andy ihnatko

Dec 9 2006

iPod Fully Loaded by Andy Ihnatko

If there’s a will, there’s away – and if there’s media, there’s a way to get it on your iPod. Podcasts, music and audiobooks are great, but what about your analog music, email and DVD’s?

In Andy Ihnatko’s new book iPod Fully Loaded, you’ll learn all this and more. The paperback illustrates Mac (and PC) solutions for getting just abut any form of music, video and file on to youriPod. In Chapter 20 you’ll even learn how to bag your laptop and travel lite with only your ‘pod.

Like most of you who are reading this, I’ve owned plenty of handheld gadgets from PocketPC to USB Dongle but I can say I’ve had one that elicited an emotional reaction from me like my iPods have. Admit it, we spend more thought on naming our new iPod than we did naming the dog.

This makes the iPod special, and this book a valuable guide in making the most of our digital companions. We take our iPods jogging, driving and even to bed (alarm feature, right?). Why not take radio, ebooks, web pages and presentations with you? This book represents the most exhaustive collection of iPod tutorials I’ve seen.

What’s more, it reads like a chat transcript with your college buddies. Andy guides you through file conversion and software download with an enticinglyirreverent and entertaining tone. He’s funny, and makes the read informative and pleasurable.

The book starts with iTunes and guides you through conversions as complex as vinyl to AAC and database to iPod note. He features a ton of helpful software – much of which is free (and you know how I like that). I already mentioned that there aremethods here for both Windows and Mac users (not to mention some levity on the topic of platform superiority). Of course the Mac tutorials are easier for the most part. But Andy takes time out to explore Tiger’sAutomator with example workflows.

What’s missing? The world of iPod is always changing, so you can’t blame a book for missing last week’s new Internet trend. That said, the book does show you how to record incoming audio streams, but fails to explore applications like Griffin’s iFill that record internet radio. There’s also no iTube to video iPod conversion. But, like I said these are relatively recent developments.

It’s not often that you can find a book with useful content that’s this easy to read. The combination of great iPod tutorials and a narrator that takes time out for humor makes this a great book. And for under $20. I’ll take two.

Brian

Buy it at Amazon.

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