I love my iPod Touch. But as an user of alternative operating systems, I also hate it from the bottom of my heart, due to the Apple lock down.

However do I think that rich media players like the iPod Touch are the way to go. Yet I would prefer them to have an open platform to be based on. Having played around with the Android SDK, I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t hide the phone functionality the same way Apple does and offer rich media players.

I hope there will be manufacturers considering exactly that. I’d like to be able to scp my music files to my media player as it comes right out of the box, not hack it to kingdom come and hope that the libgpod developer managed to reverse engineer it in his spare time. I’m sure that guy has better things to do than keep doing this.

Ah well, we’ll see. One thing’s for sure. My iPod Touch is definitely getting replaced with an iPhone formfactor Android device, as soon a decent one will be available. If it won’t be a media player, then an Android phone with headphone jack.

via http://www.tomservo.cc/2008/04/20/google-android-why-only-for-phones/

via http://www.pqdvd.com/blog/ipod/wp-admin/post-new.php

Japan’s Solid Alliance is now selling an Apple iPod cover that’s designed to look like RAW MEAT. It comes in a cellophane-and-styrofoam package just like meat does. It’s what’s for dinner.

via http://www.therawfeed.com/2008/04/new-ipod-cover-looks-like-raw-meat.html

An App called SIP-VOIP is a VOIP software available on jailbroken iPod Touches and the iPhone. Unlike other VOIP applications it has been confirmed to work on both of Apple’s Devices.

Their plan was to make a VOIP compatible with the iPod Touch to bring an iPhone like experience to users without access to the iPhone. Check it out and tell us what you think in the comments.

via  http://www.apple-touch.com/voip-for-ipod-touch-sip-voip-21609.php

Nokia will launch Australia’s first subscription music service today as it seeks to use its mobile industry clout to topple Apple’s iTunes off its perch.

But the venture could struggle to gain traction in a market dominated by the iPod, as songs bought from the store are incompatible with Apple’s ubiquitous music player.

The store, part of Nokia’s concerted diversification into online mobile services such as gaming, navigation and social networking, will sell downloads of individual tracks for $A1.70 ($NZ2) and albums from $A17.

And in an Australia-first offering, Nokia will allow customers to stream an unlimited number of full-length tracks directly from a player built into its music store website for a subscription fee of $A10 a month.

Songs can be downloaded directly from certain Nokia mobile phones or via the PC and synchronised to mobile devices. Nokia’s 5310, 5610, 5700, N78, N81, N82, N91, N95, N96 and N76 handsets are all compatible, and the phone giant said other mobile music devices should work provided they support Windows Media Player.

All 2.5 million songs will be locked down using Windows Media digital rights management (DRM), and must be synchronised with mobile devices using Windows Media Player 11. Users will only be able to load tracks on to five different devices.

The move to restrict the use and distribution of the songs using DRM locks is curious because record labels are already experimenting overseas with DRM-free MP3 files, which are widely supported and can be played on an unlimited number of devices.

The iPod does not support the Windows Media format, WMA.

Karen Farrugia, Nokia Australia’s music services manager, acknowledged that locking out iPod users would greatly limit the potential target market but said Nokia still aimed to topple iTunes.

“At this time we are launching Windows Media DRM-protected files and we will look in the future to introduce an MP3 service. . . we’re in discussions with labels to really work on that,” she said.

Nokia’s catalogue includes artists represented by the major labels Sony BMG, EMI and Universal, as well as a swathe of smaller labels including the Australian-based Hillsong, Modular and Shock Entertainment.

Farrugia said there would be a distinct focus on Australian artists, and Nokia has already lined up exclusive tracks from John Butler Trio and Pete Murray. Discussions were under way to bring the final major label, Warner Music, onboard.

Nokia would also offer “free tracks of the week” to push forward emerging artists, starting off with Stone Parade of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, which won last year’s Nokia Be Heard competition. This month the band also won the 2008 International Songwriting Competition, ahead of fellow Australian group Eskimo Joe.

The Australian unveiling of the Nokia Music Store follows the launch of the service in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore, Germany and Italy.

“Australia is one of the top 10 countries in the Nokia world,” company spokeswoman Louise Ingram said.

