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The iPhone changed the way we think about how mobile media devices should look, feel and perform. The design is exceptional inside and out: It's got a slick glass-and-stainless steel case and an elegant touch screen loaded with eye candy. It's an iPod and a 2-megapixel camera. Images and video clips display vertically or horizontally -- they reorient themselves depending on how you hold the thing. When the phone detects a wireless network within range -- your own home wi-fi set up or somebody else's -- it lets you tap once to connect, and then proceed with your Web surfing, Google mapping, emailing and other activities that can otherwise be painfully slow over AT&T's cellular network -- the only one, unfortunately, that carries iPhone calls. Orb Networks has announced a technology enabling Apple iPhone and iPod touch users to play selections from their PC-based music collection without the need to sync with their computer. According to the company, users find the need to sync to a computer to be "a pain in the ass." iPod touch features the same multi-touch screen technology as iPhone. Brilliant 3.5-inch widescreen display. Watch your movies, TV shows, and slideshows come alive with bright, vivid color on the 320-by-480-pixel display. Music downloads straight from iTunes. Shop the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store from anywhere with Wi-Fi. Browse the web and watch YouTube videos on the first iPod with Wi-Fi built in. It’s the small iPod with one very big idea: Video. The world’s most popular digital music player now lets you enjoy movies, TV shows, and more on a two-inch display that's 65% brighter than before. Now with Cover Flow. Browse through your music and video collection by flipping through album art. Select an album to turn it over and see the track list. In five eye-catching colors, iPod nano is stunning all around. With 80GB or 160GB of storage, iPod classic gives your music and video room to move. With 80GB or 160GB of storage and up to 40 hours of battery life, the new iPod classic lets you enjoy up to 40,000 songs or up to 200 hours of video wherever you go. Now with Cover Flow. Browse through your music and video collection by flipping through album art. Select an album to turn it over and see the track list. Beautiful, durable, and sleeker than ever, iPod classic now features an anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel enclosure with rounded edges. iPhone combines a revolutionary mobile phone and a widescreen iPod with touch controls. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface so you can use your finger on the touch screen. iPhone is a widescreen iPod that lets you enjoy all your content - including music, TV shows, and movies - on a beautiful 3.5-inch widescreen display. The iPhone includes a full version of the Safari internet browser - the first fully usable HTML browser on a phone.

iPod-Linux Installer

Welcome to the iPod-Linux Installer project hosted by sourceforge. The goal of this project is to create an easy to use GUI program that enables Mac OS X user with iPods to install linux on HFS+ formatted iPods while still allowing users to keep and use the Apple Supplied OS. Currently this project supports 1G, 2G, and 3G iPods. 4G, Mini, and Photo iPods are now supported. Installation on Nano and 5G iPods is possible with this installer but no support will be given for these iPods! Make absolutely sure you back your files up if you are using a post 3G iPod as this is an alpha installer release. This installer would not be made possible without the hard work from the devs at ipodlinux.org check them out!

iPod is a portable device for storing and playing audio files

An iPod is a portable device for storing and playing audio files encoded by MP3 or AAC compression algorithms. Designed by Apple Computer, iPods have distinctive styling and can hold anywhere from a few hundred to ten thousand songs. Released in 2001, the original iPod came with a body of white Lucite and chrome. Two years later Apple released the iPod Mini, approximately one-third the size of the original iPod and encased in a variety of shiny metallic colors. The smallest member of the iPod family, the Shuffle, reduced the size down to that of a package of stick gum and looked very much like the original. All iPods came with distinctive white headphones. The larger iPod and the iPod Mini use an extremely small hard disk for storage. The Shuffle uses a type of memory known as flash; unlike the memory found in computers, flash memory does not lose its contents when the power is turned off. As the prices and capacities of both hard disks and flash memory continue to fall, the storage capacity of all three models has increased over time. Apple's iPod continued the company's tradition of creating technology that is easy to use. When connected to a personal computer (PC), Windows or Macintosh, the iPod communicates with a piece of Apple software called iTunes. The iPod and iTunes work together to synchronize the songs available on the iPod to those available on the PC. This happens automatically, without any intervention being required from the user. This ease of use was a primary reason for the iPod's domination of the portable MP3 player market. In addition to playing MP3 audio files, the iPod plays AAC. AAC, or Advanced Audio Coding, was developed by Dolby Labs as part of the MPEG-4 audio/video standard. While technically advanced as a compression algorithm, AAC's principle difference from MP3 is its ability to support Digital Rights Management (DRM). DRM is a response to the type of song sharing first enabled by websites like Napster. By encoding legally purchased songs with digital signatures, it increases the difficulty of

