Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Tue 8th Mar 2005 05:50 UTC
Mac OS X Who said that the iPod can only be used as a music player? Pod2Go is here to transform your iPod from a mere music player and file storage gadget to a (sort of) PDA.
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v Slightly OT:
by Anony Moose on Tue 8th Mar 2005 06:07 UTC
v RSS for Os X
by Jon Maddox on Tue 8th Mar 2005 06:21 UTC
v RE: Slightly OT:
by Eugenia on Tue 8th Mar 2005 06:21 UTC
Great idea but...
by wakeupneo on Tue 8th Mar 2005 07:08 UTC


<sarcasm>

..is anyone taking bets on how long it takes for Apple to either:

a) Find some patent they're infringing on to enable this or
b) Create their own app to do the same thing

I'll give it 2 months ;)

</sarcasm>

app
by atom on Tue 8th Mar 2005 07:20 UTC

if i had an ipod i'd be definitely interested in this. i really like the remote $HOME mount hint. this would be great for a lab location or for possibly moving between work and home. too bad it takes a netinfo edit to implement.

@wakeupneo:
so shall everybody stop developing applications because this has happened a handful of times? hmm...microsoft anti-spyware...gnome implementing a default application...

RE: app
by Eugenia on Tue 8th Mar 2005 07:29 UTC

The netinfo edit is trivial. Click on "users", your usrername, and edit the path of your $HOME to "/Volumes/myIPod/atom". Do that on both your home and work Mac machine. Also, you could use the same $HOME trick using rsync instead of pod2go.

RE: app
by atom on Tue 8th Mar 2005 07:55 UTC

thanks, eugenia. ;)

now i just need an ipod.

Hmm.
by tobbe on Tue 8th Mar 2005 08:48 UTC

I've got an iPod. I press play on it when i leave home in the morning and i press pause when i arrive at the office. Same procedure when i head home.

Maybe i should investigate the possibilities of using it for something else aswell :-)

But the screen...
by Ascay on Tue 8th Mar 2005 09:07 UTC

I tried reading text files on a 4G iPod but the display is so damn slow that the text blurs extremely while you are scrolling. Not very pleasant.

RE: But the screen...
by Jon on Tue 8th Mar 2005 09:09 UTC

Yes, that's because it's DSTN, not a TFT.

Great little app :)
by The flying boolaboola on Tue 8th Mar 2005 09:43 UTC

This is a nice added functionality for negligible money. The success of the iPod is also in a large part due to third party development of apps and devices. With podcasting the user becomes an active participant and creates a new culture which only tightens the bond with the manufacturer. A few good apps will serve to make the device an even better value proposition. This little thing is just the kind of tidy app that reduces the hassle of managing your files on the iPod.

wakeupneo has a point in that this kind of application can be gobbled up by the giants [as they frequently have been in the past]. OTOH, if I had some coding ability and I wrote a really neat app that Apple would want to incorporate, I'd be more than happy to sell them the source ;) .
I don't think Apple will sue these guys. It is not necessary and it would be a really stupid thing to do. The reference is for the NDA suit they filed, where I think they have a point [if they don't sue then it's a signal that it's ok to disregard the NDA, if they do sue, they're pounding on the wide-eyed innocent student...], they won't do that here. The app is the acceptance of a cultural phenomenon. Unless it was poorly implemented, which this does not seem to be, dixit Eugenia, Apple should applaud and encourage people with great ideas developing for the iPod.
There's a lot more good things happening on the platform than bad the last few years, why not be happy people can actually enjoy some enabling technology.
I promise that when the cow is finally released from the barn in Redmond and there are some good things to say about it [which undoubtedly there will be], you will find me saying so. That doesn't mean I'm going to buy it, but if it's good, it's good.

Pod2Go is amazing!
by Mr. Banned on Tue 8th Mar 2005 13:38 UTC

I've been using it since I got my iPod last fall - It's turned my music player into a helpful PDA-like device.

