Recently in iPod Category

Via LifeHacker is a tool called BPM Analyzer. Feed it some music files, and it will analyse them to calculate the number of beats per minute (BPM) in the songs. If the file is an MP3, it will also store the BPM value in the file's ID3 tag, but it will also analyse other formats without saving anything. There are both Windows and Mac versions to download.

Why would you do this? Well, you can use it to create playlists of music of different tempos - a low BPM playlist for one you want to chill out, or a high BPM playlist if you're working out. And if you use iTunes DJ and its crossfade ability, you can ensure that the music you're playing is at similar tempos for a smoother mix.

One of iTunes cool but under-appreciated features is its Smart Playlists ability. Rather that dragging and dropping music into a playlist every time you add a new song, you can set a series of criteria and iTunes will automatically add matching songs to the playlist. By default iTunes come with playlists such as '90s Music', so all files with a released date between 1990-1999 are added to it. It will also dynamically update, so if one of Bon Jovi's greatest hits is accidentally marked as being from 1992 but corrected back to 1987, it will be removed from the playlist.

One of the criteria you can set is 'BPM', so we can make a low BPM chillout smart playlist.

First of all, download and install BPM Analyzer and set it to analyse your iTunes library. You'll probably have to do each artist individually as it seems to crash when presented with lots of files (on OS X at least). Note that while it will update the tags for MP3 files, for any AAC files you'll have to note that BPM value and manually enter it in iTunes by right-clicking the file, selecting 'Get Info', choosing the 'Info' tab and typing the number in the 'BPM' box. You may also find that iTunes doesn't pick up the BPM from MP3 files unless you open 'Get Info' for each one.

Once you have scanned your library, in iTunes, go to 'File' and 'New Smart Playlist'. Under 'Match the following rule', change 'Artist' to 'BPM'. Change 'is' to 'is less than' and type in '90'. Make sure 'Live updating' is ticked. You can also set a maximum song limit if you wish. Click OK, and then give your new playlist a name. Et voilà.

I was going to make one of two posts today:

1. How I fixed my broken iPod
2. What iPod to buy in place of my broken iPod

Thankfully, this post is the first one.

I have an iPod Mini, bought in August 2004, which has hit a spot of bother. Well, okay, I dropped it, and afterwards it kept crashing or giving me the dreaded 'unhappy iPod' screen (which is like the Blue Screen of Death for iPods) when playing music, especially when skipping tracks. So here's how I fixed it:

1. Because my iPod was formatted in Windows (a concious choice, see rant below), I plugged it into Hari's computer and ran ScanDisk, and opted to do a full surface scan to fix any bad sectors.
2. Next, I opened iTunes on the Windows PC and did a restore on the iPod, wiping the existing firmware and files and replacing it with the most recent firmware.
3. Then, I reloaded my music.

And now it works fine. Quite what went wrong originally, I am unsure, however by running ScanDisk I could have it mark any damaged parts of the disk as bad. If I had more money I would have bought a copy of SpinRite which is apparently very good at getting hard disks back into working order (or at least letting you know that your disk is fubar'd).

I may still consider buying a new iPod eventually but I'm torn between which model to buy, so that blog post may still come. At least now it's not so much of a priority as my current iPod now seems to work fine.

And now for my rant about iPod formatting. If you format your iPod on Windows, it will be formatted with the FAT32 file system, readable by Windows and OS X (and pretty much every other modern operating system). Format it on OS X, however, and it'll be formatted with the HFS+ file system which only OS X can read. Since Apple now ships Boot Camp with Macs and has been promoting the ability to run Windows if needed, why not let Mac users change the file system used when formatting? If needed it can be some option hidden away in an obscure corner of iTunes where your average Joe User who has no idea what FAT32 or HFS+ are can safely ignore it. But it would be nice to have the option, rather than having to use a Windows computer.

Being inactive internet-wise for much of the week has meant I've been rather behind on Apple's announcements this week. Once again I'm envious of the new iPods - my two-year-old iPod Mini is now looking rather large compared with the very sleek new iPod Nanos, and the battery life of the new models is very impressive. Though having bought a new MacBook I can't see myself getting a new iPod any time soon, especially as there's nothing wrong with my current iPod - it's working as well as it did on day 1, despite being dropped and just generally abused for 2 years.

The weird thing is that both Hari and I are having iPod envy this time around - I got her the black iPod Nano for her birthday and now she wants a pink one. She hasn't yet put any music on it yet, though.

On a related subject I really like the new iTunes 7, even if I have no real intention of buying movies with it. The album art is especially welcome.

