There are so many digital music players available. So why is Apple’s iPod so special? We used one and found that it has much more to offer than just music.
Every once in a while a technology comes along that promises to change our way of life. The Sony Walkman (released in 1979), the video cassette recorder (in the 1980s), and the Internet (mid-1990s) are vivid examples. The latest fascination with technology is a small digital music player called an iPod. No bigger than a pack of cards and thin as a cigarette lighter, the little wonder can hold up to 10,000 songs! That allows you to carry your entire CD collection in your back pocket!
But the iPod is much more than a digital music player. In fact, it has so much to offer that it’s quickly gaining the same status as the Walkman. Here are some features we discovered. You will find them in the “Extras” menu on the ipod
Feature 1: an address book
One of the lesser-understood features of the iPod is its ability to store and display addresses, phone numbers, and other text-based data. If you have a collection of phone numbers that you want to easily access, you can store textual information from website articles and books. The amount of data you store is limited only by the space available on the iPod’s hard drive.
If you are a Mac OS X user, you will use two applications to transfer this data to iPod:
Address Book and iSync. Address Book is installed with OS X and iSync is a free download from Apple’s website and will sync Mac, iPod, PDA and Bluetooth devices.
On other operating systems, such as Windows, use any application that exports your data to the vCard format (for email addresses). Then connect iPod to PC and in the software drag the vCard file to ‘Contacts’. iPod folder.
Now let’s say you want to use iPod to store a large document. Although the iPod doesn’t technically allow it, you can fix the problem simply by first typing the file name where you would normally type the person’s name. .Having done that, paste the text file into the ‘Notes’ or ‘Comments’ field of your address entry. Then, when transferred to the iPod, your entry will appear as another address entry and the text file will be displayed under the ‘Notes’ section of the entry.
This is a handy way to take important information and text files with you on the go. You can add driving directions, WAP trip logs, notes, just about anything you can imagine.
Feature 2: Calendar
The iPod can also function as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and you can store your daily schedule on it.
To access the calendar simply follow the ‘Extras | Calendar’ and you will find your daily agenda to do. Navigate through the days using the scroll wheel or through the months by pressing the ‘Forward’ and ‘Back’ buttons. Selecting a day will bring up a list of all events scheduled for that day. Selecting a specific event will display the exact time information and a description of the appointment.
How does one put their calendar on the iPod? Fortunately, Apple has used the standard vCalendar format. This means that one can export calendar information from an application such as Microsoft Entourage or Palm Desktop and place it directly on the iPod during a sync operation.
Apple has developed its own solution for adding vCalendar files via iCal. If you don’t want to use iCal, use Palm Desktop or Entourage to export your calendar information. Once you’ve exported it, simply drag it to the ‘Calendar’ folder on the iPod. It will be automatically updated and recognized.
Feature 3: Games
The iPod also includes some simple games like Music Quiz, Solitaire, Brick, and Parachute. There are websites from where you can download more games and put them on your iPod. The games and put them on your iPod. The games are of the simple type, so don’t expect you to do it on PC or the latest phones.
Feature 4 – A secret storage device
Here’s one thing an iPod can do that a PDA or pad of paper can’t. It can be used as a hard drive. That could have certain advantages if you’re concerned about certain files or information on your computer being discovered.
With storage capacities ranging from 5GB to 30GB, there are plenty of uses as an external storage device for your laptop when out in the field.
If there are some apps you want to use, but for some reason you don’t want to install them on your laptop, you can run them from iPod. You can also use the iPod as a bootable drive if it has an operating system. installed on it and whether your computer supports booting from an external Firewire device.
An iPod can be connected to any Firewire-equipped computer and used to share and exchange files as needed.
iPods connect to iMacs via Firewire cables. These flexible Firewire cables are now available and are much better for use in the field than the standard thick cables that most Firewire devices ship with. To connect an iPod to PC, you would need an iPod Dock Connector to USB 2.0 + Firewire cable (see http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html )
Feature 5 – Store your photos on the go
The new iPod photo lets you store all your photos on the gadget. The truth is that it costs a bomb. Maybe it will fall off in a few months.
Until then, though, if you have an older version of iPod, don’t worry. Although you still can’t view pictures on it, there’s nothing stopping you from storing them on your device.
A 40 GB iPod can hold up to 24,000 photos (captured with a 3-megapixel camera). Want to transfer photos from your digital camera? Well, then here’s what you could do: Get yourself a card reader that connects to your iPod.
The card reader will simply act as a bridge between your digital camera and iPod. It reads the images from your camera and transfers them to your iPod. At a later date, when you return home, you can take the images off your iPod and transfer them to your computer. However, you may have to spend some money to get this kind of capability. A card reader usually costs less than $100.
Belkin (www.belkin.com) has a pretty decent card reader that does a pretty good job.
The advantage of opting for a card reader if you have an older version of the iPod is that you get all the features for less than it would cost to buy a new photo iPod.
Feature 6: Audio file storage
Music storage is the main function of the iPod. Fourth generation models have a 40 GB hard drive that can store up to 10,000 songs. The 20 GB iPod can hold about 5,000 songs.
Apple offers an online music store (called iTunes) where you can buy and download songs for iPod.
And don’t worry about the batteries running out. iPod has a long battery life: up to 12 hours. And with iPod’s 25 minutes of skip protection, you can listen while you play basketball and the music will keep playing. However, there is a word about batteries. Maybe it’s the iPod’s Achilles heel. After 12 to 18 months of continuous use. It starts to run out of battery. the iPod. Unless you decide to go with a third-party battery that isn’t quite as fancy as the original, but gets the job done nonetheless.
Feature 7: Lots of accessories
There are many accessories that extend the functionality of iPod and make it more useful. See the ‘Accessories’ section in the Apple iPod store (www.apple.com/ipod).
There are external speakers, a remote control, a stereo connection kit, an additional voice recorder, a radio and kits for using the iPod while driving.
You can also choose an inexpensive cassette tape adapter and listen to your iPod in your car through your car stereo. It seems like everyone wants to make iPod accessories these days.