We enwrap up our five - part look at iPod - refer holiday gift thought with an assortment of accouterment . From iPod - well-disposed dress to service and software that will fulfill your medicine player with content , these items will brighten up even the benighted day of winter .
Heard any good books lately?
Put this under the “ for the person who has everything ” gift category . Or “ the gift that keep on giving.”Audible.comoffers thousands of audio books , radio programme , and audio variation of publications like theNew York Timesand theNew Yorker . For the price of a $ 150 one - year amber rank you get 12 book of account credit ( most script be one cite ) , a costless subscription to the audio version of either theTimesor theWall Street Journal , and a subscription to a radio programme like “ Car talking . ” It ’s a large deal , made even honeyed when you consider that Audible is almost always melt a promotion that give you $ 100 off an iPod purchased from Amazon.com if you sign up for a amber membership.—JEFF MERRON
Radio, refined
There are heap of cyberspace radio stations out there featuring tilt , pop , metal , tap , R&B , or country — even score of them dedicated to reliving the ’ eighty . But what if your tastes run towards classical , jazz , and world music ? Naxos’Naxos Radiooffers more than 70 streaming “ stations , ” each featuring a exceptional type of medicine : orchestral , concertos , sleeping accommodation , Baroque era , guitar , outspoken / choral , jazz , and much more . In fact , in each genre , you may even choose from among several Italian sandwich - writing style ; for object lesson , fans of chamber euphony can choose from authoritative geological era , romantic and modern , and 20th- and 21st - 100 works . A subscription is a very sensible $ 20 for a year of “ near - CD - lineament ” ( 64k streaming ) or just $ 10 for a year of “ FM quality ” ( 20k streaming).—DAN FRAKES
Wowie zowie
You ’ve got hundreds of dollars Charles Frederick Worth of medicine jampack into a two thousand dollar sign data processor which , in good turn , is tethered to your $ 350 iPod . Yet , when played through your small computer speaker unit , your music sounds lifeless . avail bring the music on those utterer to life with SRS Labs’SRS iWOW Plug - in for Mac . The $ 20 plug - in uses SRS Labs ’ patented technology to expand and raise the details of your medicine in amazing ways — using psychotic - acoustic technique to provide greater separation of frequencies , bigger clump to the bass , and a seemingly broad soundstage . The ballyhoo - in ’s options are adjustable and can be fine tuned for speaker or phone playback . Give the free trial a spin to see if you like the effect with your Mac ’s speakers.—CHRISTOPHER BREEN
New life for old music
Vinyl LPs and magnetic tape cassette do n’t have to be relegated to the dustbin of history by music ’s digital age . To get the music from these older formats into iTunes and onto your iPod , adjudicate ADS ’s $ 60Instant Music , available with eitherMacorWindowssoftware . The Instant Music hardware plugs into a USB porthole on your computer and provides standard left / ripe RCA input diddlysquat . Connect a cassette deck of cards or turntable , and you’re able to record those track record and tapes to AIFF , WAV , MP3 , AAC , or WMA music file cabinet , which you’re able to then add to iTunes . The include computer software does n’t border on iTunes ’ “ insert CD and rip ” simplicity , but it allows you to automatically set levels and split track into disjoined single file . The only other matter you ’ll require is forbearance — Instant Music records in real - time.—DF
Go squint
If you find YouTube just too habit-forming , and require to take some of your favorite Flash videos offline , Techspansion ’s freeiSquint’sfor you . This nice minuscule gratis software , brought to you by the developer ofVisualHub , enables you to take good deal of videos that you ’ve already download ( I apply the Web-basedKeepvid.comfor this task ) and convert them into iPod - compatible .mp4 file . you’re able to do other kinds of conversions , too — to and from .mov and .avi data format , for example . After a few minute , depending on whether you want to specify low , medium , or high - tone television output ( the higher the quality , the bigger the file size of it ) . And before you be intimate it , those farinaceous YouTube telecasting are automatically sum up to your iTunes library and quick for some fresh , smooth viewing on your video iPod . Or , if you want to , press the Go disturbed release and get file right enough to watch on your old - fashioned television receiver . you could also practice iSquint to convert your DVDs for play on the video iPod.—JM
Buckle up for safety
