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iwantit IW300 Universal iPod docking station 

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Published 22 Dec 2006 Author bigal
A universal docking station for all iPod models (except Shuffle)

Buy Now

IWantIt IW300
iPod Dock Station

£14.98 from Currys
Currys

I suppose you could say that I have been bitten by the iPod bug of late and have been trying and buying all manner of iPod accessories.

My latest two aquisitions have been made in an effort to make the most of my MP3 collection by linking the iPod to my two home hifi setups.

It seems pointless to me to have nearly 3000 tracks (over 300 CDs) at my disposal, the means to store them all in one place (the iPod) but not have the means at my fingertips to peruse them without having to load and reload CD,s.

A docking station is the answer.

I will review the "Kensington iPod docking station" later on, but my first purchase was the "iwantit" IW300 universal docking station for 5th Gen 30 and 80GB iPods and all the Nano models. The IW300 was bought from Currys digital for £39.99, and only comes in iPod white, but it is a substantial looking beasty (something I always like.)

The unit ships with it own lovely credit card sized remote which allows full control of the iPod when it is sat in the station, including Menu control, playback control and volume.

The station has a full array of inputs on the back, audio L and R, yellow video input, S Video (for playing music videos through your TV) and mains power input (lead supplied.) The quality of the playback of videos depends very much on the size of your TV, on my 17" LCD the quality was pretty good, but on the 42" plasma in my living room the low quality was evident.

The station comes with 5 sleeves that sit in the actual dock to allow the iPod of your choice to sit firmly without rocking (could damage the port at the bottom of the pod) and off you go.

The audio playback is excellent, but is obviously dependent on the quality of your AV receiver or amp and the settings you apply. The beauty of the iwantit though is that you can control the volume of the iPod through the dock and the actual volume levels of the iPod are not affected, a definite advantage in my opinion.

I replaced the supplied leads with better quality Cambridge audio leads and the sound quality went up another notch.

The iwantit is about 4 inches square and 3 inches high, so it does take up some space and could be intrusive, but as I said substantial usually means quality to me and on this occasion that mantra rings true.

Nice...

Update - Currys now have the IW300 for only £21.97 (£14.98 + £6.99 shipping (!)) :


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What our readers said!

Rating:

Comment by Phil Nash, 29 Nov 2018 15:31

I have an iW300 docking station and use it with my ipod classic.  Very good.  I would like to extend its use by plugging in a bluuetooth dongle instead of the ipod.  So far this doesn't work.  Any ideas?
Phil N
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Comment by Andrea Mcmillan, 21 Apr 2015 14:56

Just wondered if someone could tell me how to get in touch with IWANTIT's customer service? I'm having no luck at all.
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Comment by red, 24 Oct 2010 21:01

when my ipod is plugged into the dock and playing through my hifi it misses the first few seconds of each track, on the ipod headphones it does not, this only happens through the dock, anyone know what is causing this? is it just something with this dock?
thanks
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Comment by Tony B, 20 Feb 2009 22:26

Great - I bought one of these from Curry's for £14.99 and at no stage was I told it would not work with the iPod classic. I had assumed the fault was with my television.
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Comment by CharlesSadler, 26 June 2008 9:57

AN UPDATE TO THIS..................

Spoken at length to Apple this morning (0800 876 0753) or http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=MB128LL/A.

You will need to the serial number of your iPod.

They confirmed to to enable Audio output through your Hi-Fi & Video output through you T.V you will need the following.

APPLE COMPONENT AV CABLE (MB128)(£29)- this runs independently from your iPod or alongside the APPLE UNIVERSAL DOCKING STATION (MB125)(£29) (This comes with a REMOTE CONTROL)which would be useful.

I mentioned the iW300. They were not suprised to hear my comments !!!

Hope that helps anyone interested
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Comment by CharlesSadler, 26 June 2008 7:59

Hi Pete
Thanks for your imput.

I'm sorry to say that depite trying for most of yesterday afternoon I cannot make the iW300 work on audio, through either my Denon orPanasonic Hi-Fi systems. Same problem with video, through my Polaroid LCD TV.
I spoke at length to customer support of all three manufacturers but to no avail.
I suspect that you might well be correct that this failure results from a change of spec implemented by Apple.
Incidentally I spoke also to Customer Support at PC World and their advice was "To check with the Hi-Fi / TV manufacturers" !!??
The nett result is that I'm taking both of the iW300's back to PC World and seeking a full refund.
What I am concerned about is that PC World reccommend the iW300 and perhaps more important is that "support" from "iwantit" as a company is non existant !!
I'm now going down the route of getting an Apple Docking Station although if you read some of the customer reviews on their store website I'm not all that certain that that will work either.
I'll keep the site posted !!!  
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Comment by petew, 25 June 2008 13:23

Hi Chas, my understanding (which is limited) is that the IW300 will work for audio on the new iPods - but that video out won't work. Apple changed the circuitry for this in the new generation, probably to extract new licensing income from third party manufacturers.

If you are getting stored video to play on your TV that would be worth knowing (and I'd probably seriously consider getting an IW300). Maybe the manufacturer has upgraded the spec?
Rating:

Comment by Chas Sadler, 25 June 2008 13:00

I'm a little confused !!
I got an ipod Classic 80 last weekend from PC World and WAS ADVISED TO BUY two iW300's (I want to link my ipod to Hi-Fi systems both in the UK and my place in France.

Then I see this:-
Comment by Daniel Lewins, 5 Apr 2008 7:44
Hi,
I actually work for currys and we do advise customers that the dock will not work with the new classic generations. This is also the reason for the price reduction in the dock from £39.99 now to £14.99.

I have bought one myself and to be honest the quality is perfect. I have it connected to my hi-fi & tv and its brillaint all round.
The only downfall is that the menu is not displayed on the t.v but it's just something you learn to live with.
For £14.99 I was pretty chuffed !!

I also see from the User Manual(bottom of page2) that "The device does not support iPod shuffle or iPods with scroll or touch wheels"

My understanding is that PC World is part of Curry's or visa versa.

So - Just who is right ???

I can't find any support from / on the net in respect of "iWantit".

Any comments / view would be appreciated
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Comment by Ian M, 12 Apr 2008 11:44

Got one of these to plug into the main HiFi, and using decent leads. However, the sound quality is not exactly brilliant compared to plugging in via the iPod jack.

That said, my 5G 80GB and my iPod Touch work well, respond well to the remote and if you keep the volume down on the iPod and use the amp volume higher, the sound improves. (The exact opposite of what you would expect though...)

Cannot understand why the LED on the back keeps turning on and off every 5 secs or so??
Rating:

Comment by Daniel Lewins, 5 Apr 2008 6:44

Hi,
I actually work for currys and we do advise customers that the dock will not work with the new classic generations. This is also the reason for the price reduction in the dock from £39.99 now to £14.99.

I have bought one myself and to be honest the quality is perfect. I have it connected to my hi-fi & tv and its brillaint all round.
The only downfall is that the menu is not displayed on the t.v but it's just something you learn to live with.
For £14.99 I was pretty chuffed !!
Rating:

Comment by John Burford, 22 Jan 2008 13:10

Using ipod classic with iW300 docking station....can't get photos to show on tv using RCA leads supplied....Any ideas please?
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Comment by Paul Healey, 30 Dec 2007 17:36

I bought one of these for 14.99 from Currys to use with my iPod 80gb Classic. I'm sure they work fine with earlier generations of iPod but despite the Currys staff assurances they are not fully compatible with the current generation iPods. They will control via the remote the iPod but will only output audio from the dock. The compisite video and SVHS output do not work. This is because Apple changed the way the current generation iPods output video... see 'apple insider' for more detail. As an audio only dock it will suffice but I would like to find a manufacturer making a fully compatible video and audio dock. The current Apple dock is very poorly reviewed.
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Comment by Paul, 28 Dec 2007 0:18

Hello – I’m trying to directly integrate my IW300 with my TV with little success. Videos and pictures with audio work fine however I cannot get audio to work by itself! Very confusing!

If I integrate via my amp and then onto my TV this works! Has anybody else had similar issues? Is this a problem or design? Thanks
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Comment by alan ranger, 7 Oct 2007 13:33

an ok device but would have been so much better if it also transmitted the ipods, menu screen onto the tv.  Trying to navigate to a menu from your armchair staring at your ipod is pointless, especially when there is a 42" plasma sat in front of you.  does anyone know of a device that does the same as this but also shows you your ipod menu's and selection etc on the tv screen?
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Comment by Bob Marley, 31 May 2007 16:52

I just exchanged a belkin tune command av for this. This has far better controls for navigating through the ipod and the audio sounds is good.  The only slight downside is the fact that even though u cant see the ipod screen when you are far back!
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Comment by Paul Reeve, 28 May 2007 17:14

I actually bought 2 of these devices - one to connect in to the stereo in the kitchen we feed our TV through and the other for the surround sound system in the sitting room. I have to say the quality of sound is awful and, having heard a number of iPod speaker solutions, I was quite shocked. I'm hoping that it's just my settings but suspect that this is just wishful thinking...
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Comment by davey, 18 Feb 2007 23:50

hey i just bought the iw300 and plugged it into my hifi and it works great i like the fact that the supplied dock adaptors supplied with the old and new style ipod nano's fit the base like they were made for it. my only grumble would be the remotes slow responsebut still it works with out problems. to the first commentor, henry, the adaptor u require for the old style ipod nano should have been supplied with it. cheers dave
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Comment by Henry, 3 Jan 2007 17:32

I bought this today, but it doesn't come with any Nano Dock Adapters, nor does it control the menu on a IPOD 20GB (with the prev/menu/play/next buttons)... Can I get a Nano (1st gen) adapter for it - otherwise very nice (remote could be improved a bit).. Any idea who manufactures IWantIt stuff - i.e. a contact number/website? Many Thanks Henry
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Comment by bigal, 26 Dec 2006 19:17

In reply to Bill McKay..I am sorry to hear of your experience with this dock. It is true that the only feedback you get from the remote is the red light at the rear of the dock which flashes when you press a button. However unless you have anything for it to reflect off you would not notice it. Just in case you are not aware you must change the video settings of your iPod in order to make it work on a TV. The Tv out setting must be ON for it to work thru the S video output at the rear of the Dock. Hope this helps.. Al
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Comment by Bill McKay, 25 Dec 2006 19:11

I had a totally different experience with the iWantit iW300. I too had bought the docking station to play music, and watch videos through a TV. I found the device had very little positive feedback. The remote gave no indication of when it was working and I spent a frustrating couple of hours on Christmas day trying to get anything working with the device. Tried it with 3 TVs and the supplied leads and nothing. Everything was working on my 80Gb iPod but it kept switching off. All it indicated on a regular basis was it was charging and then had completed charging. I'm returning it to Dixon's as soon as possible. Bill

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