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Wireless Remote and Cradle Bundle $59.99
PodUtil 2.6 iPod Music Copier And Playlist Rebuilder
Second iPod Manufacturer Up And Running
Prediction About Phones Replacing iPod Not Far Off
This week in iPod bashing
Audience With the PodfatherÂÂ
Introducing the Coldplay-Pod
Onkyo provides iPod control (again)
Pacific Design iPod Flip Case
iPod to Connect with Xbox 360
Vaja iVod DJ
Slappa ShockShell for iPod mini
XtremeMac Audio Splitter for iPod shuffle
iPod In Washing Machine = Bad Idea
Wireless Remote and Cradle Bundle $59.99
PodUtil 2.6 iPod Music Copier And Playlist Rebuilder
Wireless Remote and Cradle Bundle $59.99
The wireless remote and cradle bundle is a great addition to your home stereo.
iCradle for ipod is an innovative cradle that allows Mini iPod, 3G ipod (10, 15 and 20 gig) and 4G (20gig) to dock and to transfer data seamlessly. The cradle has a USB 2.0 connection, E1394 Firewire connection and an audio jack on the back of the cradle.
The docking station is an convenient way to make syncing and charging your iPod or iPod mini easier than ever.
Simply set your iPod or iPod mini on the docking station and connect it to your home theater or system or for privacy use your headphones. You can now showcase your iPod at your party without ever worrying about connecting to your speakers.
Supports all iPods and iPod minis with docking connection (except 30GB & 40GB versions).
Free USB 2.0 cable included AND Firewire
• Unit charges and Syncs all iPod minis through USB and Firewire
• Cradle charges and syncs all compatible iPods through Firewire. Cradle Syncs all compatible iPods through USB
Main Features of the Wireless Remote
• 150+ ft RF Control Range
• Signal travels around corners and through walls
• Water Resistant Remote
• User Friendly Design
• Lifetime Warranty on Remote!
• 5 Button / 9 Function Remote
• Receiver
• Universal Audio Cable for Home Stereo Hook Up
• Belt Clip for Remote
Remote Functions
• Volume up / Volume down
• Fast Forward / Fast reverse
• Advance / Previous track
• Play / Pause / Sleep
Additional Remote features
• Lithium Batteries (seven year life span)
• Recessed Remote Buttons to avoid accidental triggering when in pocket
• FCC Approved
• iPod Photo
• 4th Generation iPod with Click Wheel
• 3rd Generation iPod with touch wheel and buttons
Add a Cube Travel Speaker (link)to your bundle for $34.99 (regular $39.99)
For more information, visit here.
PodUtil 2.6 iPod Music Copier And Playlist Rebuilder
PodUtil is an easy-to-use utility for viewing the songs on your iPod and copying them in a customisable organised manner to your computer, and will automatically add them to iTunes and rebuild your playlists if you wish.
PodUtil is compatible with Mac OS 9.x, Mac OS X, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Scanning
Once your iPod has been scanned by PodUtil (takes ~5-10 seconds) all your music will be presented to you in an easy-to-navigate list. Want to preview a song? Just double-click it and it'll play immediately, allowing you to scrub through the song to find out if it's really the song you want.
On the left of the main window, you'll see a list of all the playlists on your iPod. You can use this to just copy a specific playlist, or just view your music exactly as you like it. Want more information on a song? Just select it and choose "Get Info..." from the file menu, and it's all there.
Copying
Once you have browsed your music collection, PodUtil will copy it to your hard drive, organising it as it goes. In basic mode, you can organise by Artist, Album, both, or not at all. In advanced mode, you can organise your music by anything at all, and you can rename your music files in the process, based on song ID tags. Say goodbye to cryptic file names.
New in version 2.5, PodUtil can add your files back to iTunes and even rebuild all your playlists. This is all automatic, and works on Windows and Mac versions of iTunes as long as you have iTunes 4.5 or higher installed!
Graphical Feedback
Copying several gigabytes of music takes quite a while on any computer, and PodUtil gives you visual feedback on how it's doing. When a copy operation begins the main music list shows you all the music that will be copied, as well a small icon telling you the status of each song. Below this list, a progress area details how many songs will be copied and how many have already been done.
On Mac OS X, a progress bar appears in PodUtil's dock icon, so you can tell how it's doing whithout even interrupting your work flow.
Windows
PodUtil works just as well on Windows as it does on the Mac. However, for song previews to work you'll have to download the free Quicktime. Don't be fooled by all the Mac screenshots here - we just made this page on a Mac. PodUtil for Windows works just the same as the Mac version, and the interface is almost identical. Just greyer.
Due to the similarities of the Mac and PC versions, all documentation on PodUtil covers both Mac and PC versions. If you see a Mac screenshot, you can be sure that the PC counterpart will be the same.
