Apple Ipod help: Adding Podcasts

Not all sound files come directly from the compact discs in your personal collection. As long as a file is in a format that iTunes can comprehend (MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, WMA, Apple Lossless, or Audible on the music side; and MP4, MOV, or M4V for iPod-friendly video), you can add it to the iTunes music library by any of several methods.

You can find podcasts all over the Internet, and the iTunes Music Store has at least 20,000 of the most popular ones within easy reach of your mouse. You can find the Music Store's podcasts in a couple of ways: Either click the Podcasts icon in the iTunes Source list and then click the link for the Podcast Directory at the bottom of the window, or just zip into the Music Store from the Source list and click the Podcasts link on the main page. Either way, you're plopped right into the middle of iTunes Podcast Central.

Some Web sites have links to podcasts posted right on the page. These links, often noted with an orange tag labeled with "Pod," "RSS," or "XML" are links to that podcast's feed. Like news feeds that use RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, depending on which nerd you ask) to update your Web browser with the absolute latest headlines, blog entries, or other news, podcast feeds deliver the latest episode of your favorite audio or video shows right to your desktop.

To get one of these podcast feeds piping into iTunes, click the orange icon on the page. You may get a screen full of text, but the URL in the browser's address bar is the important thing here. Copy that address, then go to Advanced Subscribe to Podcast in iTunes and paste the URL into the box. Click OK and then relax as iTunes takes care of the rest.

Apple iPod 4 GB mini M9160LL/A (Silver)

Everything you love about iPod just got tinier. iPod mini lets you bring along enough music for a three-day weekend getaway in a package so small youll forget youre carrying it. Until people ask you about it, that is.

Personal Review: Apple iPod 4 GB mini M9160LL/A (Silver)

This is the smallest iPod that allows you to change out the 4 or 6GB hard drive for a CompactFlash card. The adapters cost less than $4. What this means is you can install any size CF card in this device. Many people already have installed up to 16GB CF cards. I'm about to install a 32GB Card, but I may wait a while until 64GB cards are commonly available.
Also, mod kits are available here on Amazon and also on eBay. A larger capacity battery will extend your playing time between charges. I plan to try and shoe horn a second battery into this device.

The second generation Mini's will run longer on a charger. Also the size CF card you install will also effect play time. In any case you should see a longer play time with a CF Card than the factory hard drive.

For more information do a search on iPod Mini Modifications Batteries,
CompactFlash.

Finally, if you case gets a little beat up, and these all metal cases can take a beating it is cheap and easy to replace the case ~$15 with shipping for a new one--any color. Some people chose to paint their old case to make it unique. Parts are freely available. Keep your Mini alive and looking good.

Searching the iPod library

If you want to search the iPod library, you need to create and configure a media query. A media query is an instance of the MPMediaQuery class and can be configured with the following two important pieces of information:

• Zero or one grouping scheme. You can group the media items that are returned from executing the query according to a specific grouping scheme. For example, you can ask the MPMediaQuery object to group the result set according to the artist.
• A query filter. A query filter consists of zero or more media property predicates.Foramedia item to be returned as a result of executing this query, it has to pass through all the media property predicates that make up the filter provided. If you specify no predicates, all media items will be returned from the query.

There are several class methods declared in the MPMediaQuery class that give you media queries with different groupings. For example, to create a media query that groups and sorts media items according to the album’s name, you can use the following class method:
+ (MPMediaQuery *)albumsQuery Other class methods include artistsQuery, genresQuery,and playlistsQuery.
Once you have configured the media query object, you can retrieve the result media items using the MPMediaQuery instance variable items. This instance variable is declared as follows:
@property(nonatomic, readonly) NSArray *items The items array holds instances of MPMediaItem class that match the query. If the result of the query is empty, the array will contain no elements. If, on the other hand, an error occurred during the execution of the query, the value of this property will be nil.
The following code fragment retrieves all songs in the iPod library, grouping them based on the artist name. It then logs specific values of each media item.

CRITICS ON THE NEW IPOD VIDEO

The new iPod video has a wide range of new qualities and among these, the most importan is, without any doubt, the video feature. Due to the fact that the market already had a sma and portable device which basically played games, but also played videos, the new iPod video was released with some suspicions of the critics. The video iPod is hardly the first portable video player on the market, as the device belonging to Sony claims to be the number 1 portable video player in the world, but it is principally used to play video games.
Even so, the sales of this new product turned out to be surprisingly high, a fact which was obvious shortly after the first semester.
The main concern regarding the product was the fact that due to the small screen, the people willing to watch a serious movie on it would be limited. In fact, studies show that most people prefer to feel the actual movie, while watching it in front of a big screen, like the one in the movie theatres. Even more, the new cell phone with a video feature which was so famous in Asia was used for watching movies only for a few minutes, considering th fact that it had a small screen which couldn’t allow catching all the quality details of the movie. The critics even mentioned the fact that, while being on a bus, in a cab or waiting inline at some office, the video iPod with its tiny screen might be a good solution, after all.
This is due to the fact that this activity is considered a great snack or a great break. Based on this, the analysts mentioned that if Apple wanted to really hit the market, they should opt for an iPod with a bigger screen, so that customers would be eager to watch even the long movies on this device.