Again, apologies for non-Apple people, but I know several of you are iPod owners and may be interested to know that new iPod firmware is available. It affects many iPod models - essentially, all of them bar the 1G, 2G and 3G iPods and the iPod Shuffle. For all but the very latest iPod and the iPod Nano the updates are just bug fixes, but probably worth installing. iPod with Video and iPod Nano users also get bug fixes but also support for the iPod Radio Remote.

Mac OS X users can get the update via Software Update, and Windows and Mac users can download it from the iPod Software download site.

So yeah, iTunes 5 is out. I've given it a spin on both the Mac and the laptop, so here's my rundown:

The top download is iTunes 5.0 for Mac OS X. The bottom download is iTunes 5.0 for Windows XP/2000. Notice the difference in size - the Windows version is nearly 2 1/2 times bigger than the Mac version.

Still, I totally dig the iPod Nano - if I didn't already have a Mini I'd consider it. And notice how the iPod Mini has disappeared from Apple's web site...

Here's an iTunes tip for Windows users whose iPods no longer work in iTunes. If iTunes no longer launches automatically when you plug your iPod in, and when you do launch it manually you get an error message telling you to reinstall the iPod software, don't reinstall the iPod software. I had this problem this evening and the iPod software actually wasn't at fault.

The fault in my case was the iPod Service, which runs as a service in the background to allow programs like iTunes and the iPod Updater to communicate with your iPod, had somehow become unregistered and was no longer running on system startup. Perhaps somewhat confusingly the iPod Service is actually part of iTunes, not the iPod drivers, and so if the iPod Service is not working then it is iTunes you need to reinstall and not the iPod software.

To do this, open up Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs, then highlight iTunes and click Change/Remove. When it asks you whether you want to remove or repair, select Repair and let the installer reinstall the iTunes files for you. This will reregister the iPod Service and should get you going again.

Finally, a bonus tip for users of iTunes without iPods: You can save the 4MB of memory that the iPod Service uses by disabling it. Click on the Start menu, choose run, and type in services.msc, then click OK. Right-click iPod Service, click Stop if the service is running, then under 'Startup type' select Disabled. Remember that if you do later buy an iPod and want to be able to synchronise it with iTunes or update the firmware you will need to re-enable this service, though you'll still be able to use it with other programs like Winamp.

It might seem like I go on about Crazy Frog incessantly, but here's another post :) .

The single was released in the US this week, however, the single cover does not show Crazy Frog was infamous dangling phallus. In the UK there were complaints that the frogs, erm, 'ding ding' was shown during the day when children were watching. Later on, it was blacked out.

So now that the frog has had an extreme circumcision, does that mean his voice will get even higher?

Yesterday I mentioned that iTunes had a hidden dialog for managing a connection to a compatible phone, and Engadget has a screenshot from the Mac OS X version.

This is a screenshot for the Windows version. To view it for yourself, first download Resource Hacker, a freeware tool that lets you view (and modify) resources in executable files and libraries. Then, open the file C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources\en.lproj\iTunesLocalized.dll in Resource Hacker, and expand the Dialog tree item, then choose PHONEPREFSPAGE.

If I understand it correctly, this should display as an additional tab in the iTunes Preferences dialog.

You probably know this by now but iTunes 4.9 is out. The big new feature is podcasting, which is integrated with the iTunes Music Store. It combines both free and paid-for podcasts, from big companies like Disney and ABC right down to homebrew ones, and if you create your own podcasts you can submit them to Apple's directory for others to download. All in all, it looks very good, and a worthwhile addition.

Another new feature for iPod users is that when you plug your iPod in, its playlists also appear in iTunes on the left-hand side. If you have your iPod library working independently to your iTunes library then this will allow you to drag and drop files into playlists.

As well as a new version of iTunes, Apple have updated the iPod Firmware for the 3G and 4G iPods, iPod Photo and iPod Mini to enable podcasting support. If you have one of these, you'll need to download the update here.

Finally, here's details of the iPod announcements today. The 4G iPod has been retired in favour of the iPod Photo, which is now cheaper. The 1GB iPod Shuffle is also now £10 cheaper at £89. Not that exciting but it's news.

Update: Now, this is interesting. Looks like someone ran some of the iTunes library files through a hex editor and found some references to support for cell phones. Motorola have been trying to launch an iTunes-compatible phone for some time now but it hasn't quite got off the ground; maybe this is a sign that its launch is imminent.

I've managed to break my iPod earbuds. I've only been using them properly for about 2 months, yet they're already playing up - I think the cable in the right ear bud is loose and keeps distorting the sound. So, it looks like I'll be needing some new headphones or earbuds.

