Synopses & Reviews
S o m e p e o p l e a r e c o n t e n t t o u s e t h e i r i P o d s i m p l y t o p l a y m u s i c . S o m e p e o p l e w a n t t o d o m o r e . T h e y w a n t t o u s e t h e i r i P o d t o r e a d e m a i l, o r u s e i t a s a v o i c e r e c o r d e r, o r m a y b e a d e v i c e t o s t o r e d i g i t a l p h o t o s . T h e y w a n t t o u s e i T u n e s v i s u a l s a s a s c r e e n s a v e r, u s e J a v a t o e x p a n d i T u n e s f u n c t i o n a l l y, o r u s e a c h e a p L i n u x b o x a s a s e r v e r a n d a c c e s s M P 3 t u n e s . M a y b e t h e y w a n t t o p a i n t t h e i r i P o d a c u s t o m c o l o r . F o r t h o s e p e o p l e w h o w a n t t o g e t m o r e o u t o f t h e i r i P o d, t h o s e w h o w a n t t o e x p l o r e a n d e x p e r i m e n t, u n e a r t h s h o r t c u t s, a n d c o m e u p w i t h f u n t h i n g s t o t r y t h a t h a v e n e v e r e v e n o c c u r r e d t o t h e i r f r i e n d s i P o d a n d i T u n e s H a c k s i s b r i m m i n g w i t h u n d o c u m e n t e d t i p s, t r i c k s, a n d t r a d e s e c r e t s f o r g e t t i n g t h e v e r y m o s t f r o m y o u r i P o d . T h i s g u i d e t a k e s c u r i o u s a n d c l e v e r i P o d o w n e r s b e y o n d t h e o b v i o u s w i t h 1 0 0 i n g e n i o u s h a c k s t h a t w i l l d e l i g h t, e n t e r t a i n, a n d a d d a s t o n i s h i n g p o w e r t o t h e i P o d a n d i T u n e s e x p e r i e n c e .
Synopsis
Some people are content to use their iPod simply to play music. Some people want to do more. They want to use their iPod to read email, or use it as a voice recorder, or maybe a device to store digital photos. They want to use iTunes visuals as a screensaver, use Java to expand iTunes functionally, or use a cheap Linux box as a server and access MP3 tunes. Maybe they want to paint their iPod a custom color. For those people who want to get more out of their iPod, those who want to explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, and come up with fun things to try that have never even occurred to their friends iPod and iTunes Hacks is brimming with undocumented tips, tricks, and trade secrets for getting the very most from your iPod. This guide takes curious and clever iPod owners beyond the obvious with 100 ingenious hacks that will delight, entertain, and add astonishing power to the iPod and iTunes experience.
Synopsis
Some people are content to use their iPod simply to play music. Some people want to do much more. Those people, and you know who you are, aren't satisfied until they get under the hood and tap every iPod trick available to them.They want to explore and experiment, create shortcuts, and unearth cool and unexpected things to do with their iPod that have never even occurred to their friends. Maybe they want to use their iPod to read email. Maybe they want to use it as a voice recorder, or a device to store their digital photos. Maybe they want to use iTunes visuals as a screensaver, use Java to expand iTunes functionally, or use a cheap Linux box as a server and access MP3 tunes. Or, maybe they just want to paint their iPod a custom color. For those people who want to get more much more out of their iPod iPod and iTunes Hacks is brimming with undocumented tips, tricks, and trade secrets for getting the very most from your iPod.This guide takes curious and clever iPod owners beyond the obvious with 100 ingenious hacks that will delight, entertain, and add astonishing power to the iPod and iTunes experience.
Synopsis
The iPod is only a few years young and yet it is not an exaggeration to call it a phenomenon. You just have to love it when a product suddenly becomes such a part of your life; it lives in your pocket for most of the day, along with your keys and mobile phone. Beneath its clean lines and elegant interface is a computer-on-a hard-drive, more flexinle and hackable than you might imagine. But the iPod is only half the story. As your digital music collection grows, you'll notice that the obsessive behavior typically reserved for organizing your CD collection is transferred to organizing the music on your computer.
iPod and iTunes Hacks reveals myriad ways to extend, organize, tweak, twiddle, and expand iTunes. Learn how to:
- Use your iPod with both Mac and PC
- turn your iPod into an FM radio station, portable stereo, or wireless jukebox
- replace your iPod's battery yourself, without giving $100 to Apple
- Use your iPod as a portable hard drive, and access those "hidden" music files
- Control iTunes from your Palm, mobile phone, or the command line
- Turn your iPod into a universal remote control or voice recorder
- Bend iTunes to your will with AppleScript
- Play games on your iPod or write your own
- Read email, news, RSS feeds, books and more on your iPod
- Use your iPod with Linux, or even run Linux on your iPod
- Stream your music collection over the Web
- Extend iTunes using Java or Perl
About the Author
Hadley Stern is a designer, writer, and photographer residing in Boston, MA. Hadley was born in London, England, relocated at age 4 to Singapore, then to Canada at age 10, and finally to America at age 22, where he met his lovely wife, Meiera.Hadley studied creative writing and western civilization and culture at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, before studying graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).Since graduating from RISD, Hadley has worked as a professional designer at Malcolm Grear Designers, Rykodisc Records, and Razorfish and is currently an Interactive Creative Director at Fidelity Investments. He has worked on corporate-identity projects, CD packages, web sites, Flash banner advertising, and a wide variety of print collateral. His personal site is http://www.hadleystern.com.Hadley has written for WebMonkey, American Photo magazine, iPodLounge.com, and O Reilly Media, and is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of AppleMatters (http://www.applematters.com). AppleMatters is a serious yet irreverent look at all things Apple. Covering opinions, news, and interviews, AppleMatters has done tremendously well since its launch over a year ago.
