And yet another gadget to look forward to....

Pinnacle Video Transfer records video to anything USB 2.0, even your iPod - Engadget via kwout

My new iPod Touch

So I've had my new iPod touch for a week and I think I've pretty much put it to the test. Now it's time to say what's good about it and what's bad about it.

Prior to the touch I used a Nokia 770 tablet. It had a lot of nice things going for it, but video was a problem. I knew the iPod would solve that issue but it comes up short in many other areas. Here are my dislikes in no particular order.

DISLIKES

• As far as keyboards go, nothing tops my Blackberry 7130e. I can type on that as fast as I can on a keyboard. The iTouch is better than I expected but pails in comparison.
• No storage card options. How stupid is that. I know companies want to sell you a new device every year but at $400 a pop I think consumers want a device that can grow with them for a few years.
• Email client. Wow Gmail is Imap compliant... what good does it do me if the iTouch doesn't even have an email client. On the plus side gmail on Safari is nice. The bottom line is this was not meant to nor ever will it ever replace my Blackberry.
• No ability to install apps. People have done a great job with Safari apps but I'd like some apps to be launch-able from the desktop. I paid for 16GB, let me fill it up the way I want. Support 3rd party apps.
• We need two way sync. I noticed that you can delete video on the iTouch. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do that when you next sync the device and it reloads them. Itunes should be able to tell that an item was deleted on the device and NOT re-sync it.
• Share YouTube. So I find YouTube videos when surfing on the touch. I can bookmark them... big deal. How about letting me download them for offline viewing, or at the very least give me some way I can share them with someone.
• No book reader. Come on. This is in every device. And the touch would be a perfect device for reading books. The online book applications just don't cut it. I found one application that converts text to images that can be synced to your photos. They are very good for viewing but there is no way to bookmark where you are and a book could be 700-1000 image files. Not too usable.

There are rumors that an OS upgrade is coming very soon that will allow you to bookmark web sites as desktop icons. I'd still like to install some apps. If I think of anything else I'll post again. In the meantime, I do love the device I just wish someone would create the ultimate device that did everything. All of them come up short in some area.

Video: Now playing on iPod nano.

iPod shuffle 1GB iPod nano 4GB and 8GB iPod touch 8GB and 16GB iPod classic 80GB and 160GB

Meet the next generation of iPod. New colors, a larger display, and video make iPod nano more amazing than ever. And don't miss the new 160GB iPod classic, iPod shuffle in remixed colors, and the all-new iPod touch. Buy now online or at an Apple Retail Store.

Get free engraving and shipping on an iPod from the Apple Online Store. Pick up a new iPod today. Find an Apple Retail Store near you. Feed your iPod with free video from the iTunes Store.

Go to college on your Ipod

Berkley classes on line

My IPod is filling up quickly

My IPod nano, a Christmas gift from my wife, is starting to fill up. Luckily I got the 8GB version. I subscribe to about 10 podcasts, but I just found two sites that will let me add even more stuff that I will not have time to listen to.

Podiobooks.com offers free serialized audio books. Sign-up is FREE. When you subscribe to a book you can create your own schedule. I chose every three days, so I will get a new chapter of the book delivered to my IPod every third day.

I also found free audio books on Open Culture. I have not tried any yet, but I did see a number of complaints saying the quality of the narration was not that good.

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12/29 - I listened to the first chapter of 7th Son: Book One - Descent by J.C. Hutchins. So far so good. The book has me hooked and the narrator is very professional. I'll post again as I get further into the book.

I've added a right hand link to my Podiobook subscriptions.

The I-Pod of the late 1950's. Click to view full size.