CableJive’s 2015 Holiday Shipping Guide

*Update: 12/11/2015: Based on recent reports from all shipping carriers regarding the unexpectedly-high volume they are seeing this holiday season, it has been recommended to us that we move all of our previously posted recommended shipping dates up 3 days earlier to help ensure that customers will receive their orders before Christmas. As a result, we have updated our Holiday Shipping Guide to reflect our carriers’ new recommendations.

As the holiday season fast approaches, choosing the right shipping method for your order becomes more and more important by the day. We want you to be prepared, so we’ve got our Holiday Shipping Guide posted and ready to help you pick the right shipping so your orders arrive in time for Christmas. Check it out by following this link:

CableJive Holiday Shipping Guide

And while you’re there, checkout out the rest of our totally redesigned web-store at www.cablejive.com, which not only has a snazzy new look, but is now optimized for viewing and shopping on any internet device; PC, laptop, smartphone, tablet, you name it!

No matter how you like to shop on the web, it’s never been easier to order your favorite CableJive products and make sure they arrive in time for the holidays.

 

samDock Troubleshooting

Note: “Audio Output Mode” setting not included in Galaxy S5. As a result, unfortunately, the samDock is not compatible with the Galaxy S5. These customers should see our dockBoss5 adapter.

Our new samDock cable opens up a world of options for Samsung Galaxy SIII & Note II owners to connect to a variety of high-quality iPod docks and speaker systems for charging, listening to audio, and syncing data. Never before has such a solution been created specifically for Galaxy devices. In most cases it is a seamless, plug-and-play accessory giving you instant access to your docking system’s features. However, we were just made aware of a very particular setting that may be preventing the samDock from working for some customers  right off the bat. The good news is, there’s a simple solution.

If you connect your Galaxy SIII or Note II to a docking station with the samDock and you are able to get charging but not audio, you’ll want to make sure that you have enabled your device to send audio through it’s micro USB connector. To do this, go into the settings menu, click on the “Accessory” tab, and ensure “Audio output mode” is selected with a check mark (see image). On some devices, that “Accessory” tab may be named “Dock” instead, but the menu you’ll find within is the same, and the solution is just as simple. If you have confirmed that Audio output mode is enabled and you still have trouble getting the samDock to work, please don’t hesitate to contact our service department at www.cablejive.com/service and we’ll be happy to help you further from there.

Christmas Shipping Cutoff Dates 2012

So you survived Turkey Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Back-To-Normal Tuesday. Great! If you’re one of the lucky ones who likes to plan ahead and have all your holiday shopping done already, then I envy you. For the rest of us, the Christmas shopping season is in full swing, and I know I’m not the only person who needs to know the last possible date I can order presents by.

So, for all my fellow procrastinators, I present to you our Christmas Shipping Cutoff Dates for 2012. They include cutoff dates for domestic, international, and military addresses, and can be found here:

http://www.cablejive.com/pages/Holiday-Shipping-Cutoffs.html

Happy shopping!

dockBoss air How-To-Pair Videos

Our dockBoss air has proven to be quite popular since it was launched two weeks back, and we’re truly thankful for the positive response. In an effort to help our customers get connected to their dockBoss airs more quickly and easily, we’ve put together a couple short videos showing you how to pair it with both Apple and Android devices via Bluetooth. You can find both videos on our dockBoss air product page, or view them below. Happy pairing!

Apple Devices:

Android Devices:

CableJive Service Web Help System Launches

We’ve been providing email-based service & support to our customers since we sold our 1st cable back in 2006. We’re vigilant about email and passionate about helping our customers, always thinking about what we’d like to see from an email-based service team if we were the customers ourselves. Sure, some people are skeptical about email-based customer service in general, but thanks to the efforts of our team we’ve been able to thoughtfully and thoroughly address the needs of every customer that comes to us, and change some minds in the process.

Today, we’re officially trying to take that approach to the next level, with the introduction of the CableJive Service web-help system.  We used data we’ve collected from years of customer service emails to create a system that meets the following 2 goals:

1.) Help customers get answers to certain questions without ever having to send an email.

2.) Help customers quickly and easily provide us with the appropriate information when they DO have to email us.

Thankfully, we think we’ve been able to accomplish both. Simply go to the CableJive Service page at www.cablejive.com/service, select the option that best fits your question, and you’ll either get an answer, or you’ll be able to send an email to our team right from that page, allowing us to help you as quickly as possible. We hope you find it as useful as we think it is, so the next time you need help from our service team, head on over and take it for a spin.

Line Level Audio w/ iPhone 5, iPad Mini & Other Lightning Devices

iPhone 5. 4th Gen iPad. iPad Mini. New iPod Touch and Nano. It’s only been 2 months and the Lightning connector is already here in full force. In the short amount of time since its release, we’ve heard a lot of people asking if there’s a way to get line level audio from that new connector. We were curious of this ourselves up until last week when our Lightning to 30-pin adapters arrived. Thankfully, all CableJive products worked just fine with both adapters, and we reported it here on the blog.

