A collection of tools, that can connect your iPod to instantly useful use. On windows I tested PodPlayer. It streams the music from a USB-connected iPod to the PC – immediate delivery. Besides some tunig facilities (for example showing the battery loaded state in numbers between 0 and 500 istead of a grafic icon) you can extract the audio-files stored on the iPod to PC. The only thing that is missing at the PodPlayer is the ability to copy mp3-files from the PC onto the iPod. The .exe-file of PodPlayer is about 500kB in size, so always carry it with you on your iPod.
A similar tool like the above is Ollie’s iPod Extractor for Mac, aimed to extracting tracks from the iPod to the computer.
If you don’t want iPods limitation of audio volume, use goPod.
And in my opinion the most interesting solution is RockBox. Beside the silly name and little bugs and the loss of the great iPod navigation RockBox gives you the best control ever on your iPod. You have easy drag and drop mp3-file management with the iPod connected to the USB on the computer, as well as access to all technical data on the iPod even when playing tracks. All versions iPod should be available. Sometimes RockBox crashes for the need to reboot. But where to open the iPod and remove the battery? Indeed. No good thing when this happens at the train, because you have to run the pod out of power and than gentle kick the USB-Plug into it to refuel the tank and reboot.
I guess you’d like to have full control over the software you use and like it to be open source, preferably. So have a look at retune.
Retune is a Python script that allows to fill the iPod with music. Just copy the files and folders to your iPod and run retune. It can also retrieve music already stored on the iPod.
It’s not yet perfect but as the source code is availabel it awaits improvement.
NB: gopod does not (yet) work with my 2nd generation iPod nano.
Posted on February 13th, 2007 at 16:45Yeah. Meanwhile I swiched to rockbox, that is somwhow a little buggy and unstable, but gives the best control ever on your iPod. All versions should be available.
Sometimes Rockbox crashes for the need to reboot. But where to open the iPod and remove the battery? Indeed. No good thing when this happens at the train, because you have to run the pod out of power and than gentle kick the USB-Plug into it to refuel the tank and reboot.
Posted on February 13th, 2007 at 17:05I can’t use rockbox as it is not compatible with my iPod Nano 2nd. generation. And it will not run on my shuffle either :-)
Even if I could use it, rockbox lacks the click wheel navigation for scanning in long audio files (e.g. audio book tracks) which is a USP and the reason I got an iPod in the first place.
Posted on February 15th, 2007 at 17:16Yeah, that’s right. The missing of the clik-wheel naviagtion is indeed a missing.
Posted on February 16th, 2007 at 09:42