All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

iPod

Battery replaced with ipodjuice.com

In Review, iPod on 3 April 2008 with 6 comments

Almost two and a half years ago, I replaced my iPod battery. It worked great until a few months ago, when I started to notice that it won’t hold a charge.

Last week, I finally forced myself to order a replacement battery. I didn’t go with iPodResQ (which is now iResQ) because they are one of the companies that send two small, inadequate tools. (Oh yeah, look closely at the picture — one of mine broke!)

ipodjuice.com offers a longer-lasting battery — 1100 mAh, compared to 850 mAh from iResQ. Plus, ipodjuice.com sells the iOpener, which is larger and more sturdy compared to the other iPod “tools.”

The only problem that came across was my fault. After I finished installing the new battery, I closed it up, and turned my iPod on. I got an error — a folder with an exclamation point on the screen — which meant I didn’t plug the hard drive back in all the way.

I had a harder time reopening it the second time around because I dulled the iOpener a bit. The manual said I could use sandpaper to resharpen the edge, but all I had was a razor blade. After a mixture of pure perseverance, sweat and fury, I finally reopened it. With the connection to the hard drive reseated, the iPod worked fine. Awesome!

Note: There’s a micro screw that got loose. I’m not sure how big of a deal it is, so I’ll keep in a plastic bag for now. Other than that, it’s fine.

Conclusion — If your iPod battery isn’t lasting as long as it should, go to ipodjuice.com. They rock.

How to speed up podcasts for free with Audacity (v2)

In How-to, Open Source, Podcasts, School, iPod on 18 April 2007 with 18 comments

This is an update to the How-to article, “How to speed up podcasts for free with Audacity.”

In Audacity 1.3.2 (Beta), configuring the batch script is easier. The developers moved the location, though, so you might be lost if you recently updated to this version.

First, setup the chain: File > Edit Chains

In the left pane of the window that pops up, you’ll need to add a new chain. Title it “Speedup,” or whatever you like. With it selected, the right pane should have only one parameter: END.

Select that command, then at the bottom of the window, click Insert. Another window will pop up, and you’ll want to choose Change Tempo. Change the parameter to 25.000000, then click OK. (Later, you can increase the tempo if you’re comfortable.) Again, click Insert, select the ExportMP3 command, then click OK. Finally, OK out of the Edit Chains window.

Then, if you want to run the script, go to File > Apply Chain. Select the chain you just created, click Apply to Files, then browse to the folder where the podcasts are stored. Like I mentioned in the previous How-to, I copy the MP3s to the root podcast folder, so I’m not limited to one show (folder) at a time.

Conclusion

This’ll empower you to listen to podcasts, or any other supported audio files in a shorter amount of time, and you can convert multiple files at once. In addition to podcasts, I also speed up class lectures. 80-minute classes reduced to 64 minutes — awesome!

How to speed up podcasts for free with Audacity

In GTD, How-to, Podcasts, School, iPod on 20 June 2006 with 7 comments

Update 4/18/2007: This post is outdated. Audacity 1.3.2 (Beta) changes the method a bit, which I describe here.

Over a month ago, Lifehacker linked to an article: “Speeding Up Podcasts and Audio Books“. Here are the two sentences that caught my eye:

It lets you play one minute and fifteen seconds of audio for every minute you listen. In other words, you get an extra 25% of content.

However:

It’s the feature that Apple introduced with the 4G iPods back a couple of years ago. The feature is the ability to speed up (or slow down) audio without changing the pitch (if you are familiar with variable speed tape recorders, you understand that simply speeding up the playback of something tends to also make the speaker sound like a chipmunk).

I have a 3G iPod, so I don’t have this feature. The article mentioned Amazing Slow Downer, but it’s not free. Fortunately, Matt commented about Audacity:

Audacity is great for this, at an unbeatable price ($0). [..] It is cross platform, open source (free), and [speeds] up audio excellently, [in addition to] being a general purpose audio editor. There was a beta of the next version last time I checked that allowed bulk conversion. Unfortunately no command-line. (Effect [menu] > Change Tempo is the command you want.)

So, if I want to speed up podcasts, I have to do some work. Except for the tempo increase, it won’t be automatic.

(more…)

Lost an iPod?

In iPod on 4 April 2006 with no comments

It’s amazing to read that there’s honest people out there! If used properly, the internet is a great tool:

Maureen Silliman felt her empty pocket and gulped. Her new US $300 iPod must have bounced out as she ran to catch a train. While she sobbed, her boyfriend suggested a message on the lost-and-found section of Craigslist, an online bazaar of classified ads. [...] Within 24 hours, Silliman’s iPod was back.

Full story (via lajo.biz)

Tech links for 3/28/06

In Firefox, Software, iPod on 28 March 2006 with no comments

Some of these maybe be old and/or outdated, but I still think they’re worth looking into. These posts won’t be as length since I’ve accumulated a lot of these over a period of a few weeks.