Then we remembered how many people were searching for this specific solution, so hopefully this post helps. Both our LineOut Pro and +USB Line Out Dock cables, when paired with either Lightning to 30-pin adapter, will allow you to get high quality line level audio right from your new iPhone 5 or other Lightning equipped iDevice. If you’ve been looking for this solution, then look no further.

dockBoss Compatibility Help

Our dockBoss and dockBoss+ cables have helped thousands of people connect non-iPod devices to a growing variety of previously iDevice-exclusive music systems. With standard docking stations, like the Bose SoundDock and countless others, compatibility has been excellent almost across the board. However, when it comes to home theater or car-oriented systems, there are still some that don’t want to play nice. Here’s a good way to tell ahead of time whether or not a dockBoss cable will be compatible with your system:

Find (or borrow) an iPod or iPhone and connect it to your system. If upon connecting, the iPod/iPhone gets locked onto a screen that reads “accessory connected” or something similar (see example on right), and you find yourself unable to use the controls on the iPod/iPhone, there’s a good chance the dockBoss won’t work for you.

Here’s why: Systems that lock an iPod or iPhone’s screen and control mechanism use a digital audio interface, which specifically requires an iPod or iPhone to be connected. These systems are custom-built, with elements like control, data, playlists, etc., all deeply ingrained in their own unique software. It isn’t simply good enough to “trick” those systems into thinking an iPod is connected because they actually require the ability to continuously communicate with an iDevice on a system-specific level.

If you find that your system does not lock the iPod/iPhone’s screen and controls, then there’s a good chance a dockBoss cable WILL work for you. These systems use an analog audio interface, which generally jives quite well with dockBoss cables, allowing you to listen to whatever your heart desires from your favorite non-iDevice.

So next time you’re unsure if the dockBoss will work for you, borrow an iPod or iPhone and see if you get locked out. If not, then you should be good to go. As always feel free to email any specific questions to us at service@cablejive.com

ProJive Instrument and XLR w/ Android Devices

If you can’t tell, we’re super excited about our new ProJive XLR and ProJive Instrument cables. We also recently got our 1st Android tablet into the office, a Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. All things considered, it’s a perfect time to give our Android brethren some love. Here’s what to expect when you get ProJive’n on your favorite desert-themed OS device.

Apps Tested: Voice Recorder (free), RecForge Lite (free)

ProJive XLR

Just as with the iPhone, which you can see in our ProJive XLR video, this cable has no problem working on Android devices. Simply open your favorite audio capturing app, plug in, and record. The quality of the audio seems to be dependent on the app your using, as we found “RecForge” captured much higher-quality audio than “Voice Recorder.”

ProJive Instrument

By connecting the ProJive Instrument cable to an electric guitar, and opening either of the apps mentioned above, you are able to capture the guitar’s audio. Great for practicing, brainstorming ideas, or working on song parts. As with the XLR cable, audio quality is dependent on the app you’re using.

However, in my quest to find a more suitable, Garage Band-esq app for the Android, I ran into quite a barrier: there isn’t one yet. It seems Android’s OS has some issues when it comes to low-latency audio capturing. I found a great post on Gear Diary exploring the issues facing music production on Android devices, which all aspiring Android musicians should read: ow.ly/af3K4.

It does appear that these issues are being worked on, so hopefully we’ll start seeing some quality music production apps arrive on Android soon. When they do, the ProJive Instrument cable will be ready help you conquer those too!

 

The New dockXtender Basic vs. The (Premium) dockXtender

This week we introduced a new member to the dockXtender cable family: the dockXtender basic. Whether or not you’ll want to buy our premium dockXtender cable or the new dockXtender basic will likely be determined by the differences between the two cables. To make this decision easier for you, I’ve outlined the main differences below:

Price & Lengths
Premium: $25.95 (2 foot), $31.95 (6 foot)
Basic: $15.95 (19 inches)

Functionality
Premium: Passes through all 30-pin functionality
Basic: Passes through only audio, USB sync + charging, and device control
(*Basic also not compatible with older FireWire powered speaker docks and systems)

Male Connector Teeth (A topic of interest for some customers, but may not matter as much to others)
Premium: “Passive” locking teeth
Basic: “Button-Activated” locking teeth

Available Colors
Premium: Black only
Basic: Black and White

I hope this helps make the decision a bit easier for our customers. As always, should you have any questions, feel free to email us at service@cablejive.com.

Problem Solving – The dockXtender, iPad, and iHealth Dock

Recently, we’ve been receiving sporadic complaints about the dockXtender not allowing the iPad to work with the iHealth BP3 Blood Pressure Dock. After a few different reports, weren’t getting a clear picture of the issue. We knew there was something odd going on, so we decided to order one ourselves to try. Thankfully, we received our iHealth dock, and it worked just fine with the dockXtender and both the iPad and iPhone. There’s only one catch: it does not work in landscape mode.

Considering the iHealth dock literally docks your device in portrait mode, it appears the developers were not anticipating that their device would be used with our cable, allowing for landscape mode to be a reality while using their system. The good news is that as long as you keep your iPad in portrait mode, it should all work just fine. In the picture above, I turned the iPad upside-down, which keeps the app in portrait mode, but allows access to the 30-pin connector for the dockXtender (using the Nest as the iPad stand). It is possible that the iHealth developers may correct this issue in a future update, but for now it’s good to know that there is a simple solution to this issue.

This seems like a good time to remind everyone that the dockXtender provides the physical connection to allow your iPad to connect to devices and accessories in a multitude of ways that are not possible without it. However, it is important to remember that just because you can connect the two, it does not mean the iPad will be perfectly compatible with the accessory you’re connecting it to (which would be an issue between your accessory and the iPad, unaffected by the dockXtender). The good news is that our 60-day return policy means you’re welcome to give the dockXtender a try in any of these situations, and simply return it to us if it doesn’t work out. Simple.