Three Books On The iPod

honestpuck (Tony Williams) writes "With Apple's iPods sitting under many Christmas trees come the morning of December 25th, the question arises as to what might sit well next to it. I'm suggesting one of these three books might be just the ticket." Read on for Williams' reviews of three iPod books.

(See each)
author	(See each)
pages	(See each)
publisher	(See each)
rating	(See each)
reviewer	honestpuck
ISBN	(See each)
summary	Three different books on the iPod.

The iPod Fan Book

iPod Fan Book
author	Yasukuni Notumi
pages	90
publisher	O'Reilly Media
rating	6
ISBN	0 596 00776 0

The first impression you get of O'Reillys iPod Fan Book is of the packaging. A small volume (about the same height as the iPod and twice the width) it comes with a half-height wrap that has the title and author on the front and the bar code, price and a short contents on the back. Take this off and you have a full-size cover with all the simple elegance of the white iPod itself. The front features the wheel of a 4G iPod and the back has just the Apple logo and "iPod" in Apple's distinctive typeface below it. Remove this second cover and you have a book with a simple design of grey with a white border, the back is blank and the front has the title and the subtitle "Go everywhere with iPod" in small type.

This concentration on design flows through the rest of the book. It is visually stunning; at the same time, effort has been made to make the design useful. The pages are visually tabbed to make it easy to navigate the seven chapters. Each chapter is tabbed in a different color reflected through use of that color within the chapter. Full color pictures and screen dumps add to the legibility and usability of the book.

This book is also full of useful information for the newcomer to the iPod. A small amount is covered in the documentation you get with the iPod, but a great deal is not. Apart from a useful chapter on accessories, the book focuses on methods of getting the best from an iPod and how to organise your music.

To sum up this book: it is a little more style than substance and falls short of being the ideal book for all newcomers to the iPod (and even less for experienced users). On the other hand, the style makes the information that is provided readily accessible for all. I'd say this is the perfect companion to an iPod for a teen-age girl and if my 12-year-old daughter was getting the mini she has been hinting for, a copy of this would be included. (I expect that anyone who spent more than ten minutes deciding on the colour of their mini would probably love the elegance and style of this thin volume.) The price of $14.95 retail makes it a great impulse buy or stocking stuffer.

Hacking iPod + iTunes and iPod & iTunes Hacks

The other two volumes I looked at might seem like two peas in a pod. Scott Knaster's Hacking iPod + iTunes and Hadley Stern's iPod & iTunes Hacks certainly have a similarity in their titles and have almost identical cover prices of a fraction less than $25. The content of about half of each of these volumes covers the same territory, too. There are, however, differences in both the style and content between them. So, how to decide?

Hacking iPod + iTunes
author	Scott Knaster
pages	259
publisher	Wiley Publishing
rating	8
ISBN	0764569845

For one thing, it seems that Knaster concentrates more on iTunes than the iPod, while Stern seems a closer balance between the two but once again this is only a slight difference.

Both volumes are clearly, and both cover a range of information for users all the way from a relative newcomer (someone who has read the supplied documentation and played around with their iPod and iTunes for a few days) to users who want to push the envelope by installing Linux, hacking iTunes with AppleScript, or finding cheap ways to stream music, to name just a few of the more adventurous topics covered.

The first real difference between the two volumes I found was that Stern has a few more hardware hacks, including some of the surreal sort of hack that often makes these books so much fun -- who would have thought of making your own iPod case out of cardboard, for example? Stern's book is also much more a Macintosh user's book: fully twenty of the one hundred hacks, for example, are devoted to AppleScript. (Not that Knaster ignores AppleScript - he has a chapter almost entirely devoted to it.) Knaster goes into more detail about such "hacks" as podcasting, RSS feeds, email and the iTunes Music Store.

iPod & iTunes Hacks
author	Hadley Stern
pages	417
publisher	O'Reilly Media
rating	8
ISBN	0596007787

The books also differ in their layout and style. Stern, like all of O'Reilly's "Hacks" book authors, has a slightly dry, informative style with a large number of references to other hacks in the book in the instructions. Knaster's style is a little more tongue-in-cheek, with far fewer references to other parts of the book. Somehow Knaster's style appealed to me a little more, though he seems at times to take a little longer to give you all the information you needed.

Stern's examples are also a little more self-contained, while Knaster tends to give you a start, point you in the right direction and tell you where to go to get all that you needed. The two different ways they approach running Linux on the iPod is typical: Stern uses the uClinux kernel and gives you detailed instructions on how to get that into your iPod using dd, while Knaster uses the Linux on iPod project and gives less detailed instructions. Stern also tells you about Podzilla and a small pointer on developing applications for the iPod while Knaster just leaves you with Linux installed.

