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Provides: Holds your iPod shuffle during activities

Developer: iMojo

Requirements: iPod shuffle and an arm (left or right)

Retail Price: $18.95 (purchased in pairs)

Okay, you've got your Shuffle, you've loaded it up with songs, and now you want to exercise. The supplied lanyard isn't great because the Shuffle bounces and swings around while you run. The arm band that apple provides (for sale) is fine...until you sweat. Here is a viable alternative: the iMojo.

The iMojo is an elastic terry cloth band (like a sweat band) that has a separate elastic strip sewn onto one side with a section for supporting a Shuffle and the iMojo "silicon rubber cleat" to wrap up the extra cord on your headphones or buds.

The main thing is that the iMojo is to be worn not on the biceps region of the arm, but rather the lower arm. The reason for this is any band placed on the upper arm will constantly be abrading against the arm pit and can lead to rashes and/or irritation.

The cleat is used to wrap up excess earphone cord. You can wrap pretty much the entire length of earbud cord supplied on the Shuffle, which means that when the Shuffle not in use, you can use the iMojo to hold everything. Since the cleats are a soft silicon rubber, there is no chance of tearing the skin off someone you might accidently run into. The inside region of the cleats are where you "close off" the wrapping of the cord to prevent the cord from unraveling.

The last point of note is that the iMojo is completely washable—regular wash, regular dry. Toss it in with your cloths and you are set. Also, since it's completely washable, that means it absorbs sweat as well. Thus, it's not like other plastic arm bands that encourage sweat discomfort. I've ran mine through the wash several times now and it doesn't seem any worse for wear.

The one question that might come to mind right off is, "Does the swinging of the arm cause the buds to rip out of your ears?" The answer is hard to answer easily as it depends on how good your ears are for buds in the first place. Mine or OK, not great. My son has great ears for buds so he has no problem. The upshot is if your ears tend to lose buds, this will neither help nor hurt. On the other hand, I did find the swinging of the cord (while minor in degree) a bit of an annoyance. So, I did what I tend to do with headphone/earbud cords anyway, which is to slip the cords inside my T-shirt and then out again past the shirt's neck and then into my ears. I've been doing this for years and never could figure out why so few else do this. This approach also completely attenuates any motion of the bud's cord meaning that there is no extra stress of the bud on the ear.

The biggest problem with the iMojo is that there is only one size, although the company even admits, "One size fits most." Fortunately the iMojo has a reasonable amount of stretch, so, unless your arms are like a linebacker's, you probably will be able to wear it with minimal problems. Unfortunately, as your arm size goes up, there will be greater squeeze of the iMojo on your arm, and you may find it more uncomfortable than you'd like. The good news is that you can place this up on the forearm near your elbow or down to your wrist so there is a reasonable amount of play for you to find the greatest comfort. On the other hand, it would be good if iMojo made (at least) three sizes—small, medium, and large*#151;and gave size ranges (circumference) recommended for each of these sizes.

You do have one choice with the iMojo; it comes in either black or white. You can purchase either both black, both white, or one of each (they're shipped in pairs). The quality of construction is excellent, and the product should last a long time with normal care.

In short, if you are average to average-small in size, this will be a great Shuffle holder for you. If you are large, I encourage you to write to iMojo and let them know they need to add new sizes. I am giving this only 4 "As" solely because of the size problem (of which they are aware). Otherwise this is an easy 5 "A" product.

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.