Thankfully, the earjams that I bought in April fit other types of earbuds so they weren't a total waste of money. That said, the only other earbuds I have are for the hands-free kit for my Nokia 7250i, which has a proprietary Nokia connector instead of a standard 2.5 or 3.5mm audio jack. Now, I could get around that with an iTrip and use the built-in FM radio on the phone (which can interrupt the radio when I recieve a call)... or I could just get myself a new pair of earbuds or other variety of headphone and save myself some money and battery power. I think I'll do the latter.

I managed to find a free Mac Mini in the Apple Store on Regent Street so here I am. It's the first time I've been in an Apple Store, what with Apple only opening this, their first UK store, last year. It's bigger than I expected it to be, and also busier - it's nearly 6pm and it's still pretty busy; certainly almost all of the computers are taken.

This Mac I'm using now is plugged into a rather delicious 20" Apple Cinema Display - very nice, but at £549 totally out of my price range. It also has a slightly annoying American-esque keyboard - the @ and " characters are swapped around and other keys are in different locations which would take some getting used to if I used one regularly (and where are the Home and End keys?). Fortunately the keyboard I've just bought, which is Mac-compatible, uses a standard British layout. The lack of a scroll wheel on the mosue is also a little annoying but again I should be able to bring my own mouse to the party.

Mac OS X looks gorgeous - it's the first time I've really used it and I'm almost sold solely on how it looks. And the Mac Mini itself is really as small as I thought - I could easily find space on my desk for one. It does take a little time to get used to the window controls being on the left and not the right though, especially as there's sometimes a button on the right which does weird stuff.

Okay, I'm rambling, but I do definietly feel more confident about investing in one of these machines soon - one this month's credit card bill is paid off, I'll put an order in.

At the risk of annoying Dave, who's just bought a iPod Mini to replace his 2G iPod, Apple have announced an iPod recycling programme, whereby if you take your old iPod to an Apple Store in the US, Apple will recycle it free of charge and give you 10% off a new model (if you buy one on the same day). The old iPod will then be dismantled and recycled within the US, so that no hazardous chemicals, such as lead, are shipped overseas.

It's a good move by Apple. On the one hand, they're ensuring that unwanted iPods are disposed of and recycled properly, instead of being dumped on landfill sites. And at the same time, they're encouraging users of old iPods to upgrade to newer models, thus bringing the company more revenue.

Let's just hope that Apple extends this to other countries and that other manufacturers take a hint and adopt similar policies.

You can now watch video on your iPod. Okay, so you have to install iPod Linux, there's no sound, only uncompressed AVI files work and everything's in monochrome unless you have an iPod Photo, but it's a start. In any case, it's a work in progress.

The iPod Linux project does look really interesting - it already offers improved voice recording and in future should expand the range of audio formats that the iPod supports. Their blog is well worth subscribing to if you want to keep up to date with what's happening.

iTunes 4.8 is out. Mac OS X users will probably find it a useful update as it adds support for copying calendars and contacts to your iPod (as opposed to using iSync). Under both Windows and Mac OS X it adds "new Music Store features" but I've yet to work out what those are. It does still play music that has been bought from the iTunes Music Store but has then been de-authorised by tools like JHymn, but the update may or may not stop JHymn working on newer files - I haven't had chance to check.

Coupled with QuickTime 7 still not being made available to Windows users, altogether 4.8 is a pretty dull update if you're not a Mac user, which is probably why Apple haven't made much of a song and dance about its release.

Update: Here's what's actually new in the release. The big things seem to be support for video playback, support for the new iTunes stores and the ability to download videos that are included with alnbum purchases from the store. Interesting.

Could this mean that Apple is a step closer to creating a Video iPod?

Hey Apple, if you ever release iTunes 4.8 or 5.0 for Windows, here's some ideas for what needs improving:

• CPU usage. iTunes is about the only application I have that consistently uses up to 3% of my CPU. No other media player I have used has ever needed that. Why? It's not like I have a slow machine either - surely a 2.2Ghz Mobile Celeron should be enough.
• Memory usage - iTunes is using 50 MB of memory right now. Again, a bit extreme, don't you think?
• Why does it take iTunes up to 30 seconds to read a CD, especially when skipping tracks? No other CD playing program on this machine does that, and those scratching noises that the drive makes during the time don't sound healthy.
• Faster startup times. Again, iTunes loads up slower than Winamp, Media Player, VLC and pretty much every other equivalent program.
• Just because I play a song, it doesn't mean I want it in my library.

I want to love iTunes because of its nice interface and iPod support, but these things have been bugging me for some time now. I'm really wondering whether Winamp with its ml_ipod plugin might be a better bet.

