Bryan Simonson

Before my last trip to Idaho, I used to believe that plugging in electronics in the car was a messy affair at best, and impossible at worst. If you were lucky enough to find a compatible converter, you still had the problem of messing around with a bunch of attachments, and settings to tweak. Well, I had mine working, but when it gave out, I swore off universal car power adapters for life.

Unfortunately, I had a trip coming up, and I needed something to charge my MP3 player (tragically not an iPod…), and so I found myself looking for the “official” car power adapter for a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen. If you’re an iPod owner, let me just tell you that it’s not easy to find accessories for anything else. I went to Radio Shack, Ritz Camera, and The Sharper Image, but I was out of luck at all three.

I was just about to give up, when I happened to walk by Tall’s Camera. I knew it was hopeless, but I was desperate. As expected, when I asked if they had any car power adapters, they said they had nothing– and they definitely didn’t have anything for my Nomad Jukebox. But, just as I was about to walk out the door, the guy there asked if I had a regular power cord for my MP3 player. I told him I did, and he revealed this wonderful invention.

Why aren’t all universal car power adapters like this?