IPod phenomena

I got into the IPod phenomena very late well actually only a few months back. Everyone around me had these ever so wonderful gadgets and they loved talking about their new found expensive toys. Did I feel jealous hell no, I have programmed myself to follow the ultimate contrarian life - if it is popular and everyone around me likes it I will always find several reasons why I don’t. With Apple the reasons were pretty clear, I don’t like propriety technology and I don’t like popularity!!! So a few months back I heard these evil words from my wife - why don’t you get me an IPod, before I went in to a rage of rants I decided ok I will. Being a cheap skate and also having the self believe that I can fix anything, I decided to start my purchasing search in EBay’s faulty and broken categories. While I was searching I noticed that 80 to 90% of faulty video IPod’s seem to suffer from dud hard drives, so popular in fact that it has been coined the ‘click of death’. Let me remove the wife element of this tutorial - she got her video IPod lovingly restored by yours truly and she is living happily ever after with it! The Task So after spending several hours playing with the video IPod and I could feel my hatred for this iconic symbol waning and I did not even have to use their propriety ITunes as someone was good enough to write an excellent Winamp plug-in. However every sound coming from the miniature hard drive working away inside reminded me about the click of death, which is when I decided to find a solution to remove the mechanics from the equation. I decided the best solution would be to replace hard drive with a solid state alternative in the form of a compact flash card. Various searches later had showed me lots of people had been successful in replacing the HDD in older IPod’s but not the 5th gen video IPod’s, these people should also be put forward for some sort of prize with their amazing hand soldering skills working on 50 way 1.27mm pitch connectors. So no one had cracked the video IPod and this is because of the new fangled connector found on the hard drive, it is zero insertion force (ZIF) type 40 way connector which uses an eye watering 0.5mm pitch. The installed hard drive is manufactured by Toshiba and a quick search of their website turned up the user manual for the said MK3008GAL drive, thankfully the connector may be different but the signals carried are the same old ATA type. So theoretically it should be no problem interfacing it to a compact flash card. So after a few hours measuring and prodding with my oscilloscope and going through several pdf’s from SanDisk and Toshiba - finally I came up with a circuit which I felt would do the trick. So now I was left with tracking down the relevant connectors to mate to the IPod and to the compact flash card. Design Internally the IPod is extremely well packed and it was pretty much a necessity that my circuit and all its extra’s had to fit in the same form factor as the hard drive I was replacing. The hard drive measures 5mm x 54mm x 71mm, a compact flash card only measures 4mm x 43mm x 36mm so no problem there. Compact flash connectors are pretty much standard things and most measure 47mm wide, once again no problem. In fact the only place I could see a problem was in the height most CF connectors are 4.5mm and need to be mounted on to circuit board which is going to be 1.6mm in my case. The IPod side was going to be the least to worry about in terms of sizing - the connector is ultra small. After spending lots of time flicking though parts catalogues I settled on the connectors, 3M supplied the low profile CF connector (4mm height) and Hirose the 40way 0.5mm ZIF flip-lock connector. Now I could finalise the circuit board design and get the PCB made. My final design would measure with the Compact Flash card inserted 5.6mm x 51mm x 61mm, great!! Form factor smaller than the hard drive, slightly thicker but that should not matter as I will not be using the rubber mounts that hold the drive. The PCB finally arrived and the very hard task of mounting the connectors began, these things are designed to be soldered by exotic techniques such as solder reflow and wave ovens - sadly I don’t have luxuries like that so with my trusty hot air soldering station and some solder paste I set to work!!! So the circuit was ready for testing, I won’t bore you with how to open the video IPod several websites already do that and they probably do a better job than I ever could (they can be found here and here.). So I removed the hard drive by lifting the flip lock so the ribbon cable slides out of the connector. I inserted a 4 GB CF card to my module then carefully bought it up to the iPod ribbon cable, sliding slowly in to the ZIF connector once it was home I pushed the flip lock down.

iPod.iTunes

iPod.iTunes evaluates the source for songs, podcasts, videos and/or playlists that are not in the target and only adds these seamlessly, avoiding duplicates, saving your time. Unlike iTunes' "auto update/sync" function iPod.iTunes generally does not delete content in the target. iPod.iTunes can also transfer song dependend data like "My Rating", "Last Played", "Play Count", album artwork, etc... 8 synchronization modes in 2 directions (from iPod to iTunes and from iTunes to iPod). Simple one click synchronization (Screenshot). Option to choose songs manually if you don't want to synchronize them all. You can listen to songs before you choose to transfer them. Songs and playlist entries can be synchronized together or separately. If the songs on the iPod are already in the iTunes library and you only want the iPod playlists, you can use the playlist synchronization alone. With every song synchronization iPod.iTunes creates a date&time stamped playlist in iTunes containing the songs which were transferred. This gives the option to easily add those songs to existing playlists or to create new playlists from the transferred songs. Support for the iPod's "On The Go" playlist. Copies by default seamlessly to the iTunes music folder and creates a folder structure based on artist/album, as in iTunes (with options). File naming based on song number and song name, as in iTunes. File formats: MP3, AAC/MP4, Protected AAC (iTunes Music Store), Audible audio books, Podcasts, Apple Lossless, Video. Support for Windows-formatted iPods. iPod.iTunes can run directly from the iPod, so it's always there when you need it. Registration is independent of the computer. You can just connect your iPod to any Mac without registering every machine. iPod.iTunes can be used to Keep songs, videos and playlists on different Macs and iPods up to date. Do a full restore of songs, videos and playlists from iPod- i.e. after a hard disk failure or if you buy a new Mac. Revert accident deletion of songs, videos and/or playlists in iTunes, if these are still on your iPod. Transfer an iTunes library from one Mac to another via the iPod. Update a foreign iPod which is not linked to your iTunes library (without deleting content on it or touching the link). Update a linked iPod (without deleting content on it as iTunes' "auto update" does when tracks on the iPod are no longer in the iTunes library). Clone an iPod (see Help menu in iPod.iTunes). What's new in this version: Compatibility for Mac OS 10.5.1. Operating System Requirements: This product is designed to run on the following operating systems: Mac OS X 10.5 Intel Mac OS X 10.5 PPC Mac OS X 10.4 Intel Mac OS X 10.4 PPC Mac OS X 10.3.9 Additional Requirements: iTunes 3.0.1 or higher iPod

