Saving A Little Money

iPod Classic (Image by Apple)

I love to listen to music.  I have Sirius/XM in my truck and love it. Years ago I loaded all my CDs into iTunes and have my entire music library loaded on to my iPod.  We have XM Weather in the plane displayed through the Gramin 496, but I'm not quite ready for ADS-B weather so XM Weather is still worth it's weight in gold to me.

Anyway, ever since we subscribed to the weather I have paid the extra cost to also have the XM Radio option.  We have all enjoyed it like the time we made our first Christmas journey in the Arrow and cruised around listening to the Christmas Music Channel.  I never paid much attention to my options until this last trip with my dad when I turned on the XM Radio and he requested to listen to some Eagles.  "Sorry Dad, they aren't playing right now, but I'm sure one of the stations will be soon."

I could have plugged in my iPod , but it was tucked away out of reach.  After the trip I got to thinking about the whole arrangement a little more.  Sure I can plug in the iPod, but after the big panel rearrangement in  2011, I don't want any cables strewn across the cockpit and panel.  Well let's see.....the PS Engineering PMA8000BT audio panel has Bluetooth.......what if my iPod had Bluetooth?  Well it doesn't, but I fixed that.

PMA8000BT (Image by PS Engineering)

I found a 32GB iPod Touch (3rd Generation) in perfect shape on eBay for $105 and sold my 80GB Classic for $125!  My whole library only takes 23GB so I'm set.  The new iPod paired up perfectly with the audio panel and sounded great.  I called Sirius/XM and cancelled the XM Radio side of my subscription.

iPod Touch (Image by Apple)

I like the Sirius/XM Radio Service, but since I'm not in the plane everyday like I am in my truck, it really wasn't worth the extra $15 a month.  So now I can wirelessly enjoy all my music in the plane while saving myself $180 per year. Not too shabby.