room.

In summary, at a modest $21.95, the Proporta Universal iPod Dock provides a relatively inexpensive, attractive and elegant-looking place to park and charge your iPod, and my only negative criticisms are the absence of assembly and use instructions, and that issue with the supplied sync/charge cable not fitting the provided holder satisfactorily.

Key Features
• Universal for the iPod classic 80GB, iPod classic 160GB, iPod 3G nano, iPod touch, iPhone
• Sync/charge cable included (but see comments above)
• Available in jet black and classic white
• Allows you to charge through the dock using your Apple iPod charging cable

$ 21.95

For more information, visit:
http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=4063&t_mode=des

Charles W. Moore

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