Ijet Review

If you’re looking for a remote for your ipod to run your sound during your show, this may be the ticket.

My Virtual Sound Man died on me and the manufacturer went out of business. Each of my shows has 15 - 20 sound cues. So I went in search of a replacement. I searched the various entertainer forums and discovered the Ijet (I’m obviously not the first).

The Ijet is described as a remote that attaches to your Ipod that has an “RF signal that travels through walls, ceilings, and around corners up to 150 ft. away.”

The facts:

The Ijet comes with the remote control (which is a little like a car remote), two different kinds of belt attachments, the Ijet unit that attaches to your ipod and an RCA cord. The Ijet unit itself is about three inches long, one inch tall and about a half an inch thick. Very discreet.

It attaches to the bottom of your ipod and is ready to work in 30 seconds.

The remote has “play/pause”, “forward track”, “back track”, “volume up” and “volume down” buttons.

The Ijet runs on the power of your Ipod and is completely wireless.

You can get it on www.amazon.com for about 30 bucks.

Here’s my review:

I received the Ijet on Thursday night and after about 10 minutes of practice was using it for shows by Friday morning.

I’m a learn-on-the-job kinda guy, so it took me about 4 songs (sound cues) to get use to it. I love it. I can start a song and stop a song. Increase and decrease volume at will.

I didn’t actually measure the distance, but on that one day I performed four shows in three different venues (cafeteria, theatre and multi purpose room) with audiences ranging from 200 to 500 people and it worked fine. I even run through the audience and it worked there.

Here are a few things to think about before purchasing:

- Because the Ijet attaches to the bottom of your Ipod, the headphone jack must be elsewhere. My wife’s Nano has the headphone jack on the bottom, so it wouldn’t work. I have a Classic, so it was fine.

- Check the compatibility on-line. Doesn’t work with all ipods.

- The remote does not have a fade-out feature. If this is important to you, you may want to look elsewhere.

- I would say it’s about 95 percent dependable. If your show is dependant on EXACT sound cues such as sound effects, you may want something a bit more reliable. But if you just run music cues, it’s perfect.

- All the entertainer forums suggest that you have a blank track between each track to make managing your list easier. I didn’t find this necessary.

- Because the Ijet works on the power your Ipod, you’ll need to charge the ipod between shows. I don’t like taking any of my equipment out of my sound bag between shows, so you can solve that problem by charging your ipod while setting up or breaking down your show. That way everything stays together.

All that being said, if you want the perfect remote to use for your music cues for only about 30 bucks, this is a no-brainer. Great for a one man/woman show. If you need all the other bells and whistles, you can invest the thousand or so dollars in something much more fancy schmancy.

I welcome your comments.

Have fun!

- John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and Guy that has the music in him
www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1

What happens when your client says "We Have A Problem"?

A crazy thing happened today that I had to tell you about. Here it is.

I was hired by a school to perform my Animal Magic show.

So, I drive two and half hours to the gig. (I accepted the distance because I was able to book four more shows the next day in the same area so it made it worth my while)

I show up. On time. Ready to set up. I meet with the principal that hired me.

She pulls me aside and says "WE HAVE A PROBLEM".

OK. Other than "I'm late for my monthly visitor", "we have a problem" is probably the worst thing you can here.

She goes on to say that because of an animal act that they had last month that was busted by the Department of Fish and Game, the district is no longer allowing animal acts at any of the schools.
"So I'm really uncomfortable with you performing today"

Well gee. Ya coulda' told me that before I made the drive! Animal Magic has animals. Heck, it's in the name! Thank goodness she paid in advance (true).

I didn't lose my cool. Instead, I remembered that I came prepared to perform a completely different show the next day. My Bully Prevention show.

So I calmly told her that "I have another terrific show loaded in my car right now that doesn't use any animals. I guarantee your kids will love it". I went on to tell her a bit about the show.

She agreed and I performed two of my Bully Prevention shows.

Now, I could've said "Hey lady, you're out of luck. I made the drive here. You already paid. Too bad. I'm going to the hotel".

But I knew that the kids were expecting a "caught being good" reward assembly. And I wanted to make sure I made good on my end of the bargain. So instead, I worked it out with her.

She was thrilled. At the end of the two shows she gave me a huge high five and said "Thank you so much. You are my hero! Ya really pulled my butt out of the fire."

Right before leaving, I subtly (ok, maybe not so subtly) suggested that she tell this story to the schools around the area. Forty five minutes later, by the time I got to my hotel room, there was a call from another school in her area ready to book the show.

Do I come prepared with two completely different shows every time? No. Will I from now on? Yes.

See how many lessons you can pick out of this crazy day.

I welcome your comments.

-John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and guy that loves his job!
www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1