iPod Stuff | Toys for Canadian iPod Lovers

The good people behind Ars Technica have posted a 7 page review of the iPod video.

From Ars Technica:

Looking at the iPod from the vantage point of someone who’s on the lookout for their first and primary digital music player player, I’d say its a fantastic deal. A lot of people will never collect 30 GB of music on their PCs anytime soon, and the 5th generation model is light, thin, and does just about anything that anyone would want to do with their digital audio player.

However, from my perspective as an owner of a 4G 40GB iPod, I’m not so sure I’d move to a 30GB model just because of the video output capabilities and the few new applications. The case of the device is nice and attractive, to be sure, but I’ve never really had any issues with the thicker 40GB model I carry almost every day.

Based on everything I’ve experienced with this new iPod over the past day I’ve have to give the device a solid 8 of 10.

Continue on to Ars Technica and read the full review of the iPod video.

Surf-Bits has posted a tutorial for hacking your Griffin iTrip to maximize the quality and range of sound that it transmits.

From Surf-Bits:

We all know that the iTrip from Griffin Technology is a great wireless FM Transmitter. But the problem is that it has a very short range before the signal starts breaking up. In most cases, moving the iPod to the backseat or even the passenger side will cause static and fading in the sound. Well the gang over at Spymac have been hacking the iTrip. Here’s what they’ve done to increase the range to almost 60 feet and the transmission over your FM station will be much cleaner and higher quality.

Continue on to Surf-Bits and learn how to hack your iTrip.

Via Digg:

Apple released this site for any recent orders of iMacs, iPods, PowerBooks, or PowerMacs. You can trade in you recently purchased product for the new version of it.

Continue on to the Apple Transition website.

Hack A Day has released a “How To” detailing the steps involved in downloading and converting tv for your iPod.

PSPWorld has written up an editorial comparing the PSP to the iPod Video.

From PSPWorld:

Before it was really never even a question, but now that it is finally official and the real specs are out, it’s time to take a look at the new video-capable iPod as a competitor to the PSP. Although they aren’t necessarily positioned against each other in the marketplace, the fact is that with the holiday season coming up, and their price points being so similar, they will be competing for buyer’s dollars. Many factors will go into making purchasing decisions, from content to features to price.

Continue on to PSPWorld and read more about the PSP and iPod Video.

DiveIntoMark has a tutorial showing you how to rip DVDs so that they can be viewed on your iPod Video.

Continue on and learn how to rip DVDs to your iPod Video.

If you’ve been eyeing those sleek new iPods, but you didn’t like the price tag, Uncle Same wants to help you buy one.

Before I go on, here’s the standard CYA…

I’m providing this as information only. It’s up to you and your tax professional to figure out if this is indeed a legitimate tax strategy for you. Now on with the show…

There are two principles at work here:

1) You have the right to deduct reasonable and necessary business expenses from your income before calculating tax on that income.

2) Continuing education to improve your business results has long been recognized as a reasonable and necessary expense.

So where does that shiny new iPod fit in?

If you’re like me, you have many hours of mp3 recordings on your hard drive– recorded conference calls, teleseminars, webcasts and other educational materials. I know I have well over 100 hours of such material on my hard drive.

There are also an increasing number of podcasts available dealing with business topics. Listening to those relevant to your business contributes to your ongoing business education.

There are also similar offerings on subjects like investing, tax planning, and so on.

Purchase your iPod through your business, and you can expense the total cost the year you buy it.

How’s this for leverage?

You (meaning your business) spends $200 for a new iPod. You write off the entire cost this year, reducing your taxable income by $200.

You load up that 4 hour webinar you’ve been meaning to get around to, and listen while commuting. You learn something that adds $200 to your bottom line immediately.

Congratulations! You just got your iPod for zero net cost.

And the iPod is so small and light that you can leverage a lot of dead time (commuting, waiting in line, workouts at the gym, etc.) into productive continuing business education.

And it even plays music!

Music to help you concentrate while writing that new article or newsletter.

Making that music a deduction on its own.

As one guru said, the proper question is not

“Can I deduct this?”

The proper question is

“How can I deduct this?”

John McCabe covers business topics like tax savings for the Success Letter, part of John McCabe’s Web Guides.

All over the world, people carry with them walkmans and other music devices so that they can play their favorite music as they move around from place to place. The latest thing in the portable music devices field is the iPod, which offers a higher quality of the music being played and one of the most compact design out there.

The iPod allows you to play your music for an very long time (up to 12 hours for most of them) and have a huge amount of storage (some have 30GB). You can store thousands songs within a standard iPod and have instant access to them wherever you are at the moment. This makes them the perfect choice for your nowadays music necessities.