My purchase of some compact Sennheiser headphones from eBay fell through, leaving me unfortunately out of pocket. While I've been surviving with my Sennheiser HD210s, they're very much designed for home use and are a bit large for using outside while walking.

As a (proud) iPod Mini owner I already had the iPod earbuds but these would never stay in my ears, especially when walking which is when I listen to my iPod most. The EarJams promised to take the already good earbuds offered by Apple and make them more comfortable, and make the sound better, so I ordered some from everythingipod.co.uk, a UK-based company selling iPods and accessories via eBay. After a slight problem with delivery (i.e. me being out when the postman came - they were sent first class recorded delivery so I couldn't sign for them), they arrived today and I've had a chance to play with them. Here's what I thought of them, and how I feel they live up to the manufacturers claims.

Engadget has news today that Apple is allegedly infringing not one but two patents with it iPods and iTunes software.

The second one I'm mostly going to skip over since I don't know so much about it, but basically a company in Hong Kong seems to own a patent with something to do with verification for DRM. This quote sums it up well:

"...Apple is getting sued because the tools they've been using to protect other people's intellectual property (namely that of the record industry) supposedly violate some other person's intellectual property."

But the first one is just plain silly. A company called Advanced Audio Devices was granted a patent in July 2003 for:

a "music jukebox which is configured for storing a music library therein" that "includes a housing, audio input structure on the housing for receiving audio signals, audio output structure on the housing for outputting audio signals, and a data storage structure in the housing for storing audio signals."

Right. As I said, this patent was granted a stroke over 18 months ago, by which time almost all portable media players on the market were capable of doing what the patent describes. In fact, many of them had been doing this for quite some time - my first MP3 player - a Samsung Yepp YP-E64 - bought way, way back in summer 2000, had a microphone on the housing, a headphone socket and built-in flash memory. That predates the patent by 3 years, and there were other models older than that. Suffice to say there was a fair bit of prior art that would invalidate that patent.

If someone can find out what the guys over at USPTO are smoking, please let me know so I can get some myself.

Almost exactly 7 months ago, I ordered an iPod Mini (you'll probably have to scroll down). Back then, a standard unengraved iPod Mini with a student discount was £165.

Fast forward to today, and Apple have announced their new iPod Mini range. The 4GB model now has more vibrant colours, and a battery that can last for more than twice as long as the old model. There's also a 6GB model which costs a little more.

But here's the annoying bit - as well as boosting the battery life, Apple lowered the price. Had I waited 7 months, I could have had the same green iPod Mini with longer battery life for £139, or £128 with my student discount. In fact, the 6GB model would have only been £155 with a student discount (£169 without), so I could have had 50% more storage too. And they both have free engraving, which cost extra when I ordered mine.

Oh well. On the other hand, I've really appreciated the 6-and-a-bit months that I've had the unit and so arguably that makes up for the price difference. And I was the first amongst my friends to own one.

Of course, this means you have even less reason not to own an iPod unit now, since they represent even better value for money.

incidentally Apple have updated the iPod software. It's mostly of use for 2G and 3G iPod owners, iPod Shuffle owners and iPod Mini owners with Macs.

CNet News.com reports that the Mac Mini has made its retail debut, however there is already a shortage of iPod Shuffles with many Apple Stores completely out of them. So naturally there's a few quotes from disappointed punters who'd hoped to get their hands on one. Including this one:

Josh Beckmann, a student and iPod owner, arrived at 7:45 a.m. in hopes of picking up a couple of iPod Shuffles. One was to be a gift for his brother, but the other he planned to use when running, snowboarding or working out. In the past he had used non-Apple flash players, but said the results had been less than satisfactory.

"The user interface on the other MP3 players I've used at the gym just don't cut it."

What??? The iPod Shuffle doesn't have a user interface! There's no screen!

Okay, I can sort of see the point - with other players, you have to turn it on, wait for it to load up, then pick a song and play it - with the Shuffle, as far as I can tell, you just turn it on and it'll play a random track for you (or just the songs in order if you turn shuffle mode off). But still, the first time I read it I had to wonder what the guy was smoking.

It is interesting to see how many people who already own 'big' iPods have been shelling out for Shuffles. I suppose it's the combination of its smaller size and the fact that it won't jump or suffer long-term damage if you listen to it while doing exercise. Still, I'm happy with my Mini.

This may seem like a very, very strange way to spend a Friday night but I'm currently defragmenting my iPod. No really.

Via Kottke's Remaindered Links I found a guide to restoring the battery life of your iPod. The point it seemed to make was that if the files on your iPod are non-fragmented and contiguous, the hard disk does not have to work as hard to serve up the data and therefore it uses less battery power.