TuneBuckle beltsstore an iPod nano in stylish atomic number 13 metal belt buckles . Practical ? Debatable . But stylish ? Absolutely . The black leather belts feature crimson sew around the crease for high - flair emphasizing . Meanwhile , three different fashion model to take from ( priced from $ 46 to $ 70 ) allow you pick how much iPod - pic you want to winkle . Leave your iPod altogether concealed behind a warp with the Full Metal Jacket , or pull ahead access to the scroll wheel with the Full Moon . Or prefer The Original that have your memory enter the scroll wheel and view the display . ( presently , the Full Moon Dual Fit is the only manikin that equip both first and second generation iPod nanos.)—MATHEW HONAN
For the Voodoo you do so well
Perhaps the iPod’smost underutilized featureis its power to display and navigate notes linked to other textual matter notes and iTunes music tracks . And it ’s no wonderment . Who has the forbearance to create notes that admit introductory hypertext markup language coding and then copy those notes to the iPod ’s bank note folder ? vanish Meat’sVoodooPad 3takes the drudgery out of create such linked notes . Just open a document , highlight textbook you ’d like to make links from , and create extra pages linked to that text edition . When you ’re done , choose File - > Export - > Export to iPod and your tie in notes are transplant to the appropriate location on your medicine player . All three VoodooPad reading ( the free Lite , $ 30 regular , and $ 50 Pro ) make linkable iPod notes.—CB
Wrap up your cords
Cord Management Syndrome is a common affliction , often resulting in tangled headphone wire , several feet of unsightly hanging electric cord , or , most alas , short - cord phones being yanked of a sudden from listeners ’ ear . But few people want to speak about it , and only a few thoughtful manufacturers have tried to accost the problem with retractable wire . Fortunately , the syndrome has had an inexpensive , elegant , and wanton cure for years — Sumajin ’s $ 8 to $ 10Smartwrap , a 2 - column inch , 0.2 - ounce composition of rubber that enable you to snarl and enfold some of your phone wires into a overnice , smashing bundle . I ’m incessantly adjusting my phone length — Smartwrap relieve oneself that task gentle . And with a choice of nine colors and an laurels - winning design , my dangling cord look pretty nerveless , too.—JM
Run different
Stave off the morning chill in theNike+ Featherweight , a woman ’s $ 140 crownwork from the Nike+ iPod line . The left sleeve hides a removable tegument - miserly case that holds an iPod closely against your forearm and permit you work the control , while an possibility near the articulatio cubiti provides an exit for your headphone cord . ( If you do n’t want to keep it in the sleeve , there ’s another iPod holder by the inside right-hand - hand pouch . ) Anchors permit you snake the cable up your limb and shoulder , hold it fast to your body to prevent tangles . The mentum - high collar and square windproof racing shell will keep you warm on blustery Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , while breathable vent-hole throughout the jacket crown will prevent you from pruning up mid - run.—MH
Recording artist
If you could hear it on your computer , Rogue Amoeba ’s $ 32Audio Hijack Procan disc it . The software is a really service program player — you’re able to grab cyclosis audio and catch it in AAC , MP3 , Apple Lossless , or AIFF data format , especially useful if you care public radio receiver but ca n’t listen in front of your computer or when your favorite curriculum is air . you’re able to hook your old record or cassette musician to your computer and transform analog audio recording to files you’re able to listen to on your iPod . That ’s just the tip of the berg — you could also use sound effects , select the audio quality ( up to 320 kbps ) , and dissever prospicient file into short tracks ( there ’s a silence admonisher that find spaces between album cuts ) . And if you simply desire to record flat onto your Mac — to create a podcast , for model — Audio Hijack Pro enable you not only to capture your Bible , but also to pull strings them using a wide of the mark motley of sound effects . This diligence ca n’t do everything , but fortune are it can help you do pretty much anything you need to do with audio . And it comes with scripts that do a silken job of transmit your audio grabs directly into iTunes.—JM
[ Jeff Merron is a freelance author and senior WWW website editor for108 Magazine . Dan Frakes is the fourth-year reviews editor in chief forPlaylist . Christopher Breen is a aged editor in chief forMacworldand writesThe iPod Blog . Mathew Honanis a San Francisco - based freelance writer who contribute toPlaylist . ]
