Everything About I-Pod

[rajrules]

PEOPLE mostly think that iPod is just a High End music player but then why all this hype with it.....
READ ON....& you will figure out...!!!

Using iPod Extras

Use your iPod for more than just music!

Check out the Extras menu on your iPod for additional features including Clock, Games, Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Stopwatch and Screen Lock.

To view the iPod Extras menu:

1. Select Extras from the main menu
2. Click to select from the following:
3. Clock
Early iPods with color display, all monochrome iPods offer these options:
– Time and Date, Alarm Clock, Sleep Timer, and Date & Time
5th generation iPod and iPod nano offer these options:
– World Clocks - Alarm Clock, Change City, Daylight Saving Time, Delete This Clock, and Sleep Timer
4. Games – Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute, Solitaire
5. Contacts – Contact names and information
6. Calendars – Calendar List, To Do, Alarms
7. Notes – text files
8. Stopwatch – Timer, Session Logs (5th generation iPod and iPod nano)
9. Screen Lock – Set Combination, Turn Screen Lock On (5th generation iPod and iPod nano)

[rajrules]

Using the iPod Clock Feature

Use the iPod Clock feature to switch off your iPod automatically after you fall asleep, or to set alarms to wake you up in the morning.

To view the iPod clock:

1. From the Main Menu click to select Extras - Clock

To set the iPod Time Zone:

1. From the Main Menu click to select Settings - Date & Time
2. Click to select Set Time Zone
3. Click to select your time zone from the list

To set the iPod Date and Time:

1. From the Main Menu click to select Settings - Date & Time
2. Click to select Set Date & Time
3. Notice that the hour will highlight and display up and down arrows
4. Scroll to change the hour and then click to select the desired hour
5. In the same way, set the minutes, AM/PM, date, month and year

Instead of setting the iPod time zone, date and time manually, you can simply synchronize your iPod clock with your Mac.

To synchronize your iPod clock with your Mac:

1. Make sure your Mac is running OS X 10.2 or later, and that its date and time are correct
2. Connect your iPod to your Mac
3. The iPod clock will automatically synchronize to the date and time of your Mac

Sleep Timer
You can set Sleep Timer preferences to switch off your iPod after 15, 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes. When you set Sleep Timer preferences, the iPod will play for that amount of time and then switch off. The Sleep Timer then automatically resets to its default of Off. You will need to set the Sleep Timer each time you wish to use it.

To set the Sleep Timer:

1. From the Main Menu click to select Extras - Clock - Sleep Timer and click to select the duration you want (15, 30, 60, 90, or 120 Minutes)
2. Notice that when you set the Sleep Timer, a clock icon and the number of minutes left until iPod turns off will appear in the Now Playing screen
3. When the iPod turns off, the Sleep Timer automatically resets to Off. You will need to set the Sleep Timer each time you wish to use it

Alarm Clock
You can use iPod as an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning or to set reminder alerts.

To set an alarm:

1. From the Main Menu click to select Extras - Clock - Alarm Clock
2. Click to select Alarm and to set it to On
3. Scroll to (and click to select) Time
4. Scroll through the time (hours, minutes, AM/PM) and click to select the desired time
5. Scroll to (and click to select) Sound
6. Scroll among the sounds and click to select the one you want. Note that if you select Beep, the alarm will be audible through the internal speaker. If you select a playlist, you’ll need to connect speakers or headphones to your iPod to hear the alarm

[rajrules]

Using Your iPod as a PDA
You can use your iPod as a PDA by storing contacts, calendar events, and to-do lists.
To import contacts, calendar events and to-do lists using a Mac and iSync (Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later, iSync 1.1 or later, and iCal 1.0.1 or later):

1. Connect your iPod to your computer
2. Open iSync and click to select Devices - Add Device (you will need to do this step the first time you use iSync with your iPod)
3. Select iPod and click Sync Now
iSync transfers information from iCal and Address Book to your iPod. The next time you want to sync your iPod, you can simply open iSync and click Sync Now. You can also have iPod sync automatically when you connect it

iSync transfers information from iCal and Address Book to your iPod. The next time you want to sync your iPod, you can simply open iSync and click Sync Now. You can also have iPod sync automatically when you connect it
If you are using Windows or if you do not want to use iSync, you can transfer contacts, calendar events and to-do lists to your iPod manually by enabling your iPod as a hard disk.
To enable iPod as a hard disk:

. Connect your iPod to your computer
. Open iTunes
. Select iPod in the Source list and click the Options button
. Select Enable disk use

When you use iPod as a hard disk, the iPod disk icon appears on the desktop on the Mac, or as the next available drive letter in Windows Explorer on a Windows PC.