With iPods, transferring music from a CD takes less than 5 seconds, assuming that you use the FireWire and USB 2.0 support and can be transferred in a rather wide variety of formats, such as MP3, WMA, or AAC. With the iPods, users have the ability of importing songs from CDs, shuffling through songs, or choosing specific playlists, to name just a few of the iPods’ features.

iPods are also equipped with a calendar, contact lists, notes and a musical alarm clock, which makes them more than just a portable music device, along with their huge storage capability. With them, you can take your files anywhere at any time, use memos as reminders and even record whatever you want with their microphone option.

iPods come with a wide variety of language support for languages like English, Italian, German etc. and models, such as iPod mini, iPod, iPod Special Edition and iPod Photo, each with its own storage capability (4GB for the iPods mini to 30GB for iPods Photo).

In addition to the device itself, a wide line of accessories are available for iPods, such as camera connector, power adapter, auto charger, car holder, voice recorder and many more.

In conclusion, with their high quality of the music being played, high storage capability, high transfer speed and all their functions, the iPods make the perfect choice if you are a music addict or just need a portable storage device.

Get a Free mini Ipod now. For a cheap ipod just visit us at http://www.ukipodmini4free.com

Are you thinking of buying an Apple iPod? Or have you bought one?

Almost everyone and anyone that I know seems to have bought an iPod or at least is thinking of getting an ipod for themselves or their loved ones. The iPod is just so alluring! However, do you know what you should do after buying the iPod?

Most people don’t. Yet, market analysts estimate that the average iPod owner spend as much as 30% of the original iPod price on additional accessories! That’s a whopping US$60-US$90 on iPod accessories that each iPod owner will spend!

Many people are simply spending their money on the wrong accessories! In fact, many are going for fancy accessories such as car transceiver kit, wireless remote kit, speaker kit even without realizing what are the first accessories they should get.

Get the Basic iPod Accessory before getting the Fancy Stuff!

Do you, as a iPod user, faces these problems on a daily basis too?

* iPod Screen scratches
* Click wheel scratches
* Mirrored back scratches
* Messy iPod earphone cables
* iPod overheating when being charged while in a silicone or leather case

Despite the technical and cosmetic superiority of the Apple iPod, there remain some teething issues. Weak batteries is one. Being easily scratched is another. These problems immediately lower the resale or trade-in value of the iPod, if any? This may not seem important but if you are trading in your older iPod for a new one, this does matter. It also sucks to see scratches and marks on the beautiful iPod. In fact, microscopic scratches takes place everytime you take the iPod in and out of pocket!

Get a good-quality iPod case before ANYTHING ELSE!

There are numerous iPod accessories out there. Many accessories are fanciful, some are good but most do not fulfil the basic need of the iPod. You need to protect the iPod from getting scratches and accidental marks before anything else.

Before the iPod can serve you well, it must be able to take care of itself. So, before you even look further into getting your first iPod accessory or even if you have gotten numerous other accessories, make sure you first equip your iPod with either a good quality case or sleeve.

The most common iPod cases in use are:

Handphone sleeves converted to iPod sleeves

This is the most common as handphone sleeves are cheap and easily available. However, the mirrored back of the 3G and 4G ipod are easily scratched by theses sleeves as they run against the iPod. It is not recommended unless you have a budget problem.

iPod screen and wheel sticky protectors

There are transparent iPod screen and wheel sticky protector that are cut of the right size and stucked directly onto the iPod screen and wheel. However, there are various models in the market and some of the cheaper ones tend to curl and peel off after some use. If you are on a budget, a good quality screen and wheel protector is the minimum you should have.

iPod silicone skin

This is the most common iPod case around. It looks like a good casing choice but it is in fact one of the worst, especially if you have bought a cheap one.

These cheap silicone cases are being mass-produced in China with doubtful materials and design elements. Many of the cheap silicone skins in the market tear easily and pick up lint and dirt easily. They are also difficult to wash and maintain. I will not advise a silicone case unless they are made by some of the better and branded products from USA or Japan. A good model is found at: http://www.smart-ipod-ideas.com

iPod Leather case

The iPod leather case is one of the most popular case. However, do not get the Apple branded one if possible as it tears to scratched the mirror back and it does not have a covering flap. Get one of the leather cases from the many in the market. Check the stitching on the leather case before buying one as some of the mass-manufactured ones may have poor workmanship.

Water and shock resistant cases

There is an increasing demand for such cases as more and more people bring their iPod for hiking, cycling, trekking, fishing and beach trips. There are various good brands in the market. However, note that whatever the advertisement may say, at best, the case can only be water resistant and not water proof which is two different things all together. A water resistant case can only take splashes and short immersion in water and certainly not something you can bring for swimming or diving trips!

For recommeded iPod cases and more useful iPod advice, please visit tha author’s website.

Katherine Xie is an avid iPod user. She owns 4 iPods starting from the 2G model. She gives iPod advice and recommends quality iPod accessories on her site at: http://www.smart-ipod-ideas.com Please feel free to distribute this article as long as mention is made of her website.

GeekTechnique has posted a tutorial on how to power (or recharge) your iPod using a hand-powered flashlight.

Continue on to GeekTechnique and learn how to create a hand-crank power source for your iPod.