Free iPod Video

Free iPod Video Converter provides an easy and completed way to convert all popular video formats to iPod video. You can enjoy DVD/VCD and AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, RMVB, DivX, ASF, VOB video files in your iPod with few clicks. The program is a freeware and does not contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors. Version 1.32 build 852 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes. Like many similar apps, Free iPod Video Converter is a spiffed-up front end for codecs that transforms your digital video files into an iPod-compatible format. But to give the program some credit, it is easy to use, and of course it's free. It works with AVI, MPEG, VOB, WMV, and RM files and supports batch conversion. You can specify the video and sound quality and have the program automatically shut down the computer when it's finished. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but Free iPod Video Converter's reasonably good looks, decent functionality, and free price make it a solid competitor.

iPod Classic

The iPod Classic has a metal face, not a plastic one. The shiny, curved chrome-like backplate is still there, but now it's attached to an anodised aluminium sheet that curves gently forward before forming a flat space in which the display and clickwheel are mounted. The casing - its the same material used in last year's iPod Nano update - is tactile and has a satin sheen quite unlike the patent gloss of old. That's good for the black Classic, which is now far more resistant to fingerprints than its predecessor was and probably more resistant to scratches, though only time will tell for sure. The back of the player however, is just as susceptible to scrapes and scratches as it always was, as we discovered when we were a little reckless in docking the device. What was once the white model is now one Apple calls 'silver' - but in reality it's more of a kind of dull, pale grey. It's not as metallic looking as last year's Nanos and Shuffles, and it's hard to see consumers falling for it. We'd hazard a guess that the black model will sell significantly better this coming Christmas. The metal front makes for an iPod that feels less like two halves fitted together and more like a single, solid unit. The screen and the clickwheel are slotted into holes cut in the face, and while the clickwheel has an almost perfect fit, there's a tiny groove running around the perimeter of the screen. While it's barely noticeable in the hand, it won't be long before it picks up dust and pocket fluff. As before the bottom of the player is home to the dock connector, with the earphone socket and 'hold' switch up on top. All three are surrounded by a thin lip of colour-coded plastic to match the hue of the faceplate. The new model is much the same size as its predecessor - it's actually fractionally thinner, but not so as you'd notice. Similarly, it's very slightly heavier, but again you won't be able to tell when you're carrying this player around.

