04/17/02

bPod.

The designer of our site has created a small utility for the iPod : bPod. It is a utility, made in flash, that will read in and parse and iPod contact file. It allows the user to add/change entries, then output the new text to a field, that must be copied and pasted into the contact file (replacing what's there). You can download it fom here.

04/15/02

A calendar in your iPod.

The iPod is becoming a real PDA. You can now have a calendar in your iPod with the help of K-Lendar. This desktop calendar allows you to enter meetings specified by start time, end time, time, category, comments and description. K-Lendar notify when you have a meeting. And you can send your meetings to your iPod. This software can be downloaded from here.

04/10/02

Apple 5 giga iPod promotion in Europe.

Apple is currently making an Apple promotion in Europe. If you buy a 5 giga iPod between March 21st and june 29th, you'll get a free iPod connection kit from Dr Bott. This probably means that we'll see a price drop in July....

The iPod becomes a PDA....

With iPodNews, you can read headlines from Slashdot, Macrumors and a lot more.

And if you want other functionalities, you have to use PodText. This software is a tool to transfer text-based notes into your iPod that can be read just like "contacts" directly on the iPod's screen. Podtext X runs natively under Mac OS X. Unlike other tools, Podtext is able to transfer the complete Macintosh character set including characters used in german, french, italian or other foreign languages. While other apps max out at 1000 characters per note, Podtext can extend that limit to 2000 characters.

03/19/02

PodMaster 1000

PodMaster 1000 is a utility that makes the moving of files from the iPod to a second computer easier by listing all the songs on the iPod and allowing the transfer of selected songs (or all songs may be selected via menu) to a folder of choice. You can have all files selected sent to a single folder (unsorted) or use the default (a sorted feature) to transfer then into folders by Artist and Album, much the same way they are stored by iTunes. This feature does not always produce the desired results and is dependent on how well organized the Tags are in iTunes.

PodMaster scans the iPod, lists the songs by their iTunes name and sorts them alphabetically. All of the song titles are listed in alphabetical order and you can scroll the list horizontally to get artist, album, and genre listings. If you click on any of the headings the list will sort by that catagory, however, the sorting is slow and the time increases with the number of songs and the older the processor. You can alternatively select the sort order in the iSort menu. The sort by Album/Track is only available through the iSort menu.

An additional feature allows the user to make the invisible folders on the iPod visible, read the iPod serial number and show the free space left.

02/24/02

Podestal, a utility to download MP3s from your iPod.

Podestal allows one to easily download any files stored on your iPod. The application provides two views of the files; a file view and a music view.

The file view works like the Finder's list view. The music view parses the ID3 tags associated with the MP3 files and organizes the various mp3 tracks by Artist, Album and, finally, tracks. An icon view at the bottom of the window allows the current selection to be copied via drag and drop. Multiple files or music tracks can be selected.

Podestal scans for a mounted iPod when launched. As well, the application should detect and automatically display the contents of any iPod that is hot-connected to the machine. Podestal also listens for unmount events and updates its display accordingly. FireWire Disk Use must be enabled for Podestal to work. If Podestal is running and you enable FireWire Disk Use and click OK, Podestal will receive a mount notification and update itself appropriately. If you disable the ability for the iPod to act as a FireWire Disk, Podestal will correctly update the display.

A new iPod site : iPod Fanatic

We want to welcome a new site about the iPod : iPod Fanatic. It is in French, has some interesting information and is very well designed.

02/22/02

Firewire port protection

Portector was selling the iBook portector, which is supposed to cover and protect the (ice) iBook ports, such as Firewire or USB. This company will sell an iPod portector in the coming weeks.

iPod Case.

Incipio is selling a black iPod case for $16.95. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here it is :

A new iPod on the horizon?

Spymac posted a rumor about a new iPod. Here is what they say: "Apple plans on releasing an updated iPod before the end of March, The update will increase the unit's available storage -- up to 10GB -- while maintaining the same price point. Although an iPod firmware update for the original iPod will be released at the same time, Spymac currently has no information regarding any planned enhancements or features. While this update may seem relatively soon, the iPod currently faces fierce competition by the Jukebox Multimedia 10 Portable Entertainment Center, a soon to be released 10GB Multimedia/MP3 player that supports USB 2.0 and Firewire connectivity. The Jukebox Multimedia, which is both Macintosh and Windows compatible, boasts features such as a color LCD screen, composite video output and a built-in microphone."

This rumors seems to confirm what we posted several days ago (see our article about new Toshiba drives)

01/30/02

Translucent iPod case

RO3 is selling a translucent iPod case. It seems great. You can watch a Quicktime movie featuring that case on their Web site.

iPod Free File Sync : synchronizing music from different iPods to your computer

iPod Free File Sync (iPFFS) is the only utility that allows synchronizing music from different iPods or any other source to your computer with ease. It shows you exactly which of the MP3/AIFF/WAV files in the source are not on your computer. After synchronizing, you can browse through the new files directly in the application you're familiar with - iTunes 2. You may then: - copy the desired files directly from within iTunes to your computer manually. - use the auto copy feature which copies the desired tracks based on artist/album to your computer.

01/21/02

The iPod will soon have a lot of competition.....

The iPod will soon have a Firewire competitor, the Archos Jukebox Multimedia

The new device combines an MP3 and WMA music player and recorder, plus built-in microphone, photo album and carousel, still camera and camcorder, plus video player and recorder. The base unit of the Jukebox Multimedia provides an MP3 and WMA player, a photo and video viewing capability, and a 10GB hard drive, plus an Expansion Connector that allows additional modules to be attached to the unit.

It comes with a standard USB 1.0 interface and can also use an optional USB 2.0, FireWire, or a PC Card connection. The 10 GB Hard Drive is able to hold 2500 MP3 songs, 5000-300,000 photos, 20 videos, and can serve as a back up 10GB hard drive for personal data. The Jukebox Recorder Kit allows real-time MP3 recording from any audio source. The Photo Module downloads images from CompactFlash cards or SmartMedia in seconds to the hard drive and can be viewed on the color LCD or on a TV. The Camera Module turns the unit into a digital camera and Camcorder with a 4X digital zoom to shoot movies in MPEG4 format with an MP3 sound track. The Video Recorder Module is similar to a VCR recorder. It can record and playback MPEG4 DVD quality videos from and to a TV.

We should probably see a similar device from Apple in the future...However, it may be smaller and with a better design.

New 1"8 drives from Toshiba

Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD) announced its newest family of 1.8-inch embedded hard disk drives available in 10GB and 20GB capacities. The new mini drives will probably be included in rev B iPods... We'll soon be able to listen to many more hours of music..... or maybe watch movies.... Who knows what Apple is going to do...

iPod Bay

We have found that interesting hack on the web. Somebody has created a bay for the iPod, in order to connect it more easily to a Mac tower. According to the creator, it is " a cheap and easy way to connect your iPod to your Mac. I just added blue LEDs to my first unit and it looks great!" We don't know if you'll need that.....You can judge by yourself here

A new design for the iPod-Zone.

Thanks to VisualTonic.com, the iPod-Zone now has a brand new design, which matches those of the Cube-Zone and the OSX-Zone