The Cheapskate

If you're serious about rechargeable batteries, and saving money on disposables, this charging kit can't be beat.

(Credit: Amazon)

A battery charger is essential gear for any household with a game console (those controllers burn through AA's like nobody's business), childrens' toys, or anything else battery-powered.

Because, let's face it, you'll pay a lot more in the long haul for disposable batteries than you will for a good charger and some rechargeable batteries.

Of course, a good charger--one with features such as a heat monitor and status LCD--can cost you upward of $70 or more--batteries not included.

Today only, Amazon has the La Crosse BC-9009 AlphaPower Battery Charger for $34.99 shipped. And in addition to the kick-ass charger, you get four AA rechargeables, four AAA's, adapters for C and D cells, and a travel case.

What makes the BC-9009 so special? Start with four independent status displays, one for each of its four slots. They can cycle through stats like charge rate, discharge rate, elapsed time, and total battery capacity.

The charger also includes a heat monitor to prevent overcharging. And buyers certainly seem to like it: nearly 650 reviewers rated it 4.5 stars out of 5 on average.

Looks like a perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person (or blogger) in your life. I'm just hoping this doesn't sell out in five minutes like everything else I post these days. Dang holiday season!

Backup deal: It's that time of year when we clear out some space on the ol' iPod to make room for the holiday playlist. If yours is a little, well, played out, Amazon MP3 has Diana Krall's "Christmas Songs" album for just $2.99. It's a digital download, of course, in DRM-free, universally compatible MP3 format. Perfect for cozy nights by the fire.

iPodMeister promises to turn your unwanted CDs and DVDs into bona fide gadget goodness.

Like many people, I have a fairly sizable collection of CDs sitting in a storage room collecting dust. It's literally been years since I even touched a CD, let alone played one. So why am I hanging onto them?

Forget Craigslist. Forget eBay. Forget garage sales. Do you want to spin that jewel-cased straw into gold? Head to iPodMeister, where you can trade your old CDs for a brand-new hard drive, iPod, or even iPhone.

Here's how it works: You pack up your CDs (or DVDs), then e-mail the company to let them know how many boxes you have. It then sends you prepaid FedEx labels. That's right: iPodMeister covers the shipping cost.

The number of discs you send determines what kind of booty you can get in return. The minimum, 150 discs, gets you a 1TB hard drive or an iPhone 3G. (Actually, you get a check covering the cost of an iPhone 3G, as iPodMeister can't do activations and all that.)

Scrape together 250 discs and you can land an 8GB iPod Touch or 16GB iPod Nano (current-generation models in both cases). For 350 discs, you can cover the cost of an iPhone 3GS. See the iPodMeister Web site for the complete list of trade options.

Interestingly, iPodMeister also gives you the option of digitizing your CD collection, meaning you get back not only your free gadget, but also a set of DVDs containing your music in (presumably) MP3 format. But that "costs extra" (meaning more discs). My guess is most folks have already ripped their CDs to MP3s.

I'll admit that all this sounds a little too good to be true, but I've yet to find a single complaint about the company. For your reference, check out Consumerist's recent interview with iPodMeister, this guy's review of the service from March, and the company's Facebook page.

I will say that the iPodMeister site looks atrocious and, suspiciously, offers no contact information except for an e-mail address and toll-free number. But with a little Google recon, I had no trouble finding an address and local number.

Did I mention I'm packing my CDs as we speak? It may take a couple weeks to complete my trade, but I'll definitely report back once it's done (so bookmark this article if you want to learn what happens).

In the meantime, I'm just kind of happy that I can clear out some boxes and don't have to spend a dime on shipping.

If you've tried iPodMeister, please share your experience in the comments!

The PS3 version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock includes a wireless Les Paul.

(Credit: Buy.com)

It's a great day to be a PlayStation 3 owner: Buy.com has the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle for just $18.67, plus $3.99 for shipping.

The package includes a Les Paul wireless guitar controller, meaning you don't have to worry about tripping over a cord while, um, getting your Slash on.

The game itself features 70-plus tracks from the likes of Aerosmith, Heart, Guns N' Roses, and the Rolling Stones.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, GameSpot's review of Legends of Rock praises it for having "the best tracklist of any Guitar Hero game to date."

I've never really been into the whole Guitar Hero scene, but for 20 bucks I'd almost certainly grab this bundle--if I owned a PS3. Alas, the Xbox 360 version still runs around $50.

I realize there's a fairly small audience for this deal, so check back later--I might just have something with more universal appeal.

In the meantime...rock on!

Start your own Fab Four with The Beatles: Rock Band.

(Credit: Target)

If you're a fan of A) music, B) The Beatles, C) Rock Band, or D) looking silly (I kid, I kid), you've no doubt had your eye on the recently released Beatles Rock Band bundle.

It normally sells for $159.99, but Amazon is offering The Beatles: Rock Band Value Edition for $99.99 shipped. It's available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

The bundle includes the game itself, natch, along with three "instruments": guitar, drum set, and microphone. You can optionally add two more microphones and sing three-part harmonies, which sounds pretty cool.

However, much as I love the Beatles (who doesn't?), I don't really get into games like this. Of course, they obviously have their audience, and GameSpot positively loved The Beatles: Rock Band.

Walk into any Best Buy, Target, or the like, and you'll pay full retail price for this bundle. Shop online and you may be able to find it for as low as $130. Needless to say, $99.99 is a mighty sweet deal. Definitely worth considering as the holidays grow near.

Looking for a compact, feature-packed MP3 player that's as good for the car as it is for the gym?

Newegg has a refurbished 8GB Zune player for $69.99 shipped with a free leather case and Microsoft Zune Car Pack.

