Hang on...you can't dock an Ipod Touch???

[eggedd2k]

..unless you unplug the headphones??? I picked up a stereo dock today for the bedroom and noticed that because the headphone jack is on the bottom of the Touch you have to unplug the headphones each time you want to dock it???

Unplugging the headphones a few times each day long term won't do the jack socket on the Touch any good - wear and tear etc. Surely there's a cable or something that prevents this regular unplugging???

What does everyone else do with their touch's in docking stations??

[kornchild2002]

Umm... We unplug the headphones. You can unplug your headphones and plug them back in a couple of times a day, that won't do any harm to your iPod touch. I have a 4G 40GB iPod which I still use quite a bit. Back in the day, I would dock it with my computer and always unplug the headphones. That unit is 4 years old now and guess what? The headphone jack still works just fine. There are many people who are paranoid that their iPod touch headphone port will break over time as the unit is thinner than previous full sized iPods. Don't worry about it.

[jasoncordelle]

Nano is the same...headphone socket at bottom and has to be unplugged before you can dock.

No biggie.

[eggedd2k]

do you not think that regular unplugging etc will wear the connection down over time? If it's nothing to worry about I'll go ahead and do it - I'm just a bit concerned it might damage it long-term?

[tonepod]

So what happens if you're looking to dock your Touch in order to charge it but still want (need?) to listen to it via headphones while it's charging? Yes I know this is a corner-case (i.e., not too common) scenario but still a valid/plausible one nonetheless.

This doesn't address the OP's original concern, but still something worth bringing up.

[kornchild2002]

do you not think that regular unplugging etc will wear the connection down over time? If it's nothing to worry about I'll go ahead and do it - I'm just a bit concerned it might damage it long-term?

No, it won't cause damage over the long run. As I said, I have been doing this with my 4G iPod for 4 years now and its headphone port is still performing as it should.

So what happens if you're looking to dock your Touch in order to charge it but still want (need?) to listen to it via headphones while it's charging? Yes I know this is a corner-case (i.e., not too common) scenario but still a valid/plausible one nonetheless.

This doesn't address the OP's original concern, but still something worth bringing up.

You wouldn't dock it then. You would simply use the USB cord to plug that into the iPod instead. Either that or simply use the audio output port on the dock as iPods can now adjust the volume coming out of what used to be a line-level output.

[eggedd2k]

charging it isn't a problem - i do this on my computer (the docking stereo also charges it though).

If it wasn't for the fact that the Touch is so useful for internet access I'd probably switch back to my 30GB Video ipod.