iPod digital music player

The Mermaid, Puddle Dock, is not the first place you might go in search of the cool and cutting edge. That will not stop an expectant crowd gathering at the conference centre in London's Blackfriars this week for a live satellite broadcast from San Francisco that could make or break one of the consumer icons of the Western world. The iPod, the digital music player beloved of everyone from Coldplay's Chris Martin to President George Bush, is in danger of losing its sheen. Sales are declining at an unprecedented rate. Industry experts talk of a 'backlash' and of the iPod 'wilting away before our eyes'. Most disastrously, Apple's signature pocket device with white earphones may simply have become too common to be cool. On Tuesday the eyes of iPod-lovers the world over will be on Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple, when he seeks to allay fears that it could follow Sony's tape-playing Walkman into the recycling bin of history. Jobs is widely expected to announce the most ambitious iPod service yet - the sale of feature-length films via the internet for viewing on the devices, which may receive an expanded 'widescreen' and improved storage capacity. If downloading movies from a computer to an iPod proves even half as revolutionary as it did for music, the multibillion-pound DVD industry could be quaking. There are rumours that Jobs will also announce a long expected 'iPhone', combining the music function and sleek style of an iPod with a mobile phone. Industry-watchers warn that the iPod could soon be regarded by teenage cynics as their 'parents' player' because a mass-market product rarely equates with edgy fashionability. Although it has sold nearly 60 million actual iPods and a billion downloaded songs worldwide, cracks have begun to appear in the edifice. The Zandl Group, a New York-based trends forecaster which regularly interviews a panel of 3,000 consumers aged 25-35, recently picked up its first significant criticisms. 'The iPod is far and away the most popular tech gadget with our panellists - however, for the first time we are hearing negative feedback about the iPod from some panellists,' said the organisation's spokeswoman, Carla Avruch. 'Panellists cite that the batteries are not replaceable, so when they die the entire player must be replaced,' she said. 'We have heard from some conspiracy theorists that the batteries are made to die soon after the warranty ends. 'Other complaints are that iTunes [Apple's online music store] is overpriced and the format is not easily transferred on to other players. In our ethnography interviews, some long-time iPod-users told us that they have stopped updating their iPods because it's too much work, while other consumers who had bought iPods more recently had not even taken theirs out of the package to set it up.' She added that the iPod is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success: 'Some backlash is against the ubiquity of the iPod - everyone has those white headphones on the train.' Analysts warn that the iPod has passed its peak. From its launch five years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold. But sales fell to 8.5 million in the following quarter, and down to 8.1 million in the most recent three-month period. Wall Street is reportedly starting to worry that the bubble will burst. Tomi Ahonen, a technology brand expert and author, said: 'For the first time the iPod has had two consecutive falls after 17 quarters of growth. If I were the manager, I would be wanting my people to explain what is going on. The iPod is wilting away before our eyes.' He cited new mobile phones with improved MP3 players as the cause of the iPod's dwindling appeal. 'In 2005 all the big phone manufacturers released phones that play music. Phones are outselling dedicated MP3 players by six to one. Apple had the market for MP3, but they lost it.' Ahonen, author of Communities Dominate Brands, predicted that in the long term the iPod will have only a narrow audience. 'It will continue to dominate a niche at the top end: if you're a musician or a DJ you'll use it because it's the best, like a photographer with his Nikon camera. But the average mobile phone user gets a new handset every 18 months, and a quarter of mobile phones sold this year will have an MP3 player. In the same way as camera phones have pushed cameras to one side, this is an automatic replacement.' Apple is famously tight-lipped about plans, but its invitations to Tuesday's event show an Apple logo in front of crossed searchlights and the slogan 'It's Showtime'. Sources in Hollywood, where Jobs sits on the board of Walt Disney, suggest Apple has been trying to secure deals to sell films through iTunes for around £8 each. Apple added video downloads of television shows such as Lost and sporting events to its iTunes service last October. The company is facing growing competition on every front. Last week Amazon launched a digital TV and film download service in the US, and the supermarket giant Wal-Mart is in talks with Hollywood studios about a similar website. Later this year a new online music store, SpiralFrog, will undercut iTunes by offering a huge catalogue of music for free while relying on advertising for its income. MySpace, the immensely popular social networking site, also poses a threat. Three out of every four MP3 players sold are iPods, but the device could be challenged later this year by Zune, the contender from Microsoft, whose billionaire founder Bill Gates is not used to losing. Samsung is also betting heavily on its new K5, which has the option of built-in loudspeakers. But commentators argue that the iPod's status as a 21st-century fashion symbol is assured. Leander Kahney, author of The Cult of Mac, said: 'I thought they would become pass? last year but they haven't, and I don't see much sign that they will." James Beechinor-Collins, editor-in-chief of T3 consumer gadgets magazine, added: 'It's cool across the board: everyone from my seven-year-old niece to my 60-year-old uncle has one. But as the leader Apple needs to keep innovating, not resting on its laurels. We haven't seen a new product for a year, so Tuesday's announcement had better be bloody good.'

Video to iPod Converter

Do you thinking enjoy the visual feast on your ipod anywherer,anytime? Now, with Plato Video to iPod Converter , you could convert any of your funny and wonderful video clips to your ipod. It enables you to convert almost all kinds of video files such as rm, divx, xvid, avi, wmv, asf, mpg, mpeg, vob, mov, qt, vcd, svcd to Apple iPod video (mp4) format. You could convert batch video files with Plato Video to iPod Converter. It is convenient for you to add several video files one time to convert , and then just go to sleep , it could automatically shutdown your computer after all conversion done !! Key Feature : Support wmv , asf to ipod mp4. Support mov , qt to ipod mp4. Support rm , rmvb to ipod mp4. Support mpg , mpeg , vob ,vcd , svcd to ipod mp4. Support avi , divx , xvid to ipod mp4. conversion speed is 2 times of the playback speed. Set the start position and end position of source file to convert. Support batch files conversion Support many predefined profile setting for ipod video. Customize the quality of output ipod video. Automatically shutdown your computer after long time conversion, such as for big files conversion at midnight. Automatically adds output ipod files to iTunes after conversion. We guarantee free update, free te-support and 30 days money back . Go to download it and experience a new lifestyle!

third-party applications on an iPod

A 13-year-old hacker claims to have developed code that would let you put third-party applications on an iPod Touch without having to take a computer science class. AriX sent us a press release Sunday promoting iJailbreak, an automated program that allows third-party applications to run on the iPod Touch. It doesn't work for the iPhone, and it's only available for iPod Touch owners who are using Intel-based Macs. I don't have an iPod Touch at my disposal right now, so I'm unable to test whether it actually works, but some users on MacRumors.com reported that it worked. Ever since Apple released the 1.1.1 software update for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch in late September that broke older third-party application installers, hackers have been hard at work searching for a new way to bypass the restrictions. A preliminary jailbreaking application was released last week, but it required a great deal of expertise to get up and running. Erica Sadun, a writer for The Unofficial Apple Weblog, installed that iPod Touch jailbreak Friday evening but warned, "This is not ready for prime time, kids. Don't do this at home." The iJailbreak program, however, is apparently designed for those who would like to put other applications on their iPod Touch but aren't crack coders. According to the press release, "the only user interaction required for iJailBreak to work is to restart the iPod Touch using the button on the top of the iPod. The application does the rest." AriX said he spent about nine hours writing a program in AppleScript that automatically does the scripting required to install the update released last week. He said there's a slight risk that the program could "brick" your iPod Touch, but it's pretty easy to restore an iPod Touch to the factory settings if something goes wrong. As we noted last week, we don't link to these kinds of programs, but it's called iJailBreak. That's iJailBreak. One more time, in case you missed it, iJailBreak. If you've successfully installed this program, or if you can't get it to work, let us know in the comments below or drop me an e-mail at tom dot krazit at cnet dot com.