New in this version:
New Features
• Should PodUtil ever crash, a bug reporter kicks in and allows you to report what was happening and can *sometimes* recover from the problem.
• There is now a "Mark All" button in the errors window that allows you to easily mark any songs that failed to copy.
• You can now pause/resume copies. This allows you to disconnect an iPod halfway through copying for charging, etc.
• If your iPod is disconnected, runs out of battery power or otherwise disappears, PodUtil will now display a window and wait until you reconnect it rather than quitting straight away. While it is waiting, you have the option to quit. Doesn't work while copying is in progress, but does when it is paused.
• PodUtil now saves text typed into the Copy Settings window.
• [Mac] You can now copy individual songs to your computer by dragging from PodUtil's music list to a Finder window/desktop.
• When encountering duplicate songs when copying, the box asking what PodUtil should do now has a "Remember Choice" checkbox, which will prevent the box from appearing again.
• Added iPod Shuffle to iPod Type menu in prefs.
Bug Fixes/Improvements
• The duplicate songs dialog is no longer extremely long and thin on Windows.
• When an error is encountered, PodUtil no longer marks all subsequent songs as errors as well.
• Fixed copy errors caused by songs with whitespace at the end of their Title/Artist/Album tags.
• Fixed copy errors due to certain characters in file names.
• Improvements to the registration process.
• Improved "Check for Updates" window.
• Interface improvements.
• [Mac] Confirmed compatibility with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
• [Windows] iPod auto-detect now works properly, and the "iPod location" preference has been removed.
System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.1 or higher
• iPod
PodUtil is £10.00 shareware
For more information, visit:
http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/podutil.php
Second iPod Manufacturer Up And Running
Prediction About Phones Replacing iPod Not Far Off
This week in iPod bashing
Audience With the PodfatherÂÂ
Second iPod Manufacturer Up And Running
Apple blog's Ina Fried reports:
"While Taiwanese contract manufacturers Inventec continues to crank out the bulk of all of Apple's hard drive-based iPods, a second company has joined the fray.
"Confirmation came this week via chipmaker PortalPlayer's quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the document, the company notes that it is now shipping chips to a second, unnamed manufacturer that is building products for Apple."
For the full report, visit here.
Prediction About Phones Replacing iPod Not Far Off
Detroit Free Press Columnist Mike Wendland says:
"You've got to hand it to the iPod competitors: They're a determined lot.
"This week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates weighed in on the still-growing popularity of Apple's multiversioned line of personal music players, telling European media folks that the iPod is but a flash in the pan, soon to be replaced by mobile phones as the player of choice.
"To be sure, Gates is engaging in some wishful thinking. And his bravado was no doubt emboldened by this week's unveiling of yet another Microsoft operating system, this one aimed at mobile phones and called Windows Mobile 5.0.....
"Across the globe, Mac loyalists and iPod addicts pretty much scoffed in unison. But I happen to think that Gates is probably going to be proven right in the long run."
For the full commentary, visit:
http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland13e_20050513.htm
This week in iPod bashing
CNET News.com's Steven Musil says:
"Whatever tricks Apple Computer pulls, Bill Gates isn't likely to be very impressed.
"Microsoft's chief said in an interview published Thursday that he sees mobile phones overtaking standalone MP3 players and that he views the raging popularity of Apple's iPod player as unsustainable."
For the full report, visit here:
http://news.com.com/This+week+in+iPod+bashing/2100-1041_3-5706288.html
Audience With the PodfatherÂÂ
Wired's Xeni Jardin reports:
"They call him the Podfather. Once best known as a star veejay on MTV, Adam Curry is now a pioneer of podcasting.
"Curry helped create ipodder, a tool that automates the process of downloading and listening to audio files. His Daily Source Code podcast has become an online hit, and he's developing a new software tool for podcasters -- a virtual studio for editing and producing......
"Wired News spoke to the radio Renaissance man by phone from his home in Guilford, England."
You can check it out at:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,67525,00.html
Introducing the Coldplay-Pod
Onkyo provides iPod control (again)
Pacific Design iPod Flip Case
iPod to Connect with Xbox 360
Vaja iVod DJ
Slappa ShockShell for iPod mini
XtremeMac Audio Splitter for iPod shuffle
Introducing the Coldplay-Pod
Stuff magazine reports:
"Stuff hears rumblings from the tech underground that a Coldplay iPod is afoot. In keeping with the band’s tree-hugging ethic, the iPod will come in fauna-friendly green and make a meal of their affiliation with the Make Trade Fair organisation, which stands firmly against the evils of Western capitalism. Being hopelessly impoverished hacks, we can bond with that."
For the full report, visit here.
http://www.stuffmagazine.co.uk/hotstuffarticle.asp?de_id=170
Onkyo provides iPod control (again)
Tech Digest reports:
"We've written about this before but at the time full details about how the product worked weren't available. Now we can tell you all about Onkyo's iPod dock, also known as the DS-A1. Basically you plonk your iPod into Onkyo's special Remote Interactive (RI) dock...."