So let's do some math. A new Zune 8 player sells for $128. The Car Pack costs $70. Add around $30 for the leather case and you're up to around $230.

With this deal, your out-the-door price is $70. Nice!

A quick refresher course in Zune goodness: This flash-based player offers a 1.8-inch screen, an FM tuner, Wi-Fi file sharing and syncing (which is truly awesome), and compatibility with Microsoft's underrated Zune Marketplace music-subscription service.

Normally $69.99, the Zune Car Pack comes free with your purchase of a $69.99 Zune.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The Car Pack includes a charger and an FM transmitter, which can broadcast music from your Zune through your car stereo.

The transmitter will automatically select the best available frequency, which eliminates a lot of the hassles of traditional FM-radio gizmos. It also offers two presets for easy switching between commonly used stations.

There's even a dashboard "grip pad" so you can lay your Zune on the dash and not worry about it sliding all over the place. (A windshield mount would be better, but beggars can't be choosers.)

Newegg doesn't offer any details about the leather case, nor about the Zune's warranty, which we'll assume is 90 days.

Bottom line: mighty nice deal. A refurbished iPod Nano would cost you $30 more, and you wouldn't get Wi-Fi, FM, a car kit, or a case. Might not be a bad little stuffing stocking stuffer.

By the way, if black's not your color (or it sells out), you can also get the Zune in blue or pink.

Update: Dillyeo is already sold out of the shirt, but eagle-eyed reader pigmond found an even better deal: $11.67 shipped from DealExtreme!

Geek meets chic? Um, no. But if you're in the market for a simple Halloween costume or you're hip enough to pull off wearing this to a club or party, Dillyeo has a sound-activated equalizer T-shirt for $11.97, plus $5 for shipping.

Maybe you've seen this before: it's the same shirt ThinkGeek has been selling for $39.99. Check out the video to see it in action. (Note: The accompanying Kanye West song may have a few NSFW lyrics.)

Dillyeo is one of those deal-a-day sites, and this one ends around 10 p.m. ET tonight.

The hand-wash-only shirt is available only in X-large size, but Dillyeo says they run small, so if you normally wear a large, you should be good to go.

I'll cop to owning the similar Wi-Fi detector shirt (on sale at ThinkGeek for $19.99, FYI), which I wore a couple years ago as part of my "tech support" Halloween costume. (It rocked.)

Like that shirt, the equalizer is fun, a conversation piece, and a way to stand out in a crowd--and it's on sale for the same price as a nonanimated, nonbattery-operated shirt. What's not to like?

Like an underwater-themed Bejeweled, Big Kahuna Reef offers puzzle fun...for free!

(Credit: Amazon)

I'm back! Miss me? I missed all y'all so much that I'm kicking off this week with two, count 'em, two great freebies.

Amazon is offering a free download of Big Kahuna Reef, a Bejeweled-style puzzle game for Windows PCs. (The product page shows only XP, but it's running fine in Vista.)

Better still, when you "buy" the game, you'll receive a $5 credit good for any Amazon MP3 purchase(s). In other words, you get five free songs or $5 off any album. (I highly recommend Brendan Benson's new one, "My Old, Familiar Friend." Awesome stuff.)

Big Kahuna Reef is by no means a new title (it debuted in 2005), but it's still a great little puzzler for fans of casual games (and, um, fish). Check out GameSpot's extremely positive review.

You will need to have an Amazon account already set up to take advantage of this deal, and you'll need to install Amazon's Games and Software Downloader to grab the game.

Other than that, there are no catches to this splendid pair of freebies. Let me know how you like the game and what music you're going to download with your credit.

It wasn't very long ago that scoring a 4GB third-generation iPod Nano for $99 was a big deal. Now you can get an 8GB current-gen Nano for $99. Good things come to those who wait!

That deal (which, admittedly, has been around a while) comes straight from the Apple Store--the section that sells "certified refurbished" stuff.

I've purchased gear from there before, and it always arrives in mint condition--complete with the same one-year warranty as the new iPods come with.

Which begs the question: why spend another $50 on a new one? The only real difference is the box: Refurbs come in a nondescript cardboard one, not the fancy plastic shell you see in stores. Meh.

The $99 Nanos are available in your choice of colors: yellow, pink, purple, blue, black, etc.

In case you don't already know everything there is to know about this iPod, check out CNET's First Look video up there on the right.

Want to stock your new Nano with free music? Check out my recent post on scoring free tunes from Amazon, Rhapsody, and MP3.com. That's in addition to yesterday's item on 1,000 free songs from Microsoft. So many freebies, so little time!

Update: Or you could get a refurbished 8GB Zune from Newegg for $74 shipped. It features an FM tuner and Wi-Fi syncing--but only one color choice: black.

Like music? Like free music? You may remember my previous post about the mammoth library of free MP3s at Amazon (which is now nearing 1,000 tracks).

Don't stop there. Music-marketing and -discovery site ReverbNation is offering 1,000 free song downloads. No strings, no software to install, just a big fat library of free tunes.

It may take you a while to download all 1,000 free tunes, but at least the price is right.

(Credit: ReverbNation)

Though sponsored by Microsoft, the giveaway makes tracks available in both M4A and MP3 format--there's not a WMA in sight. Certainly no DRM.

The songs span seven genres, including alternative, pop, jazz, and hip-hop. You can filter the list by genre or alphabetically by artist, but there's no search option. What's more, you can't download the full library at once or even batches of it; you must download each track individually.

Also, don't expect to find any Kings of Leon or Raconteurs here; the collection is largely of indie artists.

Still, free is free, and if you're looking to stock your iPod with some fresh tunes, look no further.