first virus designed to infect iPod

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, has discovered the first virus designed to infect iPod portable media players. The virus, which has been named Podloso, is a proof of concept program which does not pose a real threat. The virus is a file which can be launched and run on an iPod. It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod. If the virus is installed on the iPod by the user, the virus then installs itself to the folder which contains program demo versions. Podloso cannot be launched automatically without user involvement. Once launched, the virus scans the device’s hard disk and infects all executable .elf format files. Any attempt to launch these files will cause the virus to display a message on the screen which says "You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus". Podloso is a typical proof of concept virus, which is created in order to demonstrate that it is possible to infect a specific platform. It does not have a malicious payload and is unable to spread on its own: a user has to save the virus to the iPod for the device to become infected. About Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Lab delivers the world’s most immediate protection against IT security threats, including viruses, spyware, crimeware, hackers, phishing, and spam. Kaspersky Lab products provide superior detection rates and the industry’s fastest outbreak response time for home users, SMBs, large enterprises and the mobile computing environment. Kaspersky® technology is also used worldwide inside the products and services of the industry’s leading IT security solution providers. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com . For the latest on antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and other IT security issues and trends, visit www.viruslist.com.

The iPod shuffle is the least expensive iPod

Now that the holiday shopping season has officially begun, it's time to think about gifts for your loved ones. Because everyone I know would love to receive an iPod, here's a brief iPod buyer's guide, which model is best for which type of recipient: The iPod shuffle is the least expensive iPod, which makes it perfect for loved ones you love, but not so much. Although it has no screen and can only hold two or three hundred songs, it is better than no iPod at all. The iPod nano, also available in five colors, delivers a lot of iPod in an extremely small package. This year's model can play video, audio and games, and has a larger, brighter color screen. The iPod classic is made for the person with so much music and video it won't all fit on any other iPod model. Where other iPod models max out at 16 gigabytes of storage, the iPod classic offers up to 10 times more (160 GB). With a bigger, brighter screen than ever before and a slimmer, all-metal enclosure, no other iPod will do for the loved one who wants it all close at hand all the time. The iPod touch is an iPhone without the phone. It's the only iPod with a touch screen interface, and its screen is the largest. It's also the only iPod with a Web browser and Wi-Fi built in. If your loved one wants only the tip-top of technology, the iPod touch is the only choice. Finally, the iPhone combines all that is great about the iPods, with the best mobile phone and Internet device I've ever used. Finally, if your loved one has an iPod, cases, earphones and stereo, iPod speakers make great gifts, too. Custom laser engraving, formerly $50, is free for iPods purchased at the Apple Store. And if you order from Apple online you'll also receive free shipping on all orders over $50. Bob LeVitus is the author of 50 computer books including Mac OS X Leopard For Dummies, and a Mac consultant, troubleshooter, and trainer. Visit his Web site at www.boblevitus.com; e-mail comments to doc@boblevitus.com.

Apple's iPod commands 65 percent of the portable player market

Microsoft's leafy corporate campus in Redmond, Washington, is beginning to look like the streets of New York, London and just about everywhere else: Wherever you go, white headphones dangle from peoples' ears. To the growing frustration and annoyance of Microsoft's management, Apple Computer's iPod is wildly popular among Microsoft's workers. "About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering." The source estimated 80 percent of Microsoft employees have a music player -- that translates to 16,000 iPod users among the 25,000 who work at or near Microsoft's corporate campus. "This irks the management team no end," said the source. So popular is the iPod, executives are increasingly sending out memos frowning on its use. Of course, Microsoft's software is used by dozens of competing music players from manufacturers like Creative Technology, Rio and Sony. Its Windows Media Audio, or WMA, format is supported by several online music stores, including Napster, Musicmatch and Wal-Mart. Microsoft's PlaysForSure program markets this choice as a boon for consumers. Nonetheless, Apple's iPod commands 65 percent of the portable player market, and its online iTunes Music Store 70 percent of online music sales, according to Apple. "These guys are really quite scared," said the source of Microsoft's management. "It shows how their backs are against the wall.... Even though it's Microsoft, no one is interested in what we have to offer, even our own employees." So concerned is management, owning an iPod at Microsoft is beginning to become impolitic, the manager said. Employees are hiding their iPods by swapping the telltale white headphones for a less conspicuous pair. "Some people are a bit concerned about being traitors, not supporting the company," he said. "They're a bit stealth about it." How "stealth" varies from division to division. At the company's Macintosh Business Unit, which publishes a wide range of software for the Mac, owning an iPod is almost de rigueur. But at the Windows Digital Media Group, which is charged with software for portable players and the WMA format, using an iPod is not a good career move. "In the media group they all smoke the company dope on that one," the manager said. Mary Jo Foley, editor of Microsoft Watch, said she had no knowledge of the iPod's popularity on Microsoft's campus, but has noticed a lot of iPod chatter among Microsoft's legions of bloggers.

