The Gadgets Page

Last January at CES, we saw a backpack from O’Neill that worked with your iPod. Now, Jansport has also added that feature with their LiveWire backpacks. They range in price from $60 to $300 for the BlueTooth version.

Just like the O’Neill backpack. the controls for the iPod are on the shoulder of the pack. This allows you to keep the iPod in the backpack and turn it off, on and change songs using the shoulder controls. It was an ingenius idea when O’Neill released their backpacks, but their prices were astronomical. At $60, the Jansport backpacks are actually affordable.

Here is a list of the packs available:

• JanSport Daypacks Livewire Mullet – $ 59.95

• Jansport Audio Pack Live Wire-iPod Backpack – $79.95

• Jansport Kingpin Live Wire-iPod Backpack – 99.90

• Jansport ALT Bluetooth Live Wire Backpack (Black) – $299.95

The fact that you can easily order these backpacks from Amazon.com gives Jansport a huge leg up on the O’Neill backpacks. When I tried to order them when they came out, I couldn’t get through their complicated website. Jansport has made it easy and affordable.