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A Solution to the USB Keyboard Problem? Oh, how I love my G4 - it's power and sleek body design gives me shivers sometimes (you're not a real Mac user if you don't admire your computer every once and a while - or so I hope). However, I can't say the same for the compact keyboard that has been shipping with USB Macs like my G4 since Apple made the big USB switch. Sure, most of the keys are full sized and I got "used to it" over time, but I really started to miss my old ADB Apple Extended Keyboard that was on my last Mac when my fingers kept hitting the up arrow instead of the shift key. And with the millions of USB G3, G4, and iMac users out there, I know many of you have had similar experiences.
Installation Just like you'd hope, installation of the iMediakey was very simple. Just install the software, plug in the keyboard, and reboot. During this process, two files are installed into your system folder, the USB iMediaKey extension and the iMediaKey Manager Control Panel. System resources used by the new software is minimal, so you shouldn't notice any performance loss with your new capabilities. From the installation, the default options for the keyboard are already set allowing you to immediately use 14 of the multimedia keys. What you use the others for is up to you, and if you choose to reprogram the other keys, this is possible too. All of this can be done from within the iMediaKey Manager.
Setup OK, now that you're off and running, you may want to customize your keys. For those of you who are already using the new "Function keys" customization options in Mac OS 9 (only available with a USB keyboard), these functions will still work with the iMediaKey. However, setup of the multimedia keys is drastically different than the OS 9 method in that it's much more flexible. But first, a little detail about the keys and their default settings:
As you can see, the eight keys on the bottom left are standard audio controls (eject, previous track, rewind, stop, record, play/pause, fast forward, and next track). All of these controls except the record key will act on the audio CD currently in your internal drive. The record button, by default, opens SimpleSound's sound recording function. To the right of the standard audio controls are the mute button and the iMediaKey button (for opening the iMediaKey Manager).
Once you've decided to dive into reprogramming the keys, it's time to look into the iMediaKey Manager. The manager is setup very intuitively - with a map of the keys and two pulldown menus. Simply select what key you wish to program (that shows up as red), and then apply the action to it. What you can assign to each key is fully programmable. Setting the default application to "default settings" will make that action apply in all applications (including the finder) or you can choose any other application, and that setting will only apply to that application. This is where it really sets itself apart from the Keyboard Control Panel customization (which only allows you to set the keys for use throughout the system). And as you can see from the Button Action settings, you can choose from several pre-designed actions (open Sherlock for instance), open any item, or define a keystroke. This is useful for commands that you may use often (say Shift-Command-M in Dreamweaver to remove a table row) but want to make even easier to use. I personally chose to use the F keys (via Apple's Keyboard Control Panel) for opening commonly used applications, and customized the "m" keys to each of those applications to make my life a whole lot easier.
Miscellaneous CD issues - I couldn't finish this review without mentioning one little snag that I ran into while setting up the iMediaKey. The default audio controls are designed to work with your primary CD drive. However, my G4 is equipped with two drives, an internal DVD, and an external SCSI CD-RW drive. However, I could only get the iMediaKey to work with the external drive (the one not setup for audio, of course). After a few emails with tech support, it was discovered that the Toast CD Reader extension, was setting the CD-RW drive as the default, and the iMediaKey had no way to change that. My removing the extension, I was able to use the DVD drive for audio with the iMediaKey and was still able to use the external drive for recording, but it was definitely frustrating not being able to change the setting (as you could do in the Audio CD Player), and having to track down the conflict. Keep this in mind if you use an external drive. Manual - the iMediaKey CD contains an Acrobat PDF manual. It tells you everything that you need to know to program your keyboard, and even gives you examples. It had everything I needed to figure it all out. What the keys feel like - unlike the rest of the keys, the multimedia keys have a rubbery feeling to them, like on most remote controls. I don't know whether this is a deciding factor for you, but I thought that I'd throw it out there. USB hub - the iMediaKey, like the original Apple USB keyboard, also acts as a hub, with two USB ports, allowing you to plug your USB mouse right into either the left or the right side of the keyboard.
Conclusion Well, aside from my initial problem with the CD player, my experience with the iMediaKey has been excellent. It gave me back a lot of functionality that I had lost with the standard Apple USB keyboard, and added to it with additional keys and very flexible software. As I was trying to figure out what to rate this, I gave it a bunch of pros and only a few cons. One thing that bothered me was the price - $89 seems pretty high to me. However, I've seen keyboards out there anywhere from $50 to $130. So, I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you just want your old 105 keys extended keyboard back, the iMediaKey may be a bit too much But if you can use the extra features mentioned in this review, the iMediaKey is a bargain, especially considering it's lifetime warranty. So, it's near perfect in my mind, and worthy of the near perfect rating of 4.5 smileys.
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Title: iMediakey