IPods could be damaged by Microsoft’s new computer operating system

IPods could be damaged by Microsoft’s new computer operating system, the company behind the popular digital music players has warned. Apple, the long-standing rival of Bill Gates’s Microsoft, is urging users not to upgrade their PCs to the Vista system until it comes up with a compatible version of the software that runs iPods. Microsoft launched its long-awaited Vista operating system in a blaze of publicity last week and claimed that more than 5,000 hardware and software products would work with it. But Apple, which has sold 90 million iPods since 2001, says many users of the iconic portable music players have had problems when connecting them to PCs using Vista. It claims some have found that songs bought on its iTunes Store will not play on the new system, and that other Vista users have even seen their iPods corrupted when they try to unplug them. The contacts and calendar functions on iPods are also said to be affected. A statement on Apple’s website reads: “iTunes Store purchases may not play when upgrading to Windows Vista from Windows 2000 or XP. “Ejecting an iPod from the Windows System Tray using the Safely Remove Hardware feature may corrupt your iPod.” Microsoft has already released a software update for Vista users so they can play their iTunes Store songs. But Apple is still warning PC users not to use Vista until it can release a completely new version of the iTunes software. Apple’s website states: “Apple recommends that customers wait to upgrade Windows until after the next release of iTunes which will be available in the next few weeks.” Microsoft said it has a dedicated team working on problems with Vista and iTunes, and insisted users should not stop using the new operating system.

WinAVI iPod/PSP/3GP/MP4 Video Converter

WinAVI iPod/PSP/3GP/MP4 Video Converter is software for MP4/3GP file conversion of portable video device such as iPod/PSP, It can convert almost all video formats, for e.g., DivX, XviD, MOV, rm, rmvb, MPEG, VOB, DVD, WMV, AVI to iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone. It has an unmatchable speed and high quality. And it supports transport your video files to your iPod/PSP directly. WinAVI iPod/PSP/3GP/MP4 Video Converter let you enjoy the film with your iPod/PSP. It is a must-have for anyone who wants to see video on iPod/PSP or other portable video devices. *. Converts all formats to Apple iPod Video. *. Converts all formats to Sony PSP. *. Converts all formats to MP4 format that can be played on general portable video device such as MP4 player. *. World's fastest video conversion speed. *. User-friendly interface that is easy to use. *. Transport video files to iPod/PSP directly. No need to install iTunes or other softwares. *. Supports batch conversion. *. Stunning video and audio quality. *. Supports clip/zoom/soften the video. *. Supports adjust many video/audio options for MP4 files. For example, video/audio sample rate, bit rate, video size... *. Has the option to preview the video in real-time. *. Has the option to automatically shutdown your computer when the conversion has been completed.

iPod Touch is cool looking

“Well, what do you know,” says engadget.com. "Turns out the iPod touch is a reality after all.” In the wake of rumour solidifying into fact, a pattern has emerged on the blogs' coverage of Apple's latest gadget: the blog authors give upbeat appreciations of what the iPod touch offers, the commentators on their sites bewail its shortcomings. And so Crunchgear furnished readers with a glowing pr?cis of what you get for your money (£199 for an 8GB version; £269 for a 16GB): “Want more iPod? We’ve got you more iPod,” it said. “For months and months we’ve been hearing rumours of a full-screen, touch-sensitive iPod, we’ve called it the iPhone without the phone part. Everyone’s wanted it, and now they’ve got it. Steve rolled out the latest iPod today, starting an entirely new class of iPods called the iPod Touch, and it’s exactly what it should be.” “Available in a few weeks, the Touch comes in 8GB and 16GB configurations, and is basically a phoneless iPhone. Same basic form factor, same motion-sensing screen turning, same multitouch, same Coverflow browsing, same WiFi, and same Safari. Yah, the amazing mobile Web implementation that Apple brought to the iPhone without signing up for AT&T. “But the WiFi’s not just for Web browsing. You also get the iPhone’s YouTube playback. You also get a wireless iTunes music store. Find a hotspot, find your song, and buy it, just as you would through your desktop iTunes. As Stevie J said, ‘Apple’s going to do with WiFi what others have failed to do.’ That looks likely.” So far, so good. Turn, however, to the comments from the great unwashed on the Think Secret site, and another story unfolds. “I know the iPod Touch is cool looking but [without] a 60 gig drive it is worthless to me,” says one comment. “One thing that is conspicuously missing from the iPod touch (as well as the iPhone) is any sort of games. One would think that the touch-screen platform would be perfect for something like bejeweled or solitaire. Seems odd to me, and is one of the few features missing from the iPhone that most other cell phones have,” adds another. A third drawback: “No Mail! WTF! That's all I can say,” says one disgruntled commentator on tuaw.com. “There's Safari [Apple's web browser] but no Mail!? I don't get it.” On Times Online, too, most commenters were sceptical. "Instead of introducing new iPods, Apple should support the thousands (millions?) of broken iPods out there," one reader says. "My iPod Mini died in August, just 5 months after the warranty expired. So did many other iPod Minis of the same vintage. But Apple refuses to recognize this as an 'event'. Their Tech Support suggested that I purchase a new one." And so it was left to the bloggers and not their public to sing the device's praises. AppleInsider said that “Apple [had] catered to the demands of iPod users worldwide” in building the iPod touch. “With its 3.5-inch widescreen display, iPod touch is ideal for watching movies and TV shows, as well as viewing photos and album art. “The player also features a built-in accelerometer that automatically senses when you rotate it into its landscape position, just like iPhone. “When you're in music, it automatically switches to Cover Flow so you can browse your music collection by album cover artwork with just a flick of a finger. When in Photos, it automatically displays the photo in its landscape aspect ratio; and when in Safari it displays the web page horizontally.”

