The popular Apple iPod is primarily a music player, but it also has
a modest set of organizer functions, just like a PDA (both the full size and Mini
versions). The iPod can store and display Contacts, Notes, and a Calendar. These items
cannot be created on the iPod since there is no data entry interface, but they can be
easily transferred from the host computer. You don't have to use iTunes - Apple has used
standard file formats for these items, so you can simply export items directly from common
Windows and Mac software to the folders Contacts, Notes, and Calendar on the iPod when it
is attached as a removable disk drive via USB or Firewire. Each Contact is a separate file
in vCard format, each Note is a separate file in text format, and one or more Calendar
entries can be stored as ics files. Both standard Mac software and Microsoft Outlook can
export all of these formats. If only they could get together so easily on the music file
format!
The iPod screen is as big and clear as a typical PDA for reading information, and it has a
backlight which can be turned on and off. The scroll wheel works as well for scrolling
rapidly through a long list of contacts in alphabetical order as it does for music files.
The iPod has a built-in clock which can display the current time and
date on the screen, and it has a daily alarm function which can beep or play music at the
pre-set time. The alarm beep uses the same internal speaker which makes the clicking sound
of the click wheel, but it's so faint that it could only be heard in a very quiet room.
iPod Notes actually support hyper-linking to other Notes or to music - look for the file
ipodnotereader.pdf on Apple's support site for instructions. You can use Notes to
construct custom menus, organize contacts, link lyrics to songs, or even make a text
adventure game. Notes can also be organized into folders which appear on the menu (this
feature would also have been very helpful for Contacts, for example to separate Business
and Personal Contacts, but strangely folders are not supported for Contacts).
Since the iPod functions as a Firewire or USB removable disk drive in Windows (no driver
needed for WinXP), you can use it to store and transfer any type of data files up to the
available disk capacity. Data transfers are very fast, up to 10 Mbytes/sec.
Apple has enabled the iPod to easily load updated firmware from the computer, so new
features can be added from time to time by downloading the latest Updater from Apple. The
internal hardware is slightly different from one generation to the next though, so not
every feature is backwards-compatible. Unfortunately the firmware does not support custom
extensions, so other software developers can't create add-ons for the iPod.
In summary, it's not going to replace a Palm PDA - but if you already have one, it can serve as a reasonable pocket organizer.