The developer's very responsive to feedback & suggestions, and the updates are frequent! The only thing that's not 100% IMHO, is the Podcast syncing, but I recently came across a thread on MacOSXHints (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050211205758273&quer...), which allows you to use Pod2Go to trigger iPodderX, thus circumventing Pod2Go's only shortcoming. And to be fair, Pod2Go's podcast capabilities are steadily improving, and I'm confident that the aforementioned workaround will not be needed much longer.

Along the lines for mobile home dirs
by James Dorn on Tue 8th Mar 2005 14:42 UTC

There was a tip I read a few weeks ago about changing your home directory in netinfo manager. I think you setup two value's for home, the iPod being first. When your ipod was not connected, OS X would revert back to your other home directory value (most likely the default location of your home folder on your HD). Anyone know the details of this? I can no longer find the information on this tip, and it would be usefull!

RE: myself.
by James Dorn on Tue 8th Mar 2005 14:45 UTC
what about a linux version?
by whatabout on Tue 8th Mar 2005 15:09 UTC

they have a link to linux for ipod on their site,, but this is only for mac.. I use my ipod exclusively on linux (gtkpod rocks!!).. is there anything like this for us linux people?

iPodSync
by Mike Matheson on Tue 8th Mar 2005 15:24 UTC

There is a similar program for Windows users called iPodSync, though it does not sync as many web sources.
www.ipod-sync.com

ipod?
by none on Tue 8th Mar 2005 16:02 UTC

This is what a pda is for.
Ipod=music
iPAQ=files folders email etc etc.
cellphone=make/recieve calls
tv=watch tv
remote control=comes with tv

Very useful
by Coffee on Tue 8th Mar 2005 17:47 UTC

I've used this for about a year now and it's great. The idea that I just un-dock my iPod when leaving in the morning and it has the weather forecasts, movie times, news items, any notes i'd like to have with me. The thing I never liked about PDA's was that I could never be bothered to enter info while i was out with it. This just gives me a place to look up information without having all those extra PDA features I (personally) don't need. I already carry my iPod around for music - so this is just extra gravy. Very clever little app.

Convergence Devices
by Roguelazer on Tue 8th Mar 2005 21:47 UTC

Here we go again. Everybody loves convergence devices so much these days- smartphones, pda/mp3 players, pda/archos-style videojukeboxes... All I have to say is bah! Convergence devices ALWAYS sacrifice both style and substance to achieve the unison of two separate devices. Even when they do achieve some measure of success, the resulting devices are always less useful than individual devices. I like my PDAs (all 6 of them) to be PDAs, my cellphone to be a cellphone, and my iPod to play music. Compared to convergence, I much prefer the idea of a PAN. At least you still have some functionality when one device gets accidentally submerged...

I am reminded of one of David MacNeill's columns for Pen Computing magazine (greatest magazine ever, although T3 is nice too). Even Star Trek characters carry 3 devices...

Wow
by Cheech on Tue 8th Mar 2005 22:58 UTC

Terrific program. It syncs and ejects when I wake up, all my news and weather for the busride in, some of the best software ever. I see Apple buying out this program, it's that good.

RE: Convergence Devices
by Coffee on Wed 9th Mar 2005 03:35 UTC

Maybe you like carrying around 10 electronic devices that do one thing, but I don't mind some overlap in features if it means that I can pick up one device and run out the door with it. Computers are making it easy with automatic sync so that you can have your personal data on all devices.

At any rate, this is a third party software enhancement. The iPod does not suffer neglect on it's other features since Apple doesn't even make this software. Mostly, this program makes clever use of the iPod's existing Notes feature where you can drag text files into your iPod and read them on screen.

I like it.
by Granata on Thu 10th Mar 2005 05:08 UTC

I've been using Pod2Go for a while now and I really like it. My iPod has always been an MP3 player first, but with the features this application provides as well as the emergence of podcasting, I am getting much more use out of my iPod than I originally thought I would.