Copyright Board of Canada

The Copyright Board of Canada has released its decision on a series of motions contesting the latest attempt by the Canadian Private Copyright Collective to apply the private copying levy to iPods and removable memory storage cards. The proposed levy was challenged by the Canadian Storage Media Alliance and the Retail Council of Canada, who argued that the Federal Court had already struck down a previous levy on iPods (or more accurately digital audio recorders) as outside the Copyright Act. The CSMA and RCC argued that the Board had no jurisdiction to consider or approve the levy or alternatively that the CPCC should be prevented from proposing it. The Board conducted hearings on the motions last month and has responded quickly with an emphatic rejection of the CSMA and RCC. Siding consistently with the CPCC, the Board has left little doubt that it believes that the earlier decision has not foreclosed the possibility of a levy on devices such as the iPod. In fact, the Board provides the clearest statement yet that it believes that the levy could be applied to any device, including cellphones and computers. At paragraph 70, the decision states: CSMA expressed misgivings about the possibility that cellular phones and computers might end up being leviable. We see no inherent problem with this scenario. A thing that is ordinarily used by individual consumers to make private copies should not be excluded from the private copying regime for the sole reason that it has other uses. Indeed, all media that are currently subject to the levy can be used for purposes other than private copying." The decision continues by stating that this interpretation is consistent with the intent of the Copyright Act and Parliament, concluding that "to rule that digital recorders are not audio recording media does not serve the purpose of the Act or that of Part VIII [the private copying provisions]. It instantly makes the conduct of millions of Canadians illegal, and even possibly criminal." Today's decision will likely be appealed, though assuming it stands it will lead to new hearings on the private copying levy. Moreover, given the Board's view that the levy potentially applies to any device, including personal computers, it also provides further confirmation that peer-to-peer downloading is covered by the private copying levy. As I argued earlier this year (parts one and two), a levy to address P2P may make sense, yet the current approach, which could lead to levies on SD cards, doesn't work. If we're going to make P2P legal through a levy system, the system must (1) address both downloading and uploading; (2) consider addressing non-commercial use of content; (3) cover audio and video; and (4) more closely link the copying to those paying the levy. The government has yet to play its hand on this issue, but with the prospect of an unpopular levy and mounting pressure for a Canadian fair use provision, it will have to take a stand sometime soon.

IPod Software

CopyTrans Photo 1.25 is a IPod Software product from copytrans.net, get 5 Stars SoftSea Rating, CopyTrans and CopyTrans Photo (formerly CopyPod and CopyPod Photo) are the ultimate backup & iPod recovery tools for your iPod, iPod Photo and iPod Video. You are just a few clicks away from retrieving your music, ratings, playlists, playcounts, photos, videos to your PC. CopyTrans is a lifesaver when sending your iPod for repair, in cases of computer/hard drive crash, or just to backup up to a different drive. Use CopyTrans Photo for the recovery & sharing of your iPod photos. Recover your souvenirs in just a few clicks and share them on other's computers. A PC crash doesn't mean you have to loose all those precious memories, give our products a go! CopyTrans and CopyTrans Photo will do these jobs effortlessly. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, CopyTrans Photo does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 1.25, you can download this ipod software software (7.25 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of CopyTrans Photo, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

CopyTrans Doctor 1.015 is a IPod Software product from copytrans.net, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, CopyTrans Doctor is an iPod repair and recovery solution, that can find iPod disk/hard drive errors, perform iPod database (library) diagnostic, locate missing, lost or unlisted songs, and recover songs that have been deleted from your iPod. It can address problems where your iPod is not recognized by your computer or inaccessible by iTunes, songs are skipped when you try to play them, the screen is displaying the `sad face` icon, and similar issues. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, CopyTrans Doctor does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 1.015, you can download this ipod software software (1.6 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $39.90, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of CopyTrans Doctor, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

iLibs 1.130 is a IPod Software product from copytrans.net, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, iLibs enables you to manage multiple iTunes libraries and easily switch between them. You can create multiple users and assign a library to each one, allowing each member of the household to have his/her personal iPod library on the same computer. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, iLibs does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 1.130, you can download this ipod software software (1.18 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $19.90, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of iLibs, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

iCloner 1.07 is a IPod Software product from copytrans.net, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, iCloner enables you to create a complete backup image of your iPod, that can be used to restore your iPod content in case it is corrupted, deleted, lost or stolen, in which case you can restore the backup image to the new iPod device. iCloner supports compression of your backup image in order to save storage space. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, iCloner does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 1.07, you can download this ipod software software (1.61 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $19.90, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of iCloner, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

