Ups and Downs with my Color iPod

Since I got my iPod, I've been loading it up with music and photos. I've filled up 26 of it's 56 gigs so far. I'm guessing that if I look around a little bit, I'll get that number up to about 35 gigs.

So, I've got some extra room to take advantage of. I could use it to backup my Powerbook, for example. I'm looking around for more information. What are the best websites, books, forums, resellers? All that stuff.

One resource I really appreciate is iLounge. I've been listening to the iLounge Week in Review podcast since it started up a few weeks ago. It's very good. One of my favorite podcasts. Very informative and easy to listen to.

From there, I saw they've just released their Free iPod Book and Back to School Guide. It's more like an emagazine in some ways with lots of ads but it also has lots of good, aesthetically pleasing and current information. So I recommend it if you've got an iPod and want to become a little more masterful with it.

On Saturday, I picked up iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual, 3rd edition, March 2005. It's a good read but I'm guessing that about 2/3rds of the information in it is available free in the iLounge ebook.

While reading the iLounge ebook, I stumbled upon Old Time Radio shows. I'm curious to try a listen to some of these old time radio shows like The Shadow and Buck Rogers. You can get a whole slew of them free over at this great old time radio site. Check out Douglas Johnston's moving piece about old time radio over at a Million Monkeys Typing and see if you don't get curious.

Next stop was the iPod version of ebooks. The iLounge ebook turned me on to Manybooks.net with its 11,000 plus catalog of free ebooks. This site is friendly and helpful. I downloaded about 30 ebooks and was all excited thinking I could really put a lot of books on my iPod with all that hard drive space.

After downloading my stash of ebooks, I dragged them into the Notes folder of my iPod. Updated my iPod and was all set to see what my 2" color iPod screen could do. Boy, was I disappointed. First, it took several minutes to open up notes with my 30 books in there. Way too long. Even though I have all this space for books, it won't work to have more than 5 or so. Adding insult to injury, the type is about 5-6 pts without bolding. No styling, of course. No option to increase the size of the type. If you have a black and white iPod, the type is a more acceptable size.

It's going to take me a little bit to get over the disappointment on the ebooks, but I know with a big enough SD card, I can do even better with my always-with-me Treo 650's 2-1/2" screen, performance and amenities. Those old time radio shows still sound like a lot of fun to check out.

One more thing to look forward to. Last night I ordered a Vaja case for my iPod with lemon yellow front and red back! Here's a shot. They have a great selection of color choices and a wonderful interactive site that lets you experiment with color combinations. It was a difficult choice but I finally decided on the case you see here. I've looked at the Vaja cases for the Treo but never was moved to make the purchase. These iPod cases look perfect, though.

Meanwhile, I'll be trying to keep my iPod pristine. I've already dropped it about 18" onto concrete and got a little dent and scratch in the chrome. But the most important thing is the screen which I've got safely covered with a strong, clear screen protector.

Technorati Tags: cases, coloriPod, ebooks, iPod, OldTimeRadio, Vaja

Comments

[Kristin]

Well, I suppose my timing is a bit off considering you just purchased the Vaja for your iPod, but I wanted to pass on a link to you. I work for Otter Products and we recently completed our line of waterproof, interactive iPod cases, see them at www.otterbox.com. Don't know if you need something that rugged...but I thought I'd pass it on. Glad you're enjoying the iLounge Back to School Guide, we're on pg. 10, 48, and 49.
Thanks,
-Kristin

[Rohit George]

Hi,

I'm a masters student at the London School of Economics. I am currently doing research on the Apple iPod - particularly the qualitative aspects of its diffusion into society. Having read your blog, I believe your opinions would make an interesting addition to my work. If you agree, may I send you a short survey and an email interview regarding the same? Please let me know.

Kind regards,
Rohit George
M.Sc. Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems,
The London School of Economics and Political Science.

[Rohit George]

Hi,

I'm a masters student at the London School of Economics. I am currently doing research on the Apple iPod - particularly the qualitative aspects of its diffusion into society. Having read your blog, I believe your opinions would make an interesting addition to my work. If you agree, may I send you a short survey and an email interview regarding the same? Please let me know.

Kind regards,
Rohit George
M.Sc. Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems,
The London School of Economics and Political Science.