You can check it out at:
http://www.techdigest.tv/2005/05/onkyo_provides_.html
Pacific Design iPod Flip Case
ipodlounge.com's Jeremy Horwitz reports:
"Back four months ago, we were impressed by the affordable PDA-style iPod Mini Flip Case from then-new iPod accessory maker Pacific Design, which offered two twists on the increasingly predictable PDA-style flip-top case design: rather than a snap-closed bottom latch for its lid, it used two sets of magnets mounted on its inside corners, and instead of using a single-colored cover, it stretched white stripes across its front and slightly past the headphone port hole on its top. We also liked its lack of a belt clip, which kept its back flat and overall size thin.
"For most intents and purposes, Pacific Design’s new Flip Case for full-sized iPods ($39.95) is a higher-priced duplicate of the earlier iPod mini case, changed only in a handful of ways from the original design. The biggest positive difference is the wider variety of colors. Three colors(carbon black, mocha brown, and arctic white) are appearing first, with four additional colors (super silver metallic, luscious lime, precious pink, and big sky blue) to follow in June."
For the full review, visit here:
http://ipodlounge.com/index.php/reviews/comments/pacific-design-ipod-flip-case/
iPod to Connect with Xbox 360
BetaNews's Nate Mook reports:
"Microsoft may be battling the iPod on the digital music front, but on the gaming side Redmond has embraced its Apple rival. The Xbox 360 will enable users to connect a portable music player, including an iPod, to the system and browse or play back music through the console's interface while watching 50 visualizations."
For the full report, visit here:
http://www.betanews.com/article/iPod_to_Connect_with_Xbox_360/1116012979
Vaja iVod DJ
ipodlounge.com's Jeremy Horwitz reports:
"After publication of our initial review of Vaja’s i-Volution 4G with Wheel Protector, Vaja has released iVod DJ, a color-customized premium version of the earlier i-Volution case that includes a vinyl record-style wheel protector. Versions are available for the 4G iPod and iPod photo......
Vaja’s iVod cases have been iPodlounge’s favorite leather cases for years. Made from high-quality leather, contoured beautifully to each iPod’s curves, and generally built to the demands of discerning customers, the iVods have repeatedly scored top A marks from iPodlounge editors and readers alike. Even so, the Argentine company has continued to improve its designs, adding numerous additional color customizations (30+), embossing and engraving features, and belt clips to its list of optional features. We’ve addressed many of these features in previous reviews, and won’t re-trace them, but suffice it to say that you can make any Vaja case look very distinctive for the right price. "
For the full review, visit here:
http://ipodlounge.com/index.php/reviews/comments/vaja-ivod-dj-ipod/
Slappa ShockShell for iPod mini
ipodlounge.com's Jeremy Horwitz reports:
"If originality was the only hallmark of a fantastic iPod case, Slappa’s new ShockShell ($34.99 each, three for $84.99) would be one of the best cases we’ve seen. The maker of distinctive hard rubberized CD and DVD holders has turned its attention to creating iPod accessories, and has six new iPod mini-fitting designs, most of which are available in multiple colors."
For the full review, visit here:
http://ipodlounge.com/index.php/reviews/comments/slappa-shockshell-for-ipod-mini-ipod/
XtremeMac Audio Splitter for iPod shuffle
ipodlounge.com's Jeremy Horwitz reports:
"It’s one of those ideas that seems almost impossible to get wrong. XtremeMac’s Audio Splitter for the iPod shuffle ($12.95) is a little white plastic add-on that’s meant to turn the shuffle’s single headphone port into two, just like Monster’s iSplitter, XtremeMac’s earlier Audio Splitter, and Macally’s PodDuo Headphone Adapter . Any of these devices would let two people can listen at once with headphones, or allow one person to connect two sets of speakers at once for that matter.
"One key difference, of course, is that this particular headphone port splitter is designed solely to fit the iPod shuffle - a niche product to say the least, but one that we’d imagine someone might prefer on looks alone to the larger and cheaper ($9.95) Macally and Monster offerings. We’d personally opt for something that was useful with multiple iPods, especially given that the other alternatives aren’t exactly difficult to carry around, either."
For the full review, visit here.
iPod In Washing Machine = Bad Idea
ipodhacks.com reports:
"Go figure, eh? An Australian teen left his iPod in the clothing hamper and it ended up in the wash. Not surprisingly, it did not function when it came out. In an apparent attempt to fix the unit, the boy tried to pry it open with a screwdriver, at which point the iPod exploded ("or more of a pop"), leaving a burn mark on the cover and emitting fumes. The boy was treated by paramedics for minor breathing difficulties after ingestng the fumes."
For the full report, visit here.
http://www.ipodhacks.com/article.php?sid=1361
***
Charles W. Moore
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