Photos on iPod

[elbirth]

I was wondering if anyone happens to have one of the new Photo iPods that were somewhat recently released?

It seems like a really cool idea, and it'd be great if someone makes an attachment for it that lets you put a CF card on it to download your photos while out shooting, like a storage drive.

iPods are so expensive, though...
I hope it's ok for me to post this here, if not, I apologize- but for anyone interested in getting an iPod, there's a website that is dedicated to giving people free iPods as long as you sign up and complete an offer that gets advertised on their site (such as applying for a credit card, etc). It's basically a pyramid scheme type deal where you have to get 10 people to signup and complete an offer under you, and while I was wary, a good friend of mine (that I actually do know in person) took the plunge and actually got one... I was amazed as I actually held it in my hand, in awe. (here's a link to some pictures we took of him and his free iPod- http://community.webshots.com/user/mil2damax )

If anyone would like to do this, please sign up under me, I really want to get one of these for both photos and music... it's a 40GB Photo iPod, for only the time it takes to sign up and apply for a credit card (you can just cut up the card when you get it, if you want, you don't have to use it).

Here's my link in case someone decides to go for it, http://www.freephotoiPods.com/?r=13241908

And in case you're not sure how to go about doing it, here's a link that lays out the steps to make sure you do it correctly and don't waste your time in the process... it refers to the old iPod offer, but is still relevent: http://freeipod.iguano.com/

[donlavange]

I got a 40G Ipod, my second, just 2 weeks prior to the arrival of the new one for photos! My timing is so good.

[elbirth]

I hear ya on that. I have a 20gig iPod from like 2 years ago... it looks ancient in comparison to the new designs. While I love it, I kind of wish I had waited around for one of the newer generations

[KirkM]

I needed a new PDA, so I picked up a Tungsten E. At the time, I didn't even pay attention to the specs that it displayed photos. Is certainly isn't an iPod Photo, but with it's 320x320 display, it does a great job, and I use it alot now. I think the iPod display is 220x176. The Tungsten E is only $199 or less too :)

Kirk
http://homepage.mac.com/messnerk/tungstene.jpg

[vcutag]

I needed a new PDA, so I picked up a Tungsten E. At the time, I didn't even pay attention to the specs that it displayed photos. Is certainly isn't an iPod Photo, but with it's 320x320 display, it does a great job, and I use it alot now. I think the iPod display is 220x176. The Tungsten E is only $199 or less too :)

Kirk
What's the storage on those like?

[elbirth]

What's the storage on those like?
Since I don't own one, I can't say for certainty... but I believe maybe a few hundred megabytes or so, max. It's primarily just a PDA, not an mp3 player. iPods now go upwards of 60gigabytes :)

[Curos]

Im pretty sure the Tungsten runs on a a SD card, so...storage is whatever you want?

[robekert]

You know I am not really kicking myself over not getting one of these....We have 3 iPods in our household. It seems kind of gimmiky to me. I have been one of the Mac faithful for 15 years. The screen is so small it is like looking at the LCD display on the back of my 1DMkII. It is just kind of a "gee wiz it works" kind of thing. It would be a nice add on but I would not pay extra for it. I could not see myself listening to my music and looking at snapshots on my iPod. JMHO
Cheers,
Rob

[johnfoss]

It seems like a really cool idea, and it'd be great if someone makes an attachment for it that lets you put a CF card on it to download your photos while out shooting, like a storage drive. Santa Claus brought me a 40GB iPod Photo for Christmas! I am a photographer who takes way too many pictures, so the idea was that this would be a great way to back up my camera's media cards on longer trips. Plus lisen to music of course.

PROBLEM: You can't just plug your camera, or card reader, into the iPod to download the contents. You need a third piece of hardware in between. As far as I've been able to discover so far, there is so far only one company making them, and only two products to choose from. They are both from Belkin, and the newer one seems to be the preferred choice, with improvements over the previous model.

Sorry I don't have a link handy, but look up Belkin Media Link and I think you'll get there. Unfortunately these products use batteries, and quite a bit of power is required to download your photos. It also uses the iPod's batter, as the hard drive is running to copy it all. Make sure you have access to extra batteries or the ability to recharge before you find yourself in the field and out of juice. Unfortunately the Belkin Media Link retails for $80.

I was bummed because I was not expecting you'd have to buy additional hardware to use the device for the purpose I thought it was purpose-built.

Instead, it's built to carry and display your photos, in a very similar way it does with your music. You can sync it with the photos on your computer, either through iPhoto on a Mac, Adobe Photoshop Album or Elements on a PC, or just from folders of photos. If you set it to sync, these photos will be automatically updated along with your music.

But then what? As someone mentioned, the screen is only about the size of the one on the back of my Casio Exilim camera. And you can't zoom in. It's hard for more than two people to view photos on the device at the same time, and they're pretty small. But...

It takes all your photos and makes them easily portable, and easily showable. The iPod Photo comes with a cord to plug it into nearly any TV set (component video, like for a game console). Plug it into Mom's big screen TV, set the iPod with some slideshow background music, and let it play. I haven't tried this yet, but I think it's the intended way to display your photos. Plus you can use the device to carry those photos from place to place.

iPods are so expensive, though... I am a recent Mac convert. I have a PC on my desk, both at home and work, but I've been using a Mac PowerBook for the past year. You get what you pay for. The reason the iPod is so much more popular than all the competing players out there is because it works. It's easy to use, so you spend your time listening to music instead of trying to troubleshoot it or figure it out.