To import contact information manually:

. Connect your iPod to your computer
. Open your email or contacts application. You can import contacts with various applications including Palm Desktop, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Entourage, and Eudora
. Drag contacts from the application’s address book to the iPod Contacts folder

To import appointments and other calendar events manually:
1. Export calendar events from any calendar application that uses the standard iCalendar (.ics) format or vCal (.vcs) format
2. Drag the files to the Calendars folder on your iPod
Note: You can only transfer to-do lists to iPod using iSync and iCal
To view contacts on your iPod:
. Click to select Extras - Contacts
To view calendar events on your iPod:
. Select Extras - Calendar
To view to-do lists on your iPod:
. Select Extras - Calendar - To Do

[rajrules]

Next i will post how to Create a Video Podcast on a Mac or PC with QuickTime Pro

[Abhishek]

With your permission Raj may I
Now this IS ABOUT COPYING YOUR SONGS FROM ipod TO PC NOT FROM PC TO ipod.
First of first you can copy your songs from your ipod to the pc. You may want to this if u have lost your mp3s or by any other means.
Before you do anything, make sure automatic updating of the iTunes library is disabled. This is very important to ensure that you do not update your iPod automatically and lose the songs that are on there.
To Turn off automatic updating ~
Upon connecting your iPod to your PC, press & hold Shift + Ctrl. This will stop the iPod from auto synchronizing and your iPod will appear in the source list. [This process will take anything between 3 and 30 seconds depending on the performance of your PC.]
Then you can right click on the iPod icon in the Source Menu and select iPod Options, then check the Manually manage songs and playlists box. You can now manage your library without losing any songs on the iPod.
You are now ready To Begin ~
The first two things I will show you are softwares which are proven to work in easily managing the music on your iPod
1. Sharepod
-Free software
Here's how you get started.
Firstly, Download sharepod here ~ http://www.sturm.net.nz/website.php?...ograms&Page=Sh...
Then,
a) Hook Up your iPod to your pc via usb/firewire
b) The iPod drive appears in My Computer when you have the iPod plugged in to your PC.
c) Once you see the iPod's drive, copy the SharePod.exe onto it. Open the SharePod.exe and after a few seconds the main window will appear. If a window appears saying you need to download a file for SharePod to run, simply follow the instructions.
d) When the main window opens, it displays a list of playlists on your iPods. Double-click on a playlist to view its songs. You can either select songs or playlists to copy to your PC.
e) If you want to copy all songs on the iPod to your PC, select the playlist and hit the 'Copy to PC' button at the top of the screen. It will ask you where you want the music to go (eg. c:/music) and how you want the music to be formatted (eg Artist/Album/Song.mp3). Once you have set both of these hit the Transfer button and sharepod transfer your desired music to the location which you have selected.
f) From there, simply import your songs into iTunes in the usual manner of File -> Import.
2. Copypod
-Free to try, $19.90 to buy
This is an excellent program designed to help the n00bs in the iPod backup world.
It has a wonderful iTunes interface and is incredibly easy to use. I would highly recommend it. The only downside is that you only get a 14 day trial and after that you have to pay. But it is great if you only plan on backing up once.
A flash demo with screenshots which shows you how yo use it can be found here ~ http://www.copypod.net/demo.php
The Free trial download can be found here ~ http://www.copypod.net/download.php
Lethal b you rock man.

[rajrules]

With your permission Raj may I

everybody can post in this thread but the post should be meaningful or useful.........

[rajrules]

Creating a Video Podcast on a Mac or PC with QuickTime Pro

If you have a Mac or a Windows PC, you can easily create a video podcast with QuickTime Pro.

To create a video podcast on a Mac with QuickTime Pro:

1. Download and install the latest version of QuickTime, and purchase a license key to enable the QuickTime Pro features
2. Connect your FireWire camera to your Mac. Switch off iChat AV and AOL Instant Messenger
3. In QuickTime Pro click on QuickTime Player - Preferences - Recording
4. Select your specific Video Source and Microphone. Set Quality to Device Native and set Save files to: to the location (such as Desktop) where you wish to save your podcast
5. Close the Preferences window
6. Click on File - New Movie Recording
7. Click on the red Capture button to begin recording. Click on the black Stop button to stop recording
8. Click on File - Export... - Movie to iPod (320x240)
9. Click on Save

To create a video podcast on a Windows PC with QuickTime Pro:

1. Download and install the latest version of QuickTime, and purchase a license key to enable the QuickTime Pro features
2. Record your video podcast with your camera and video capture software. Apple recommends using DV format or uncompressed video in QuickTime .mov format
3. In QuickTime Pro click on File - Open File...
4. Click to select your recording and click on Open
5. Click on File - Export... - Movie to iPod (320x240)
6. Click on Save

[rajrules]

Podcasting Resources
How to grab them, where to find them and which are the best for your taste....
Read through and all your QUERIES will be SOLVED...!!!