While most music stores based on Windows Media DRM have failed to gain traction - largely due to the dominance of the iPod and iTunes - Nokia has a better chance of success due to its position as leader of the mobile phone handset market.

Nokia shipped 146 million music-enabled devices in 2007, more than any other device maker.

The move comes at a time when digital music sales are booming but, much to the chagrin of record labels, not enough to make up for the decline in physical CD sales.

Earlier this month, Apple’s iTunes Store surpassed retail giant Wal-Mart to become the No 1 music retailer in the US.

Australians will be able to access the Nokia Music Store at music.nokia.com.au.

via http://www.stuff.co.nz/4490483a28.html

  Can you believe it! I’m watching The Forbidden kingdom on my iPodnow! This movie just made
its worldwide premiere, and I rushed into the theater the day before yesterday, as if fighting for
a ticket to beat Jet lee and Jackie Chan. Then you may guess that after seeing it in widescreen, I was
still left feeling unfulfilled. So the DVD of the The forbidden kingdom soon adds into my DVD collection.
the fight between these two super kungfu star fascinate me, and I begin to think of ripping this funny and
exciting clip onto my ipod, to make sure I can enjoy it whenever I can on the go.
       After trying on about five dvd to ipod rippers I free-downloaded, I finally found an easy and inexpensive way
to settle this dear DVD movie.That’s a fabulous DVD movies to iPod conversion tool,PQ DVD to iPod Converter Suite. It’s a superb software, and allows
me to set the start time and end time, producing the exact clip I want. Meanwhile, the speed is really as fast as you
can imagine.
 
  Of course, I have something to say about the film itself.It’s said that all characters in the movie
refer to lots of other Chinese movies or legends, and I believe the movie will seem much funnier to us if we
know more about the China and its people. On the other hand, it’s really a  harmless outlets for the impulses repressed
in the hearts of about 13-year-old boys whose parents won’t let them rent Once Upon a Time in China or
the Kill Bill movies.

    Anyway, Such a easy access to watch The forbidden kingdom on  makes me overjoyed.If you wanna
see The Forbidden kingdom on your iPod or psp or pocket pc, or watch Sex and Death, Deception, etc. on these handheld devices,this PQ software is really a good choice.

Here is a best way to download Youtube and Metacafe video and free!!

Download this video by PQ FLV Downloader

Rotem925 created a very cool app, iBuilder.
It let’s you create your own Firmware with all you can desire already installed

the official words from the developer are:

-Its a bundle builder, it will build a bundle directly from the installer,
package it so that the installer will recognize it
-It supports installer sources too

Known BUGS
There is a problem with the directory /private/var
looks like it cant load the carrier plist.

–end developer comments.

the app is still in beta, but this looks like it’s going to be a very very very nice app.

No more installing every single app after a restore, just create the image with all the apps you need, and tata, your iPhone is instantly installed !

You can download the app from here

 via http://iphonefreakz.com/2008/04/20/create-your-own-firmware-with-ibuilder/

        Here is review I searched out on this superb tool of convert movies to ipod.

      “ I am so excited to find an easy and inexpensive way to watch movies on my iPod, the only high-tech thing I have. No doubt, a lot of movies to iPod converters are queuing up for me in Google. But as careful as I always am, I first searched some pieces of reviews on converting movies to iPod from some “insider” sites and took time to chew them over, and finally decide to use the free trial of PQ DVD to iPod Converter Suite, a software continually praised by other users. After trying it on several DVDs and video files in my hard drive, I have to admit that this movies to iPod conversion tool is a clean, and very easy to use. You will never be annoyed by audio, video or spyware problems as long as you finish the output settings in the right way. The speed I care most, due to my impulse for batch conversion, is super fast, and I even wanted to convert all movies I can imagine to my 30GB iPod. Though other softwares for movies to iPod conversion may be good too, but I’m too lazy to lift my finger to try. Whatever, give it a try, and try converting your favorite movies to iPod, you may want to keep the software as well as the converted movies forever.”

via http://www.coolsoftreview.com/2008/04/09/a-superb-tool-of-converting-movies-to-ipod/

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via  http://www.quickproductreviews.com/MovieDownloads.html