Necessary Accessories for Holiday Gadgets

May 10th, 2007

We all remember the joy of tearing off the holiday wrapping paper, chipping a nail on the packing tape, and finally pulling open the box to reveal a cool new toy or gadget–only to spend the next half hour digging through the battery drawer to find a dang AAA that still has some juice left in it.

Times have changed, but gift-giving habits haven’t. If it’s not batteries you need to make your gift work as intended, it’s a larger memory card, another game controller, or a decent headset for your MP3 player.

It’s great to get a digital camera as a holiday gift–after all, you’ll never have to worry about buying film again (check out our Digital Camera Product Guide). But since most new cameras ship with a small (only 8MB or 16MB) digital media card, and newer cameras capture images at three, four, or even five or more megapixels, the newly digital photographer might run out of room for shots.

“A larger card is a must with today’s megapixel cameras,” says John Cowley, operator of the digital photography site Lonestardigital.com. “The included card will ‘run out’ after the first few minutes of fun. An additional 128MB memory card can be added for around $50 to $60 and make a new camera a pleasure to use.”

Some digital cameras use disposable batteries, but offer an upgrade to a rechargeable kit, which might be something to consider. “Much like the included small memory card, disposable batteries will run out after a short time on the first day of use,” Cowley says. “A rechargeable battery upgrade makes the camera perform and last the way a digital camera should.”

MP3 players are still all the rage, with a variety of formats and flavors (see our MP3 Player Product Guide). But unfortunately, many of these players bundle a chintzy set of earbuds or headphones. True audiophiles don’t want to listen to their music through these basic plastic soundmakers.

If you got cheap earbuds with your audio player, don’t dispair. A lot of the newer audio earmuffs from Koss, Sony, and other manufacturers offer additional features such as enhanced bass, a mute button on the cord, or being able to hear outside noises so you don’t scream at someone who asks a question when you’ve got the tunes cranked.

Although no new gaming consoles are shipping this holiday season, the great prices on GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox still make them hot gifts–so you might have seen one under the tree this year. Some packages even include a game or two. But what they don’t usually have is more than one controller.

“Most of the best gaming experiences are multiplayer and social, so at least one extra controller is essential,” says Dan Amrich, senior editor at GamePro magazine (a sibling publication of PC World). “The simple fact is there’s nothing fun about watching someone else play.” If you need an extra controller for your new game, see our Game Room column for some suggestions.

The GameBoy Advance SP is another great gift idea this year, and it includes a rechargeable battery and a front-lit screen, so you won’t need battery or lighting extras if you got a GBA SP. “The only thing a GBA SP player really needs is a headphone adapter,” says Amrich. “Nintendo chose not to send the ‘official’ one to retail–you can only buy it online–but companies like MadCatz, Nyko, and Pelican sell them at most stores for $10 or less.”

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