• The Complete Guide to Backing Up iPod & iTunes Music
• Using iTunes to backup your music
• Firefox Search Bar Hacks - An alternative to this is adding Smart Keywords, it all depends if you can remember those keywords; otherwise, use add engines to your search bar
• Life Without Mouse Tips & Tricks - Just learn a little bit at a time, then it’ll become second nature and you’ll see an increase in productivity
• Create a torrent feed to keep up with your shows - this also falls under GTD, because for those without TiVo or a PVR, you don’t need to tie yourself to the network’s time slots
• FindRun Robot - No need to use your mouse to sift through the Start Menu. Just press the hotkey, type in a few letters, then select the program you want to run.
• Get your PC custom-made - Other than the fear of getting over a small business or individual support your computer, these are a great way to go. I haven’t had too many complaints about the systems I’ve made. (Building custom PCs is my side job.)
• Using the correct image formats
• PureText - Strip formatting from text and paste with one hotkey; no need to copy into notepad, paste, copy, then paste into Word. Yes, I know about the “Paste Special > As Unformatted Text” item in Microsoft Word.
• Burn to the Brim
• Fix Stubborn Windows Install Errors
• Ten Wikipedia Hacks
• 10 Ways to Please Us, the Customers
• Are You Infected by Sony-BMG’s Rootkit?
• How-To Download music videos from Yahoo with LyFOX & VLC

Random links 2006-03-16

In iPod, iTunes on 16 March 2006 with no comments

I was catching up with Justin earlier this morning because he commented in my post “Utilizing tagging with iTunes“. I haven’t talked to him in a long time, just because we’re both pretty busy. Basically, he gave me a couple good links I haven’t seen before:

• Pear Budget - “a FREE budgeting program, written in Excel. It can be used by almost any [spreadsheet] program (Excel, Word, OpenOffice, etc.). Setting it up is a snap, and it takes less than half an hour a month to maintain it and see how you’re doing. (And—did we mention?—it’s free!)”
• SmartPlaylists.com - a resource for creating, sharing, and chatting about iTunes Smart Playlists (I’ve heard of this one before, but it’s a good one to mention anyway)
• Apple Store Student discount - you don’t have to be a full-time student to get this, either

Also, he wanted to know how to merge multiple feeds into a single one. So, I searched and found FeedShake and FeedJumbler.

For me, Pear Budget will be huge once I implement it into my life.

On a side note, I just have to say that it was awesome to catch up with him. It was a 48-minute conversation, and we both got something out of it. We might’ve talked even longer, but I had to get back to work.

Why don’t you do the same? You’ll definitely gain something, even if it’s just the experience. (Thanks Justin!)

Accidently nuked songs off my iPod

In iPod on 9 February 2006 with 2 comments

Each day I go to work, I plug my iPod into my office PC to listen while I work. I use iTunes, but change iPod options to “Manually manage songs and playlists“. Why? So my iPod doesn’t get wiped out, and the iScrobbler plugin can update my listening habits to my Last.fm account.

This morning, I accidently changed the iPod options to “Enable disk use“, and left it to “Automatically update selected playlists only“. The problem with that is that on my office computer, there isn’t any! Fortunately, I brought my external hard drive, which also has all my music backed up onto it. After changing my iPod options to “Manually manage songs and playlists” (the way it should be), I’m copying most of my music back onto it. When I get back home, I’ll just resynchronize it. At least I won’t have a quiet commute, right?

Edit: Oh yeah, while it’s been copying, I’ve been listening to music off my external HD with Coolplayer. I haven’t used that program in awhile. Ah, memories.

Nebraska professor uses iPod for lectures

In School, iPod on 6 February 2006 with 4 comments

Psychology students and fans of Apple’s popular iPod can now listen and learn at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Calvin Garbin is one of the first instructors at the university to harness iPod’s versatility and use it as an educational tool. (Full story)

After reading this, I’m really excited that this professor gets it. Isn’t it worth the extra time to help the auditory learners? For me, I wouldn’t skip class, but instead use the recordings to listen to it again, in case I might’ve missed something.

Edit: I should elaborate. The “getting it” part is sort of against professors that don’t allow people to record their lectures. Personally, I think this hurts the majority of students who are trustworthy. It’s the 2% of dishonest students that mess it up for everyone else, and I don’t even know what that means!

For new iPod owners

In iPod on 30 December 2005 with no comments

Some of my friends got new iPods, so I’m copying this from iLounge for them:

If Santa brought you an iPod this year, then you’re at the right place. Whether you got a video iPod, an iPod nano, iPod shuffle, or even a previous generation iPod or iPod mini, iLounge will help you get the most out your new favorite gadget. If you’re looking to accessorize your iPod, check out our extensive list of iPod accessory reviews or the latest iPod accessory news. You can find answers to common iPod questions in our Ask iLounge and iPod 101 & 201 sections. If you want to ask a specific question or just chat with other iPod owners, hop on over to the iLounge Forums. And be sure to download our free Holiday Buyers’ Guide, which is loaded with tons of cool iPod gear and info.

Bought Griffin iTrip

In Gadgets, Review, iPod on 19 December 2005 with 1 comment

I’m now an owner of a Griffin iTrip for my 3G iPod. My cassette tape adapter has had this annoying sound lately, and I was in Circuit City with a friend today. I can now see that Griffin Tech has an iTrip LCD FM Transmitter and a easy-to-use knob on the side - for $10 more. I have 14 days to return it to Circuit City, so I’ll ponder about it for a week.

How do I like it? It was surprisingly easy to install the frequencies onto my iPod, and lock stations into the iPod in the car. I was in the garage trying it out, but it sounds just fine to me. At least I don’t have to deal with the cassette tape adapter rattling between music tracks.

I’m not sure if I’ll return it to find one that has an easier way to manage it. But, if you have any thoughts (in addition to the ones in the reviews below), I’d love to hear how your iTrip has been for you.

• Griffin iTrip (May 8, 2003)
• Griffin Technology iTrip FM Transmitter with LCD for iPod (September 1, 2005)
• XtremeMac AirPlay FM Transmitter (January 31, 2005)