Officially, there are more than a 1,000 iPod accessories and counting. But just because these add-ons are labeled "Made for iPod" doesn't mean they're made well. January yielded a bumper crop of interesting ideas executed badly, and we've harvested the five worst. — Stewart Wolpin

1. What's silly about the MicroElectronics myvu personal viewer isn't the idea, but the execution and price. When you slip on the visor, images from your iPod look crisp and clean on the apparent "screen," but what it renders looked smaller than the regular 2.5-inch video iPod display. And at $269.99, it costs nearly as much as the iPod to begin with, not counting the extra 80 bucks for a prescription clip-on if you wear glasses.

2. Macally has solved the tangled iPod headphone cord with its mTune headphones ($49) that you can slip an iPod Shuffle or Nano into. Except the ear cups are the size of grapefruits, only heavier. Add a chiropractic bill to the price you'll end up paying after wearing these for an hour.

3. Speaking of tangled cords, throw in twin 5-watt speakers mounted into either side of Scosche's Sonic iBoom ($99.99) and you get a backpack boombox. But you'll also get mugged since your iPod is prominently displayed in a clear compartment, and the loose speaker wires inside will get snagged on whatever you're toting.

4. JBL's OnTime clock radio/speaker combo ($299.95) looks like the portal from Star Trek's "City on the Edge of Forever" episode (the one where Shatner lets Joan Collins die), but the controls were so confusing that not even the product demonstrator could get them straight. Save your dough and use cheap speakers with iPod's built-in alarm clock.

5. And wiping up the rear — literally — is Atech's iLounge ($99.95), a toilet paper dispenser iPod cradle with speakers built into the sides and the ends of the dispenser holders. The roll dispenser sides fold in, luckily, if you already have a toilet dispenser in your lounge.