I heard about this new iPod add-on about a year ago where your shoes can talk to your iPod or something but blew it off as another fly-by piece of crap for the iPod. Well now that I have been running really consistently for the past few months or so I was in need of a new pair of shoes. I was at the mall over the weekend and noticed the little tag hanging on some of the Nike running shoes with a little Apple logo. I quickly remembered what this was for and was really surprised to still see it. I noticed the shoes bearing this tag were not really any more expensive than a comparable shoe without it so I thought I would give it a try. I bought a pair of Air Structure Triax+ and the iPod kit ($29). The setup was really easy. No software to install at all. Im guessing when I plugged in the sensor to the iPod it unlocked something that was already on the iPod from the latest software update. I had to go run around for a while to get it configured and I was off on a real jog in less than 10 minutes.

The system is really simple. I run and I periodically get a voice in my headphones giving me updates on my run. Every 5 minutes I get a "5 minutes complete" or "10 minutes complete". Its really cool. When I get done I plug the iPod into my laptop and it uploads the data to nikeplus.com where I can login and see my stats for the day or any other day I saved. I can compare my stats against people all over the world. I read somewhere that you can find the hidden files on the iPod and lay them over a GPS map of the area to see where you went. Nikeplus.com also allows you to download different workouts which are downloaded to the iPod and show up as a new option on the menu. The whole thing is basically like treadmill controls on your iPod. It keeps track of distance, time, and calories burned during the workouts.

The only thing that really pisses me off is that it doesn't work with the video iPods. I have to use my wife's pink nano while I workout because there is no way I'm buying another iPod just to use while I workout. I have a hard enough time keeping my video iPod synced with my music. I would love to know if anyone knows a way to make it work with a video iPod.