Another aspect which was highly debated was the fact that the battery life of this new device lasts less than expected. While the play station portable has a battery which lasts up to 8 hours while watching a movie, the iPod video only provides 2 hours of battery life, which is a big disturbance, when trying to watch a full length movie on this small digital device. Another thing that the critics attacked was the fact that the iPod takes too long time to download various movies. If for the play station portable, this task is doable in less than 3 hours, while the QuickTime 7 Pro took almost 12 hours to encode the video in an iPod-friendly format.

The sales of the new iPod video show the fact that the public accepts and wants this new product with a lot of interest, due to the fact that it can play music, store pictures and play, movies at the same time, a fact which makes it a multifunctional device. Even if the new item received many criticism, the shirt-pocket-size new video iPod, seems to be one of the most preferred objects of the teens of today, as they use it to store and listen to thousands of music and other audio files downloaded straight from the Internet or from DVD’s, cameras and from the computer files.

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PLAY STATION PORTABLE AND THE IPOD VIDEO

The new iPod video was one of the most surprising products of 2006, due to the fact that iPods didn’t include the video feature, since the launching of the 5th generation of iPods in
2005.
Still, the natural comparison the customers (and not only) made was the one between the play station portable, also known as the PSP and the new model of the iPod series. PSP is basically a handheld game console which was produced by the company Sony Computer Entertainment, back in 2004. The public’s reactions to this new device which was rather different than almost everything on the market was very good, due to the fact that the small device allowed customers to play famous games, and, at the same time, watch clips.
Comparing the batteries of these 2 devices or, better said, the life of the batteries, it is a fact that the PSP device lasted much longer than the iPod. While playing a movie, the battery of the iPod dies after almost 2 hours and a half, while the PSP battery lasts up to more than 7 hours, which is a big plus.
Comparing the audio quality, it must be said the fact that both the devices provide a good audio quality; still, the iPod video turned out to provide a slightly clearer sound than the play station portable. This is due to the act that the audio in the iPod video file is encoded into AAC audio. On the other hand, the PSP seemed to have more bass in some cases, but overall, the difference was not that relevant and significant. The video quality of the 2 devices is another subject worthy to discuss and debate upon. It is known the fact that the PSP has a much larger screen. Even so, in this case, the large size advantage does not equal a better picture: the iPod manages to show a very sharp picture and sharp and clear text (even long ones). On the other hand, when discussing the difference in the video conversation, the fact is that a video iPod takes around 12 hours to encode a video, while the play station portable only needs a bit under 3 hours to do the same thing.
Comparing the 2 devices, it is obvious that they both have advantages and some flaws.
Even though the video quality seems better on the iPod video device, the PSP presents a longer life of the battery and faster ways to encode videos. Still, the iPod is a smaller device, so it is natural that some features are not that optimized as in the case of the PSP.
Even more, due to the fact that it is smaller, the iPod is much easier to transport and to use in various occasions. The studies even showed the fact that both items are sold mostly in vacation periods, meaning the fact that the customers use them as an entertainment item in their both summer and winter holidays.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE IPOD VIDEO

The new iPod video became famous due to its huge memory and the capacity of playing video, due to its slim design and longer life battery. Still, there are voices that point out some disadvantages and highlight different negative aspects.

Taking into account that there are few perfect things made by the human hand, these aspects may be used by the iPod video creators for further improvements. Therefore, the customer’s reviews are very important and the suggestions may be really taken into account.

The fact that the screen is bigger is great, but the surface is easy to scratch, aspect that is more in the cons category. Although the image is excellent and the clarity screen may be easily compared with the TV set’s screen quality, there are still some problems with freezing video images. There is a great achievement the fact that the light, sun or other previous obstacles are annihilated, but another important problem is the unresponsiveness in some cases.

The dimensions of the new iPod video are great, but there is no way you may watch it with more than several persons. Anyway, it was designed for personal not collective needs and you may still share your photo album and music or video music preferences with one person. The flat screen is large enough to enjoy your favorite videos.

Although the life battery is longer, the complaints concern the short battery life for video. And this complaint may be balanced by the fact that the video is played with no flaw. The pros of the new iPod video are considered the cool look, the impressive number of features, the great organization of the music menu so that you may even rank your favorite songs.

The cons of the new iPod video are considered the absence of FM option, the fact that no cradle is included, the impossibility of connecting the iPod video to the computer and the cost.

The amazing new features concern the sound quality – it is clearer and stronger with a bass that is stronger articulated, the sound is also louder than that of the previous generations.

The other good features are the easy control, the video feature is classified with “great”, but the flaws regard the interruption of the sound between the tracks, being blanked out. There are still other suggestions regarding the battery life, taking into account the amount of music that the new iPod video has.

The pros may be gathered together pointing out the thin and attractive enclosure with a great display, the best sound, 15-20 hours of music, new clock and the time in other parts of the world. The cons highlight the incompleteness of the video integration that suggests the experimental project aspect, absence of the new games, no changes in the interface, the smaller screen than expected especially for video features edition. Another disadvantage concerns the slow transfer of photos direct from the camera.