YamiPod 1.7 is a IPod Software product from yamipod.com, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, YamiPod allows you to manage the content of your iPod without the need to have iTunes installed. You can copy mp3 and AAC files to/from your iPod, import and export playlists, search for songs, remove duplicates, create and edit notes and much more. The software runs totally standalone and can be copied directly to your iPod and run from there. Other features include a built-in music player, lyrics support, iPod information display (owner, serial used space etc.), adding and editing of notes and more. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, YamiPod does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 1.7, you can download this ipod software software (4.49 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this Audio & MP3 software.

Virtual iPod 3.52 is a IPod Software product from theboysdownunder.com, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, Virtual iPod enables you to backup your iPod content to your PC, and restore it back your (or any other) iPod if needed while keeping your playlists intact. You can manage multiple iPod devices by creating a virtual iPod for each and select the files to be backed up and restored. In addition, the software also includes features to find duplicate items, search for songs and more. Virtual iPod supports all current iPod models. The trial version is limited to 100 song transfers. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, Virtual iPod does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 3.52, you can download this ipod software software (3.9 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $14.95, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of Virtual iPod, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

iTunes 7.5 is a IPod Software product from apple.com, get 5 Stars SoftSea Rating, iTunes allows you to browse and download (purchase) music from the Internet. iTunes lets you browser the iTunes online music store from where you can search for songs, browse genres and then download songs, music videos or TV shows paying for each with the integrated order system (currently 99 cents per song, 1.99 for TV shows). In addition to paid content, iTunes also offers a large library of free audio and video podcasts. When you purchase a n item, it is downloaded as encoded file file to your local iTunes media library from where it can be played with the iTunes player or burned to CD with the integrated burning program. Your media is automatically organized and includes available cover art. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, iTunes does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 7.5, you can download this ipod software software (51.81 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this Audio & MP3 software. Dupe Eliminator for iTunes 4.5 is a IPod Software product from markelsoft.com, get 5 Stars SoftSea Rating, Dupe Eliminator for iTunes enables you to find and remove duplicate songs, TV shows, movies, podcasts and dead links in your iTunes library. You can customize the criteria that are used to consider a file duplicate, and also select from different rules that determine which of the duplicates should be kept as original. The software can be run on-demand or scheduled to perform clean-ups automatically from time to time. The duplicate files can be removed from the library and optionally also deleted from your hard drive. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, Dupe Eliminator for iTunes does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 4.5, you can download this ipod software software (24.03 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $34.95, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of Dupe Eliminator for iTunes, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

iPlayAnywhere for iTunes 4.5 is a IPod Software product from markelsoft.com, get 5 Stars SoftSea Rating, ave you ever wished you could remotely access and play your iTunes Music Library from anywhere using just a web browser? iPlayAnywhere supports the popular Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera browsers. Its as easy as starting iPlayAnywhere on your PC, sending an email invitation to yourself or someone else, then clicking a link in the email to access and play remotely. The built-in audio and video player can play individual songs or your playlists. New iPlayAnywhere.com feature provides an alternate to the email functionality. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, iPlayAnywhere for iTunes does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 4.5, you can download this ipod software software (42.85 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of iPlayAnywhere for iTunes, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

Wondershare iPod Slideshow 2.2.0 is a IPod Software product from photo-to-dvd.com, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, Wondershare iPod Slideshow enables you to create photo slideshows in MP4 video format, that can be viewed on your iPod. Just select the images you want to include, choose an optional background music, and add transition effects to bring your photos to live. The software also includes several editing features to crop songs, add clipart, picture frames, text overlays and more. The resulting slideshow is saved as .mp4 file to your computer, from where you can transfer it to your iPod. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, Wondershare iPod Slideshow does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 2.2.0, you can download this ipod software software (8.06 MB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $29.95, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of Wondershare iPod Slideshow, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.

iTunesControl 0.39 is a IPod Software product from itunescontrol.com, Use certain key combinations to control iTunes. It provides hotkeys for all common iTunes actions, including play, pause, next or previous track, shuffle and volume control. iTunesControl displays the current track, artist, and rating when the track changes. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, iTunesControl does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 0.39, you can download this ipod software software (367 KB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this Audio & MP3 software.

iTunes Album Browser 2.1.44 is a IPod Software product from albumbrowser.galleytech.com, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, iTunes Album Browser is a graphical frontend for iTunes that allows you to browser your music collection by using album covers or virtual CD spines. You can sort and group your library content in different ways, download artwork from the Internet and transfer it to iTunes, create playlists, tag albums and more. SoftSea.com had fully tested, reviewed and uploaded the install files, iTunes Album Browser does not contain any adware or spyware, the latest version is 2.1.44, you can download this ipod software software (775 KB) from special server of SoftSea.com. The license of this audio & mp3 software is Shareware, the price is $18.00, you can free download and get a free trial before you buy. If you want to get a full or nolimited version of iTunes Album Browser, you can buy this audio & mp3 software.