The guide is aimed at Mac users, so on the PC I decided to use good ol' Disk Defragmenter to reorganise the files into a better order and defragment the database file which was in two pieces. Whether this will actually improve the battery life or not remains to be seen but it's worth a try.

Before you all jump out of the woodwork and recommend a better defrag tool, please bear in mind that the disk layout isn't that bad as it is. I don't think Diskeeper or any of the commercial defraggers would make much of a difference here somehow.

incidentally, it's about this time last year that I wrote about iPod's Dirty Secret - a short film about how an 18-month-old iPod was suffering acute battery problems. Subsequent iPods have seen considerable battery life improvements, which is good.

Wired News has an article about 'closet' iPod users - iPod owners who choose not to use the provided white earbuds and instead use another pair of headphones. It states a number of reasons why, such as better sound quality, not wanting to look like a walking billboard or greater individuality.

Indeed, I personally choose not to wear the iPod headphones, for two reasons:

1. Safety. By wearing them, you're saying "hey, I've got nearly £200 of desirable kit in my pocket". I'm slightly worried that someone's going to point a sharp instrument at me and ask me to hand it over.
2. The earbuds don't actually stay in my ears. It's a problem with all earbuds - they fall out too easily and I'm forever putting them back in.

Instead I have some cheap fixed-frame headphones from Tesco which, while not having such good sound quality, are comfortable and stay on even when running. It's not that I don't like Apple's own earbuds, it's just that they're not very practical for me.

Found via twenty4.org which is the newest addition to my aggregator.

Here's a tip to make your iPod work slightly faster in Windows. Make sure your iPod is plugged in, then open Control Panel and select the System icon. Next, select the Hardware tab and open Device Manager.

Expand the Disk Drives branch and select your iPod - it should say 'Apple iPod USB Device' or something similar. Right-click on it and choose Properties. Now, choose the Policies tab. You'll get a dialog like the one on the right (click on it to enlarge). Select 'Optimise for Performance', but deselect 'write caching on disk'. Then click OK.

You've now enabled Write Caching, which allows Windows to access the iPod's files faster. However, once you have enabled this, you must properly dismount your iPod when disconnecting it - either by ejecting it in iTunes or using the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the notification area. You should, however, notice a minor performance increase with the option enabled.

If you say that "an iPod is just another music player" in front of an iPod owner (myself included), you'll get a nasty look and probably several minutes of evangelism about all the things that make iPods better than other players. Thankfully, Ben Hammersley has summarised some of these in article, and while a number of those are available on other devices, some are iPod-only. It makes interesting reading - both for iPod owners looking to do more with their devices, and for those wondering whether paying a little more for an iPod instead of just another player is worth it.

One feature that isn't mentioned in that article but is in another from today's Guardian is that the iPod series and the Rio Karma are the only music players that can store losslessly compressed audio. This is interesting - as these music players get bigger and bigger hard disks in them, filling them is going to get more and more difficult for the average user. Putting lossless music on there will help fill that gap and also offer the user better quality output. incidentally the Rio Karma uses the FLAC format which like Ogg Vorbis is open source and patent free, whereas the iPod uses Apple Lossless which is a proprietary format.

Now that I've bought my iPod Mini, all manner of competitions have come up with the opportunity of winning one. I've had one to win a blue iPod Mini loaded with exclusive songs by the band Deepest Blue, a big giveaway with Hula Hoops, and even West Yorkshire Police are getting in on the act.

Still, by buying one you're taking away the possibility that you won't win the competition.

incidentally since I seem to be talking so much about iPods and so forth I've created an iPod category for these posts.

Being an iPod owner (and it is still working :) ), I've come to like iTunes more and more. Sure, its loadup time and CPU usage do irk me somewhat, but I do like its interface and its iPod integration.

One thing I have noticed is the speed of importing files as AAC from audio CDs. Each song seems to rip in not much more than 10 seconds flat. Having looked in the options dialog, it appears that the encoder will take advantage of processor features like MMX and SSE2 - both of which my P4-based Celeron processor supports. It's no wonder it's so fast, but it is nice to know that Apple are actually tailoring their Windows applications to perform well.

The iPod Mini, like its bigger cousin, also supports Apple Lossless Encoder, and I actually ripped a few songs using that onto there today. I might use it a little more often as I'm struggling to fill the 4GB of space I have on there - how on earth I'd fill a 40GB iPod I have no idea. That said, I held a friend's second generation iPod on Saturday and am very glad I went for the Mini as it's so much smaller. I didn't realise just how big the classic ones are - I'm used to the smaller Flash-based players and the Mini is one of the few players that can take the size of a Flash player and throw in the capacity of a HD player. I really do appreciate being able to slide the Mini into small pockets when walking with it.