These podcasting resources will help you to find podcasts for your listening enjoyment, and also inspire and help you to create your own podcasts.

Podcast Directories

Subscribe to Free Podcasts with iTunes
iTunes offers built-in support for receiving podcasts. Follow these steps to get podcasts in iTunes.

Podcast Directories and Registries
About.com Web Log Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins offers a list of podcast directories and registries to help you find podcasts of interest.

Podcasting Directories - Find Audio For Your Interests
Podcasting directories allow you to easily search for the type of audio information you're looking for, whether you own an iPod or any other type of mp3 player. These are some of the podcasting directories on the Internet where you can find music, news, talk, alternative programming, audio books, and more.

Apple iTunes Podcasting
Apple's podcasting page offers links to many free podcasts.

Podcast.net
Podcast.net offers a subject directory of podcasts.

iPodderX Directory
This iPodderX Directory lists podcasts available for download.

Creating Your Own Podcasts

Podcast with Your Mac
Get Podcasts on your iPod or make your own Podcasts for free! A Podcast is an audio file typically in talk show format to which you can subscribe and automatically receive on your iPod when you connect to iTunes. You can create your own Podcast using Apple’s GarageBand and iChat applications, and the freeware tools Soundflower and LineIn.

How to Create Your Own Podcast - A Step-by-Step Tutorial
About.com Radio Guide Corey Deitz provides an outstanding step-by-step guide to creating a podcast.

Start Your Own Podcast
Macworld article includes and overview of equipment, as well as how to edit, upload and promote your podcast.

How-To: Podcasting (aka How to get Podcasts and also make your own)
Engadget's article outlines how to get podcasts on your iPod and how to create your own podcast.

Podcast About The Podcast
This podcast and visual guide offers tools and step-by-step help in creating a professional podcast.

Tools for Podcasting
This list of hardware and software tools for podcasting will help you to create your own podcast.

[rajrules]

How to Create Your Own Podcast - A Step-by-Step Tutorial

About.com Radio Guide Corey Deitz provides an outstanding step-by-step guide to creating a podcast.

So, What Exactly is a Podcast?
(Suggestion: Bookmark this page so that you can absorb each step at your own pace and easily come back here to refer to any portion of this tutorial.)

First: Why is the Radio Guide writing about Podcasting? Because it's very clear to me the Internet coupled with pesonal technology like iPods and MP3 players have empowered everyone with a new voice while redefining what "Radio" is in the 2000s from both a technical and distribution sense. Although I love traditional Radio, I'm also willing to embrace new paradigms. If you're reading this, then apparently you are, too.

A Pocast is:

1. An audio file you create in .mp3 format...
2. Which contains your own radio show or any audio you wish others to have...
3. That you upload along with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) file to a server (your website for instance)...
4. That your intended listeners download using one of several programs that have been created to retrieve your audio file automatically...
5. So they can listen to it at their convenience on their own iPod or .mp3 player.

That’s it. Now, don’t let things like “RSS file”, “server” or “.mp3 format” scare you.

I’m going to show you exactly how to do all of this in the simplest of terms. By the time we’re done, you’ll be podcasting to the world. Kind of exciting, huh?

Before we get into the mechanics of podcasting, let’s think about just some of the reasons you might want to create your own podcast:

1. You always wanted your own talk show but you don’t own a radio station or work at one.
2. You’re a musician and you want to build up a fan base by providing some of your music to potential fans.
3. You’re a speaker and you want to sell a multi-part audio seminar but don’t want to create CDs, labels, mail them, etc. (Yes, you can use podcasting for profit, too.)
4. You already have a radio show but you want to make certain segments available to the world to increase your reputation and reach.
5. You’re a book author and you want to interest people in buying it by offering a few spoken pages each week to entice them.
6. You’re a school Principal and you want to create your own weekly message to the students.
7. You’re a raving lunatic and you want to rant to the world about conspiracies, UFOs and Men in Black.

