iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Software for Mac and Windows

Like Apple itself, many software developers saw the wisdom in making products that would work for both Macintosh and Windows systems. Here are a few Pod-centric programs that cross that great platform divide.

• iPod Access. This industrious program can provide a backup copy of the iPod’s contents, including purchased music, to a designated folder on the Mac or PC. If you didn’t find an iPod song-transferring utility you liked back in Chapter 2, iPod Access does that, too. This $10 program for Mac OS X and Windows 2000/ XP copies the songs in a tidy fashion and can even organize them into album and artist folders.

• iRocker. This $30 program from Talking Panda lets your iPod teach you music when it’s not playing your music. With a Virtual Chordbook that plays and displays 200 guitar chords, a built-in metronome, and lessons in musical scales, the iPod is likely to be the least cranky music teacher you’ve ever had.

• iPodiWay. This traveler-friendly Web site (http://www.ipodiway.com) downloads free Yahoo driving directions and maps from your chosen Point A to Point Z and gives you a folder of picture files to sync up with your color-screen iPod and chosen photo album program.

• PodGourmet. Kitchen neophytes, fear not! Cooking can be as simple as just following the recipe, and the PodGourmet program gives you 260 dishes in the palm of your hand. The 14 food categories include Beef, Vegetables, and, most importantly, Desserts. PodGourmet costs $7.50—much less ...