By the way, an unrelated side note: I'm no longer involved with the writing of the Hacking Movable Type book that I mentioned a couple of months ago. I haven't had the time or the creative energy to complete the chapters I was writing and loosing most of my work when the HD on my laptop failed set me back quite a bit too. However, from what I've seen the book looks really good and will be well worth buying when it does come out. Best of luck to my colleagues who are still frantically working on it.

My iPod Mini, which I only bought 6 weeks ago, has died already. It won't turn on and won't connect to the computer. It doesn't even respond to a manual reset (when you hold play and menu down for 10 seconds). The battery was still half-charged at the time. Consequently, I've put in a service request. Hopefully someone at Apple will have some ideas but otherwise it'll have to go back as a warranty return.

I really hope this is a one-off and that not all iPod Minis are like this.

Update: It lives! I plugged it into the mains adaptor and it started up with no problems. Weird. Still, good to have it working again :)

Ken wants me to write about the iTunes pricing issue, so here's a quick post before I go to work. MacCentral has the story details but it's in many, many other news outlets right now. Basically, the Consumers Association in the UK is accusing Apple of over-charging its British customers in comparison with its EU customers.

In short: I support the Consumers Association. My parents are actually members of the organisation.

iTMS is cheaper than the average, with Napster and the various OD2-based stores generally selling songs for around 99p and Apple selling them at 79p. Yet, in other EU countries, the songs are the equivalent of 67p in the localised iTunes music stores, however Brits can only get these lower prices if they have a credit card and address in mainland Europe. The Consumers Association say this is unfair and it is against EU trade rules which should encourage free trade across the union, and as such they are intending to report Apple to the UK Office of Fair Trade (OFT). Should the OFT act, Apple will be forced to change its prices.

Now, while Apple's music store offers comparitively good value, it doesn't excuse the fact that they are (allegedly) breaking trade rules. And I'm a consumer - I want the best value possible. iTMS is already the best (IMHO) online music store but lower prices would make it better. It could also start a price war and re-ignite the market.

Added later:
As I said this was written in a bit of a rush before I went to work this morning. It is fair to say Apple has a history of charging unnecessarily-inflated prices which are still higher than their US equivalents even when you include shipping, handling and taxes. The iPod Mini is a good example - at launch it was to be £200 here, but when it finally came out it was £180 (with some retailers like Amazon selling them for £175) because we Brits complained.

In the comments, however, Harry makes a very good point about how it is a little unfair that Apple has been singled out here and not OD2 or Napster. Now that might be because OD2 and Napster are just as expensive in mainland Europe, or because the Consumers Association are pointing the finger at Apple to attract more attention. I don't know if either of those are true.

I am not a happy bunny.

Now that my own laptop is back, I went to install the drivers for my iPod Mini so that I could use it. During the installation it said it needed to set the iPod up so that it could be used. Fair enough, I clicked okay and continued with the installation.

And then I found that by doing that I'd reformatted it.

So now all the music (around 90 songs) that I'd uploaded over the past few days is gone. There was nothing to warn me of this happening either.

Apple, if this is your idea of stopping people sharing files between computers then you really need to sort your policies out. Either that, or you need to get the idea that an increasing number of people own more than one computer, or may well need to reformat their computer and start again.

I'm just thankful this happened now and not a couple of months down the road when I had more music on there. The annoying thing is that some of the music is now on a computer back in York which I won't have access to for some time, so I'll have to do without it for now. Hmmmph.

The first 6 hours with my iPod Mini have gone well, but I thought I'd use this post to sum up my experiences so far in case someone else finds them useful.

At long last, my iPod Mini arrived this morning. It's now on charge, connected to the bundled transformer that is almost as big as the device itself. Unfortunately I won't be able to do all that much with it until my laptop is repaired because neither my dad's laptop or my parents' PC have USB2 ports, although once I have iTunes installed and have the device fully-charged I'll try anyway. Experience tells me that if you charge the device fully on first use you can greatly extend the battery life of a device so I'll wait a few hours.

Still, I'm excited at the fact that I can call myself an 'iPod owner' :) . Click on the photos to enlarge them.

My iPod Mini is tantalisingly close. According to the order page, it's waiting at a freight terminal about half an hour's drive from here, but it hasn't yet been put out for delivery. Unfortunately, I have to set off back to Bradford in less than an hour's time so unless I'm especially lucky it won't get here until after I've gone :( .

On the plus side, should it arrive this week, I'll be able to have it at the weekend when I'm back in York again. I didn't intend to be in York this much but that's how things have panned out. But right now I need to be in Bradford to sort some stuff out (and do an exam) so I can't stay here any longer.