Table of Contents
Copyright; Dedication; Credits; About the Author; Contributors; Acknowledgments; Preface; Why iPod and iTunes Hacks?; How to Use This Book; How This Book Is Organized; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; How to Contact Us; Got a Hack?; Chapter 1: iPod Hardware; Hacks 1-22; 1 Good as New: Clean Your iPod; 2 Exercise with Your iPod; 3 Store Digital Photos on Your iPod; 4 Upgrade Your Ears; 5 Broadcast Your iPod to FM Radio; 6 Build Your Own FM Broadcaster; 7 Turn Your iPod into a Portable Stereo; 8 Use Two iPods to DJ; 9 Turn Your iPod into a Universal Remote Control; 10 Integrate Your iPod with Your Motorcycle; 11 Install Your iPod in Your Car, Permanently; 12 Integrate the iPod Remote with Your Car; 13 Turn Your iPod Mini into a Radio Station; 14 Use Your iPod as a Dictaphone; 15 Replace Your Generation 1 or 2 iPod's Battery; 16 Replace Your Generation 3 iPod's Battery; 17 Replace Your iPod Mini's Battery; 18 Build Your Own iPod External Charger; 19 Change the Colors of Your Generation 3 iPod's LCD Screen; 20 Turn Your iPod into a Wireless Jukebox; 21 Craft an iPod Case from Cardboard; 22 Repurpose a Dead iPod; Chapter 2: Non-iPod Hardware; Hacks 23-31; 23 Control iTunes from Your Palm; 24 Control iTunes from Your Mobile Phone; 25 Stream Music Around Your House; 26 Stream Music with AirPort Express; 27 Buy or Build a Headphone Amplifier; 28 Access Your iTunes Music Library Through TiVo; 29 Run iTunes on an Old Mac; 30 Build a Cheap MacMP3/AACServer; 31 Build a Cheap Linux Music Server; Chapter 3: iPod Software; Hacks 32-49; 32 Run Your iPod in Disk Mode; 33 Read News and More; 34 Diagnose iPod Problems; 35 Use Your iPod with a Mac and a PC; 36 Play Games on Your iPod; 37 Write an iPod Adventure Game; 38 Convert Text Files into iPod Books; 39 Write Your Own iPod Book; 40 Change Your Battery Icon; 41 Access Hidden Files on Your iPod; 42 Build an Emergency iPod Boot Volume; 43 Get Your Email on Your iPod; 44 Publish a Web Page from Your iPod; 45 Feed Streaming Audio to Your iPod; 46 Use an iPod with Linux; 47 Dial a Phone with Your iPod; 48 Use .NET to Access the iPod's Database; 49 Run Linux on Your iPod; Chapter 4: iTunes; Hacks 50-71; 50 iTunes Keyboard Shortcuts; 51 Control iTunes from the Finder; 52 Clean Up Your ID3 Tags; 53 Import Lyrics into iTunes and iPod; 54 Extend Your Visualizer Options; 55 Bulk-Rip CDs; 56 Work with Album Artwork; 57 Clutter Your Desktop with Music; 58 Make Your Playlists Smart; 59 Konfabulate Your iTunes; 60 Use Java to Expand iTunes Functionality; 61 Control iTunes with Perl; 62 Upload a Graphic of Your Currently Playing Song; 63 Create a Web Page to Display Your iTunes Library; 64 Create Links to the iTunes Music Store; 65 Skin iTunes with ShapeShifter; 66 Alter the iTunes Look and Feel by Resource Hacking; 67 Use the iTunes Visualizer as a Screensaver; 68 Turn iTunes into a Trivia Player; 69 Hack Kung-Tunes into a Dynamic Server; 70 Put the Ogg in iTunes; 71 Get at iTunes Music Store Metadata; Chapter 5: AppleScript for iTunes; Hacks 72-92; 72 Tame iTunes with AppleScript; 73 Swap Song Name and Artist; 74 Clean up "Artist - Song Name"-Style Titles; 75 Remove Unwanted Characters from Song Names; 76 Find a Track's File Path; 77 Get a Track's Running Time and File Size; 78 Increase or Decrease the Play Count; 79 AMG EZ Search; 80 Search for Lyrics on Google; 81 Remove Dead Tracks; 82 Build a Random Playlist; 83 Make a New iPod Playlist from Your Selections; 84 Change Your Encoder on the Fly; 85 Whack the Current Track; 86 Save Artwork to a Folder; 87 Send Current Track Info to iChat; 88 Rewind or Pause the Current Track; 89 See What Other People Are Listening to; 90 Play Snippets of Each Track in a Playlist; 91 Make Files Bookmarkable; 92 Search the iTunes Music Store for the Current Song; Chapter 6: Beyond iTunes; Hacks 93-100; 93 Play MP3 and AAC Files from the Command Line; 94 Manipulate Audio Using the Terminal; 95 Stream Your Music Collection over the; 96 Make a Custom Mix CD; 97 Stream Your Music via iDisk; 98 Back Up Your Digital Music Collection; 99 Get Your Record Collection into iTunes; 100 Create Your Own Free Audiobook; Colophon;