Podcasting is for anyone for any reason. It empowers you with a voice that can literally reach around the world.

In order to podcast you will need to learn a few skills in this order:

1. How to record your audio and save it to an .mp3 file.
2. How to create an RSS file which holds the “directions” for sending your file when a user’s program like iPodder requests it
3. How to write the “directions” that are inside the RSS file
4. How to upload the RSS “feed” and your .mp3 file
5. How to validate that the file is written correctly and will send the file correctly.

[rajrules]

CONTD....

How To : Step By Step Tutorial For a Successful Podcast

Recording Your Audio and Creating Your MP3 File
Many podcasters naturally are choosing a program called Audacity for many reasons:

1. It has an easy learning curve.
2. It has advanced features for those who want them.
3. It is free.

Download Audacity here:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

There are Windows, Mac OS 9 or X, and Linux/Unix versions available. You will also have to download the LAME MP3 encoder which allows Audacity to export MP3 files. You will see the download link for that on the same page as the Audacity download.

Recording your voice with Audacity is very simple and the website provides easy tutorials here. I won't re-invent the wheel on this aspect of your podcasting. Download the program and review the clearly written help information.

If, after you have downloaded and tried Audacity you think it is still too complicated for your situation, there is another alternative. Windows has its own recording utility called Sound Recorder which is just about the easiest way I know to record just voice. The Windows help file says:

Using Sound Recorder, you can record, mix, play, and edit sounds. You can also link or insert sounds into another document. You can modify an uncompressed sound file by:
Adding sounds to a file.
Deleting part of the sound file.
Changing the playback speed.
Changing the playback volume.
Changing the playback direction.
Changing or converting the sound file type.
Adding an echo.

To access this utility...
Click: Start|Programs|Accessories|Entertainment |Sound Recorder.

Sound Recorder will only save files in .wav format which means you will still have to convert your final recording into an .mp3 file. MusicMatch Jukebox can also do this for you. There's a free version and an enhanced version.

Now, you will also need a microphone. There are many types which range in quality and price. For affordable voice recording, I recommend a unidirectional, dynamic-type microphone. Radio shack sells inexpensive ones and you’ll also find a good selection of higher quality mikes at most music stores. In addition, I have created an easy list of microphones you can compare by price here.

Shure makes several models that are versatile and affordable for voice but there are higher quality choices from companies such as Sennheiser, audio-technica, Neumann and more. How much you spend on a microphone is a personal matter between you and your budget. Remember: ebay is a good place to search for bargains if you know what you’re looking for.

When you are ready to record, plug your microphone into your soundcard's mike input and open up Windows's Volume Control. (Mac users use the equivalent. Sorry, I can't provide those specifics.) In Windows here's how:

Click: Start
Navigate to: Programs|Accessories|Entertainment|Volum e Control
On Volume Control in the upper left hand corner Click: Options and highlight Properties
Select: Recording
Press: OK
Make sure you put a check in the Select box under where it says MIC
The Volume switch can be adjusted using the slider control as you begin to do your recording

Start a new recording using Audacity, check your levels and begin your program. Edit test audio or other glitches when you are finished.

When your audio is done and saved, you will need to remember to write down:

. Where you saved it so you can upload it later
. What the exact file size is.

To ascertain that, just:

1 . Right click on the .mp3 file you created
2 . Click “properties” and note the size. As an example, it will look like this:

Size: 4.61 MB (4,834,743 bytes)

What you want to write down is 4834743 without the commas.

[rajrules]

CONTD....

How To : Step By Step Tutorial For a Successful Podcast
PART 3

Creating Your RSS Feed File
An RSS feed is actually a text file with the extension .rss . You can name it anything you like as long as it ends with .rss . As an example, we’ll call the one we’re going to create MyPodcast.rss.

Now, inside the RSS file are several directions created in what is called Extensible Markup Language or XML. It’s similar to HyperText Markup Language or HTML.

If you’ve ever written any HTML or just seen the code of a webpage, then you might know web pages are created using what are called “tags” like:

<Title> This is the Title of my page </Title>

XML uses a similar tag system to describe exactly what is inside the RSS file.

The good news is, you can copy another RSS file as your template and then modify it as needed.

Open up your windows Notepad by clicking:

Start | Run| and typing in Notepad then press ENTER

It’s important you use a text editor like Notepad because a text editor does not include any text formatting like a word processor. If you used Microsoft Word to create your RSS file, it would fail miserably because of the hidden formatting.