Update: Bollocks. I'm back in Bradford now and checking the status page it's now out for delivery. Looks like I may have only missed it by a few hours. Darnit...

By now you'll probably know about Real Networks' Freedom of Music Choice site, which in turn promotes the RealPlayer Music Store which allows you to download music that will play on all manner of digital music players. The controversial bit is that it also supports the iPod, which means that instead of only being able to buy music from the iTunes Music Store, iPod owners can now also buy music from Real.

This is all very well so far, but to be able to support Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM technology, Real had to reverse engineer the files produced by iTMS to find out how to create files themselves. Apple previously refused to license the technology to Real, presumably to protect their own investments, so Real went their way alone. And naturally, the Mac Mafia have been up in arms accusing Real of all manner of dirty tricks.

Sure, Real have a dodgy past - I personally find RealPlayer to still be a steaming pile of bloatware and as such use Real Alternative to play back RealMedia-encoded files. But what they're doing is a good thing - giving consumers more choice. They even lowered the minimum price of some of their downloads to 49c - half what Apple charge. And yet there's a whole swathe of criticism aimed at them for doing that. It's like a reformed criminal doing you a favour and all you do in return is kick him in the tender areas.

And while it wasn't somehow widely reported, a majority of consumers think that Real is right to offer iPod owners more choice. Many are unaware that the music brought from the majority of online music stores won't play back on an iPod, despite it being the market leader.

Oh, and in other news, last Monday I put an order in for a green iPod Mini through Apple's online store for higher education (£165 with VAT and delivery). It arrives mid-September.

I'm leaving comments open on this article but based on past experience whenever I criticise Apple the Mac Mafia read the first couple of paragraphs and then leave some childish comment questioning my motives or telling me to grow up. Please play nice.

Engadget has a small article about FreeiPods.com. It does smell like a bit of a scam, but it seems legitimate according to the article. Basically, you have to sign up to the site and then sign up to an offer from one if its partners. Then, you have to get 5 friends to sign up to the site, and then sign up to a partner offer. Then, you get your free iPod, iPod Mini or $250 cash.

But then you do need to have 5 friends who all want to join a DVD club, get a new credit card or want AOL broadband, which may make things a little more difficult. And you could argue that the iPod isn't free because you've had to sign up for something else which will probably cost more in the longrun anyway.

On a similar note, yesterday's Ask Jack column in the Guardian had information about those eBay auctions where the winner is sent a link to a site where they can allegedly buy an iPod for £20. Unlike the above, it is very much a scam in my eyes and will in fact be illegal in the UK soon.

Still, if you want to be guaranteed of getting an iPod, just buy one like everyone else :) .

...I'm seriously considering buying an iPod Mini. My student discount brings the price down to a very reasonable £165 (an 8% reduction), and it's £65 cheaper than the 15GB iPod which is £230 (again with a discount).

My current player, a 128MB memory stick made by a random Korean manufacturer, appears to be on its last legs so I'd like something to replace it. That cost me £130 last year and when you consider that the Mini has 16 times the capacity and far superior build quality for £165 it's probably worth it.

What I do want to know is if there's anything else out there that would offer better value. I don't have that much music so around 4GB is enough for me (I only have 5GB in total). Argos have this Thomson player which supports MP3, WMA and mp3PRO (who uses that?) for £200 - it's got a 20GB HD and is about the same size as the normal iPod. There were also some Archos players that were good value but they look to be quite big - coming from a Flash player I'd like something small.

By the way, if you are considering an iPod Mini, Amazon are taking pre-orders for £175, saving you £5. They're due out officially on July 24th.

Back in January, I posted my dissatisfaction over the difference between the price of an iPod Mini in the US and in the UK. They were to cost £199 here and $249 in the US, but $249 is £134. Obviously, you had to add VAT and the cost of shipping the iPods across, but this still only brought the price to around £160. Apple were to make an extra £40 profit on all devices sold in the UK that didn't apply to US customers.

Well, the good news is that not only are iPod Minis soon to be launched here (finally... ), but they will retail at a rather more reasonable £180 (4th item). While there's still around £20 going missing, they still represent much better value. And you can use the £20 you've saved to buy yourself 25 songs at the iTunes music store, which should buy you a couple of albums worth.

Other news from Apple today is that the new iMac will have a G5 processor. The new machines have been delayed due to a shortage of G5 chips, apparently.

Engadget has a really cool tips article about reading RSS feeds on your iPod - you use a program to sync feeds and then can read them wherever you are.

There's one rather large catch though - you need a PC with Windows XP. Apple Macs just won't cut it here, since you need to use the free iPod Agent tool (along with the .Net Framework). Oh, the irony.

