I have Jabra FreeSpeak for non-bluetooth phones.  This consists of
1-the wireless ear piece/speaker and 2-a bluetooth adapter which plugs into the
headset jack on my non-bluetooth phone.  Works like a charm.

Also works with my non-cellular phone system which consists of base
unit with mutliple wireless handsets.  [I just plug the bluetooth
adapter into headset jack on one of the wireless handsets.]

QUERY:  Why couldn't I use this also as a listening device for my
IPOD?  The only obvious problem is that the IPOD does not use the same
2.5mm size headset adapter as do the phones.  It seems like I should
be able to get some kind of adapter to make the 2.5mm bluetooth
adapter fit into the size of the IPOD headset jack.

1-Am I correct that in theory this should work?

2-Where can I get an adapter which will let my 2.5 mm bluetooth
adaptor [which plugs into the headset jack on both phones] to "adjust
its size" to the size of the headset jack on the IPOD?

[And yes, I am aware that if this worked, the sound I would get would
hardly rise to the quality of that provided by good earphones, but I
am listening only to books and am completely deaf in the other ear. 
The Jabra is the only thing I have found that lets me use a headset in
my "good ear", while not completely shutting off all ambiant sounds
... which I may wish to be aware of.]

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 24 Feb 2004 18:38 PST

query007-ga:

This is an interesting idea. There are indeed adapters available to
convert standard 1/8" (3.5mm) headphone jacks to 2.5 mm size. The
problem, though, is that this is not what you need.

The Jabra's tranceiver unit uses a 2.5 mm stereo plug, where one
'channel' is for the earphone, and one 'channel' is for the
microphone. That is, one channel so that you can hear, and one channel
to pick up your words through the mic.

The iPod's headphone jack uses one channel for the left audio, and one
channel for the right audio. If you were to plug the Jabra's
transceiver into the iPod's jack using an adapter, in the worst case
scenario you would overload the transceiver or the iPod due to the
conflict between the mic output and the audio output of the iPod,
damaging one or both devices.

So, what you need is for someone to build you a simple adapter cable,
that has a 3.5 mm stereo plug on one end, and a 2.5 mm jack on the
other end. They would need to determine which channel is the
microphone channel, and NOT connect that in the adapter cable. That
way, you will have just the single audio channel without the
possibility of damaging the devices. Unfortunately, this need for even
a short adapter cable makes things a little harder to carry , but it's
still a viable solution.

Parts for this should run under $10 at an electronic hobbyist store;
finding someone to make this for you would also be best done at the
electronic hobbyist store.

Final caveat: you will need to carefully experiment with the maximum
volume level that the iPod can be set to without damaging the Jabra
transceiver. Logic dictates that you start with the iPod set to lowest
volume, and the Jabra set to it's highest. Then, slowly increase the
iPod until the volume is just a little louder than you'd like, and
lower the Jabra's volume until you are comfortable.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by query007-ga on 01 Mar 2004 19:58 PST

This is very helpful.

Please mark the question "answered" so you can get paid.

Thank you.

query007-ga:

I'm glad you found this helpful! I am posting this as the Answer;
however, to keep from simply cutting and pasting, I will simply refer
any reader back to the information in the Request for Clarification
above.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher