Bambi’s Gift Guide: iPod Tools & Jewels Rule.

If an iPod or accessory is on your techno toy shopping list then you probably are limited to about four major gift choices.

Choice #1 - iPod
If your loved one doesn’t already have an iPod then hurry. Last year iPod’s dried up a few weeks before Christmas. This year the supply looks better, the choices are better, and the “cool” factor is even higher.

iPod mini, iPod, iPod photo, or iPod U2 Special Edition are the iPod choices. $249 for the mini, from $299 for the basic iPod, up to $499 for the iPod photo, and $349 for the iPod U2.

Could the choices be any better? Well, an iPod for $99 would be cool, but it’s not gonna happen and your giftee wouldn’t want it anyway. Stick with the original and make everyone happy.

Choice #2 - iPod Accessories
I stopped at the local Apple Store a few weeks ago and talked with a young woman waiting in line. She was loaded down with accessories; about $200 worth. Her iPod mini was a gift. $249 worth. She’d already bought $100 in iPod accessory goodies during an earlier shopping trip.

Add it up. $249 for the iPod mini. Over $300 for the accessories. Is America a great place, or what?

There’s no accounting for taste so the iPod accessories this year will be triple what was available last year. My favorites include the Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter. It’ll add the ability to use your iPod in your car—the iPod becomes an FM radio station for just $34.95.

Got more money than sense? $159 will get you the ultra designed Bang & Olufsen A8 Headphones.

My favorite worthless gift is the $29 Incase Leather Sleeve for the iPod mini. The hot rod black, yellow, red flames are sooooo 1956, and everyone knows retro is in these days.

Ultra chic and cheap is a tough combo. Get it with the Monster iSplitter for iPod. $12.95 gets you a double headphone jack. Plug in his and hers (or, his and his, or hers and hers) headphones into the iSplitter and both listen at the same time.

Sharing is good.

Choice #3: iTunes Music Store Cards & Certificates

OK, so your giftee has already loaded up on an iPod and more accessories than’ll fit in a new VW Cabrio (top down)?

Apple keeps everyone happy with the gift that keeps on rocking (and if you’re old already, keep on rockin’ in the rockin’ chair while iPodding your brains out)—Prepaid Cards in $15 and $25 denominations, and iTunes Gift Certificates from $10 to $200.

I just checked the Apple Store online and the iTunes Music Store Cards already have a 5-7 business days wait. Same for the iPod Photo. Waiting is not advised.

OK, so what’s Choice #4?: All Of The Above
Let’s face it, not every Mac or Windows user owns an iPod yet. 2004 is a season of prosperity (Mac users are better educated and have greater incomes than Windows users; so they say) so why not be the gifter how gives the giftee everything they/he/she really wants?

An iPod or iPod mini or iPod photo or iPod U2. Then, five or six accessories. Then the iTunes Music Store cards and/or certificates (no need to get both; Santa doesn’t like the pretentious, right?).

Some stock analysts are predicting that Apple, HP and all those retail stores will push about 4-million iPods in the last quarter of the calendar year (now).

If they top 4-million, expect Apple’s stock to cling to stratospheric heights for awhile.

Hey, wouldn’t that make a great gift? Shares of Apple Stock. The gift that keeps on giving.