Note: despite the title, there's no RSS on my iPod, due to the fact that this iPod of mine doesn't actually exist. Though if I had an imaginary iPod I'm sure it could read RSS (and Atom) feeds with no problems. It would also play Ogg Vorbis files...

Just browsing the Apple Store today. No reason, but I checked out the current price of a 40GB iPod - £398.99, or $723.41. This seemed a bit pricy, so I jumped over to the US store, to find the same spec iPod at... wait for it... $499.00.

So, apparently it costs $224.41, or £123.70 to ship an iPod over to Blighty. Hmmm.

If I ever decide to buy an iPod, it looks like I'll be asking one of my stateside friends to buy it for me and have it shipped over cheaply then. I don't really see how shipping and VAT can amount to that much. And, yes, this is a re-hash of a rant about the iPod Mini but it just seems rather unfair that Americans get one price and Brits get another one.

Like just about every other news site at the moment, OnlineBlog has a summary of what was announced at the MacWorld conference. The big thing was the iPod Mini, a smaller version of the existing player with a maximum capacity of 10GB 4GB and a choice of colours (the bottom-of-the-range normal iPod will now have a 15GB drive with no hike in price).

So far, so good, but here's the scandal. When it goes on sale in the US in the very near future, it will cost $249, which works out at around £138 - about the same price as many comparable players here. But in April, when the mini iPod is launched in the UK, it'll cost... wait for it... £199.

No offence to Apple, but how can they justify increasing the price by £61 (nearly $110 US)? I doubt shipping and the extra value-added tax we have to pay here really amounts to that much of a difference - remember that we're talking about a price that's 30% higher. Unfortunately, with the iPod becoming a bit of a fashion icon on both sides of the pond, Apple may well get away with it.

Corporate greed was something that Apple die-hards seem to use against Microsoft, but is Apple guilty of it themselves?

Update I: Ben's ranting about it too and it's not just the iPod Mini that Apple have done this with - almost the full range of new products Apple are releasing will have huge price hikes when they are released in the UK and Europe.

Update II: Ken at Breaking Windows is also ranting about pricing, but this time from a US perspective. Including $60 for a one-button wireless mouse...

Update III: Since people have been saying it represents 'excellent' value for money, I'd like to point out that the Creative Jukebox Zen is the same price on Amazon and has a 30GB HD - more than 7 times the capacity of the iPod Mini. Stated battery life is also 14 hours as opposed to iPod's 8, and the battery is actually replacable.

Update IV: Apple is to review the pricing after the outcry over the high price. Even with VAT added, the iPod Mini would be £38 more in the UK than the US.

I've started reading Dan Gillmor a bit more lately, and last night he linked to iPod's Dirty Secret, a video which tells the story of an 18-month-old iPod with a dead battery.

Of course, you may remember I had a 9-month-old laptop with a dead battery but I'll put that down to it being a cheap Ni-MH battery and the fact that I used it in a way that didn't insure maximum battery life. To make batteries last longer, particularly the Lithium Ion batteries you get in most decent laptops and better mobile phones (like all Nokia phones), you need to go through several full recharge cycles from time to time - basically, running the device until the battery is flat, switching it off, charging it up fully, switching it on, running it down, and so on for a few times. That should make your batteries last longer.

I have no idea what battery the iPod has - I'd expect it to be Li-Ion due to the high price of themiPods do use Li-Ion batteries, which are more expensive than rechargeable ni_MH batteries, but asking over $250 for a new battery is madness, especially considering that most other battery powered devices have easily replacable batteries. You can buy new Nokia batteries quite cheaply from a wide range of places, and eBay is chock full of them.

One of the commenters on Dan's article said His bandwidth charges are probably going to be higher then buying a new G5.. It's a fair point, but I'd be less inclined to buy an iPod if I knew that in 18 months the battery would be dead and I'd need to spend another couple of hundred bucks on a new one.

That said, iPodBattery.com sells batteries for both the old and new iPod models for $49 and US AC adaptors that let you plug it in to the mains instead of your computer, although the latter would only be any good if you're in reach of a power socket, I suppose.

On the subject of iPods, Ryan is one of a number of bloggers to have linked to this Wired article about jacking into iPods. It sounds violent, but actually you just exchange headphones jacks briefly with another iPod user in the street to see what they're listening to. But as Ryan says, If I were to walk up to someone and try to plug into their iPod they might think I was trying to steal it or something.. I think I'd get much the same reaction in Bradford.

And finally an interesting fact: I've never actually seen an iPod outside a shop. I don't know anyone who has one and have never seen anyone listen to one out on the street. I'm guessing they're less popular in Blighty than in the US.