I think it's pretty awesome, but I wish I didn't need the extra hardware to download my memory cards. I'm hoping a third company will come along with a card reader that can plug into the iPod's dataport. I already have a fast USB card reader that fits every card on the market and is smaller than my iPod, but I think a powered one is needed for this data transfer.

[Jonny]

I think it's pretty awesome, but I wish I didn't need the extra hardware to download my memory cards. I'm hoping a third company will come along with a card reader that can plug into the iPod's dataport. I already have a fast USB card reader that fits every card on the market and is smaller than my iPod, but I think a powered one is needed for this data transfer.

Even with the belkin card reader it will only store your photos, you need to copy them from your computer to view them!

[mikesd]

I just purchased a Gateway MP3/Photo jukebox with USB 2.0. The big advantage is that you can download your CF card from a cardreader onto the hard drive, the negative being it ia only has a 4gig hard drive. I bought it to use as a backup when out on jobs and it works great. It will not read my 10D but it reads my card reader and loads at 2.0 speed. When I get home my computer reads the player, I move all files to My Pictures and then reformat the player to clear the hard drive.Makes a great backup for $249.00 and cost wise it is competitive in cost with a 4gig CF card. It also has a 1.6 inch color screen, not great but does allow you to view photos.

[johnfoss]

Even with the belkin card reader it will only store your photos, you need to copy them from your computer to view them!Understood, but that's okay. When on the road, the priority is to open up space on the camera cards. The same is true with digital music, BTW. If you copy it from sources other than iTunes, the iPod will store it, but you can't play it until you run it through your computer with iTunes.

That Gateway photo jukebox sounds like it would have been pretty useful for my needs as well, except 4GB would not be enough for me on those big trips, like Japan last summer. Shots from my camera run about 1.5-2MB each, and I think I filled up more than a DVD on that trip. The nice thing with the iPod Photo is it will hold thousands of your photos and still most or all of your music collection.

I did some more reading on the Belkin devices. Their Digital Camera Link product (http://************/2wkdq) is currently being upgraded for 4th generation iPods. Use caution, as the copy on the page I linked is a little unclear. This one looks like it copies fast enough to not totally drain your iPod's battery at least.

[Turbowolf]

I have a 40 GB iPod bought two weeks before the photo iPods came out.With a belkin adapter I use it to clear cards in the field, and the price difference between the photo pod and regular pod was the equal of a 1 GB CF card. Once I'm back at base camp everything gets moved to the Powerbook and burned to CD for archiving.

I also have the Tungsten E PDA - they use SD memory. Use the PDA for everything but photo storage....just not worth the hassle.

[Digital Prophet]

Well I got a Photo IPod for Christmas as well. And I have to say that I am really enjoying mine.

I think that the music aspect of the IPod is a really worn topic. All I will say is that I play mine about 12 hours a day at the office.

As for the photo part I am enjoying that too. As some of you know I shoot action horse photography and a big part of what I shoot are enthusiastic students. Well one many many occassions I have had parents comment on how "they need to go to the site to order the photos, but haven't had time". Well now there is always time. I have my entire catalog (such as it is) on my IPod. So now I can just pull out the IPod (but I have to stop listening to my music!) and open the folder that has thier photos and they can check them out. I have generated several sales from this tactic.

Sure the screen isn't as large as other products (the Creative Zen for example) but those products aren't as convienent to carry. I find that the ease of being able to review the photos and place an order in such a quick manner more than makes up for the small image and the low resolution. The image is more than adequate to give the buyer the confidence to place the order. And in the two cases that the parents wanted to double check on the site it gave them that little "push" to make time to go and order.

I even did a little on the fly slideshow for two moms that wanted to schedule a shoot in the future using the office television. The images look nice on the screen and I am glad that I took the time to mix a nice little compilation to go with the photos. There is just not an easier way to have a nice little protfolio display than to whip the IPod out of the carrying case and hook a single cable to the headphone jack. That's it. And it isn't like the cable takes lots of room in my backpack.

However the IPod has one bad trait, the clear plastic on the front. Apparently the IPods are notorious for scratching easily. Now if this were just an MP3 player I wouldn't give it a second thought. But since I am using it to show photos to clients I am concerned. I have read that Brasso or CD filler works well on the plastic but have yet to try it.

Not perfect. And the price tag wasn't cheap. I got my 60 Gig for $549 (including tax). But that is because I know someone that knows someone that knows someone that works at CompUSA. Otherwise they come in at $599 plus tax. But as far as I am concerned it was money well spent.

- Digital Prophet -

[Kinger]

Well just for comparison, I have the Archos GMini 400, it is a 20gig hard drive, and can display jpegs. It is also a mp3 player that is compatiable with WMA file as well. It also plays videos, and can carry files as well. It conects to your computer via USB 2.0. But the best feature is the ability to dump your compact flash cards onto it with the built in port. It's pretty quick too, I was able to dump a full 512mb card in less then 2 minutes. And for you MAC users, there is a file that comes with it that allows it to work with ITunes on the mac, just not the PC version.