Now, with Notepad open copy this code into it:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<rss version="2.0">


<channel>


<title>My Program</title>
<link>http://www.mywebsite.com/myaudio.mp3</link>
<description>My first podcast</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>2005</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Today’s Date*</lastBuildDate>
<webMaster>youremail@whatever.com</webMaster>
<ttl>1</ttl>
<item>


<title>Today’s Radio Show - Monday</title>
<description>Here’s my Monday podcast. Hope you like it.</description>
<pubDate>Today’s Date*</pubDate>

<enclosure url="http://www.mywebsite.com/myaudio.mp3" length="4834743" type="audio/mpeg"/>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

* Make sure you express the date in the format of hh:mm:ss. Also, you have to tell what timezone you are in, relative to GMT. If you were in New York, at the end of the date string, you need to add -0500, example: Sat, Jan 14 2006 18:00:00 -0500 .

[rajrules]

CONTD....

How To : Step By Step Tutorial For a Successful Podcast
PART 4

How to Write the "Directions" That Are Inside the RSS File
As you can see, beginning with <item> there are nested (ordered) tags which describe exactly what your podcast is:

The title of it: <title></title>
The description: <description></description>
The publish date: <pubDate></pubDate>
The mp3 file itself: <enclosure />
The exact location: url=" http://www.mywebsite.com/myaudio.mp3"
The exact length of file: length="4834743"
And the type of file it is: type="audio/mpeg"

A few rules about the tags:

. There is always a beginning and end tag. Example: <Title></Title>. The exception is in the case of what is called an empty tag. An example of one is the <enclosure /> tag from above. Why? Because an empty tag describes attribute specifications. In our case, the file location, its size, and the type of file it is.
. They are case sensitive so you can’t have <TITLE>My Program</title>
. Ending tags always have a slash like this </title>
. The information between tags is called an element.
. It’s important to follow the proper pattern and nesting.

The XML above describes one podcast beginning with <item> and ending with </item>

To add a second item, you could copy the code between <item> and </item> and change the specifics. For instance: the title, description, and date would all be different. Plus, your second podcast (.mp3 file) would most likely have different characteristics. As an example:

<enclosure url=”http://www.mywebsite.com/myaudio2.mp3” length=”(whatever this file’s length is)” type="audio/mpeg" />

There. You’ve created all the code you need for a podcast! Now, decide what the name of your RSS file will be and save it to your desktop or a directory you will remember where it is.

Example: MyPodcast.rss

Let me point out that there are other elements you can put into an RSS file. The example above is a very simple model.

[rajrules]

CONTD....

How To : Step By Step Tutorial For a Successful Podcast
PART 5

How to Upload the .MP3 File, RSS File, and Validate It
An RSS file must reside on a server. If you have your own website, you already have a server holding your website. Use that server!

You upload your RSS file along with the mp3s for your podcast using either an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program or possibly a webpage-based upload feature if you built your website using one of the many software interfaces many hosting companies now provide.

Either way, upload them to your website. Remember: if you decide to place these files in a separate folder on your server like /MyPodcast you will have to include that folder in the full address of your mp3 when you create that information using the <enclosure url= tag.

By the way: CoffeeCup Software offers a very easy and free FTP program called CoffeeCup Free FTP.

How to Validate or Make Sure Your RSS File is Written Correctly

This is the easiest part of all. If you have written your RSS file correctly, just go to http://rss.scripting.com/ and type in the address of where you uploaded your RSS file. For instance:

http://www.yourwebsite.com/MyPodcast.rss

When you press the VALIDATE button, it will test out your RSS feed and tell you if it works or not. If you get an error message then you have made a mistake possibly in syntax, tags, etc. Go back to your RSS file, open it in Notepad and inspect it to see where you might have made a mistake. One little error – anything that’s off – will screw the whole thing up.

Another RSS Validators is: http://validator.w3.org/

Once your podcast has been validated, all you have to do now is provide the address of your RSS file to anyone who wants to subscriber to your podcast.

In our example it would be:

http://www.yourwebsite.com/MyPodcast.rss

For people to receive your podcast, there are many free software programs designed specifically for this purpose.

A list can be found here.

Don’t forget to get your podcast listed in the many directories available on the Internet so people know it’s available and can subscriber.

[doc_sameer]

Good work Raj! I guess i will have to buy an iPOD soon to really benefit from ur work! Thx & keep rocking!

[numerouno]

Gr8 work buddy....
As Sameer said,guess i will have to buy an iPOD
Thanx...Cheers!