What audio equipment should I take to Kirkuk, Iraq

iPod playing WAV files or a decent portable CDP (Panasonic make pretty good players), Grado Headphone amp (runs off two batteries) and your trusty 600's. Good luck overseas, Jeff

Good luck. While I most emphatically disagree with our presence there, I do have personal familiarity with the Mid East in general and lots of 3rd world countries.

first, copy all of your Cds. Leave the originals at home. this will protect you from theft and loss.

second, the ipod is a good idea but it might cause problems at customs, assuming there are any controls in place, at all.

You will find in the bazaars, lots of folks willing to get and/or copy just about anything you have or might need.

three, bring lots of high quality batteries.

four, bring lots of packs of blank Cds. these are very useful and are good for bartering with. also, this will allow you to burn a copy of someone else's Cds while you buy them a drink in the local hotel.

i would suggest a really good laptop that has DVD copy ability and make sure it has a pair of really good built-in speakers. this will make you very popular.

finally, on another note, get yourself in close with some of the British Medical teams. they have a bi-zillion years more experience with mid-eastern parasites, worms, malaria, etc. than our folks could ever hope to have. A bunch of these guys saved my life in Africa.

The AKG 271S is an excellent easy-to-drive headphone that won't really require an external amp to sound good like the 600's. The AKG's have a mini jack and will plug right into a laptop, cd player, or iPod. Good luck!

The 40G storage package will allow almost 600 CD's, and a headphone amp would be an advantage.

If not and YOU HAVE THE TIME; Buy a reconditioned HK CD burner off e-bay direct from HK and transfer all of your music to CDR's. Leave the originals at home. (about $140)
a killer burn deck at the price. Plan B, rip them on your computer. (1:1) is much better but if time is of the essence-----

If not, choose wisely and leave the discontinued CD's at home.

Good luck and may God watch over you while away.

loon

Thanks for the all the great advice. I am leaning towards getting an Ipod but can anyone tell me how I can transfer my CDs onto the Ipod QUICKLY. I really do not have the time to do this at 1:1 speed. The other alternative is a rugged notebook. The added advantage of a notebook is that I can use it for other purposes (watching movies, internet, etc etc) than merely listening to CDs. Is there a recommended software I can use to quickly transfer about 100-200 CDs onto the harddrive of the notebook.

Thanks again.