Turn your iPod into an e-book reader

Of course you know your iPod play music, audiobooks and podcasts. In some models, they also display photos and videos, and play games, too. You might even be aware you can sync your Outlook contacts and calendar files with the iPod to access on the go.

Of course you know your iPod plays music, audiobooks and podcasts. In some models, they can also display photos and videos, and play games, too. You might even be aware you can sync your Outlook contacts and calendar files with the iPod to access on the go. So, is that it? Nope.

A little known function is the Notes folder on your iPod, which can be used to read text files. From the main menu on your iPod, select Extras, and then Notes.

While it has its limitations in file size (4KB) and type (.txt files), you can use this to read email messages, websites, electronic books, blogs, song lyrics, and more.

Here’s how to get going:

• Sync your iPod with your computer and within iTunes, click the name of your iPod and check off "Enable disk use" form the main screen.

• In Windows, open a program that lets you view attached devices, such as Windows Explorer (or Macintosh Finder for Apple computers) and click the letter and name associated with your iPod (such as G:\MarciPod). One of the folders on your iPod will say Notes, which is where you can drag and drop text files.

• The Notes feature is available on iPods that have a dock connector, such as the iPod nano and 5th generation (video) iPod.

Get content:

• Remember you must convert documents, emails and websites into .txt files so they can be read on the iPod. With Microsoft Word documents, select Save As and choose plain text. You can do the same with other Microsoft Office files such as XLS (Excel) and PPT (PowerPoint) files. With Adobe PDF files, you can also choose to save it as a text document.

• Open your favourite webpage, blog or RSS feed in your browser and choose File, then Save As, and then choose plain text.

• In an email, such as an Outlook file, choose to save it as a text file (noticing a pattern here?).

• If you download an electronic book (e-book), remember you might need to convert it from a PDF or DOC to a text file. Because a book is likely bigger than 4KB, you might need to break it up into chapters or even two files per chapter. Your iPod is capped at 1000 files, therefore 4MB in total.

Filed Under: Portable Devices