Deciding between these two volumes comes down to personal taste, and happily both authors provide samples for you online. For Knaster's book you can go to the Wiley site for Hacking iPod + iTunes , where you can get a table of contents, the index and the first chapter. You can also visit Knaster's site for Hacking iPod + iTunes , where he has a blog on the iPod and pointers to more hacks from the book and some other cool and useful stuff.

For Stern's book you can go to O'Reilly's page for iPod & iTunes Hacks for the usual table of contents and index. It also has a link to a page with ten example hacks, there is also an article on O'Reilly's "Digital Media" website with a further five example hacks.

I'm not going to attempt to decide between these two volumes for you. If you think either might be useful, then have a look at the examples and decide which style suits you best.

---

You can purchase iPod Fan Book , iPod & iTunes Hacks and Hacking iPod + iTunes from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

you don't deserve an ipod...

if you need a book to operate it.

Books about the iPod?

Books about the iPod? What's next, books about writing an iPod book? Seems rather redundant and certainly superfluous to me ;-)

Re:Books about the iPod?

Actually, that was an idea I had a few years ago when there were more "Dummies" titles than books sold in an given year.

I was convinced that "Writing 'Dummies' books for Dummies" would be a killer.

myke

didn't know I needed a book...

seems like a simple enough device to me, but apparently I was mistaken.

Re:didn't know I needed a book...

It IS a simple device, but as these books point out, it can do a whole lot more that the normal iPod user WOULD NOT know about. It's not that people are stupid and need a book to run it. These are just ways to increase the functionality of your iPod.

A music player so easy to use...

You only need a 128 page book to teach you how.

What is this with Apple releasing products with documentation verging on leaflet size (i.e. the original iMac "manual"). Just how much money does Jobs get from all the "missing manual" publications?

Re:A music player so easy to use...

Yeah yeah, a ton of people all saying "but you shouldn't need to buy a book!"

I'm on my second iPod now, having just upgraded from a 1st gen 5Gb to a 4th gen 40Gb. I've never even opened the manuals to operate the iPod, nor would I expect my non-tech-versed sister to, once I give her my 1G-5Gb iPod. Why are these books useful?

Well, for one thing, because it'd have been nice to figure out how to hack iTunes this weekend when I had to change a whole bunch of song titles from "Artist - Album - Song title" to "Song title", and being able to do this programmatically would have saved me a bunch of time;

Because I could have fixed a bunch of other ID3 information on my iTunes DB if I could access it easily (and could easily find the info on how);

Because I'd love to see if I could, in fact, hack the iPod to have a stopwatch on it (for exercising. They give you a calendar and a clock but no stopwatch? WHY?).

For the people who just want to do their simple stuff, these books aren't useful, but then ... I don't think that's the intended audience for these books.

Mis-understood the headline

For a minute I was thinking "Oh, so they've got eBooks on the iPod now, have they?"

I was about to make a joke

but then I thought 'Well maybe, just maybe, this is actually a real book about the iPod'.

What am I babbling about, you ask?

Low and behold, it is REAL [amazon.com]

Who can clue me in?

Don't you just plug it in, synch it, and take around with you, so you can listen to music, and carry data around (data/calendar)?

Wouldn't it make more sense to buy some tunes instead of the book?

I'm still waiting for these reviews

The Sylvania DVD/VHS-combo Kama Sutra
8-Track: The Return of the King
HP 35: Mein RPN Kampf
Hacking desklamps for dummies

iPod Fan Book

So is this what I need to cool my 1337 overclocked iPod?

I think mauve has the most RAM
-- PHB

Re:iPod Fan Book

Yeah I overclocked my iPod to hear music faster. Now everything sounds like chipmunks.

Strange.

I would think you could fit a lot more than 3 books on iPod.

I knew it.

With Apple's iPods sitting under many Christmas trees come the morning of December 25th, the question arises as to what might sit well next to it.
The "iPods" is a collective of parasitic machines that hijacks its users' brains via headphones so it can influence others to buy more nodes and act as hosts for its ever-expanding consciousness. The iPods will not stop until it has consumed everything.

Why would I need it?

A book like "Hacking the Xbox" could be handy as there's some potential for alteration. With an iPod though, what *real* modifications can be made? I mean, with a little work, sure - I could take the casing off and paint it, I guess. Still, there just doesn't seem to be enough there to warrant sitting down for several hours to figure out how to get to a menu quicker, etc.

The device is simple. If you still don't get it after turning it on, try RTFM? If you're still having trouble with it and need *another* book, perhaps the iPod (and likely anything else with electricity) isn't compatible with your synapses.

Silly question

What's an iPod??

That's 4 items on my shopping list right there...

With Apple's iPods sitting under many Christmas trees come the morning of December 25th, the question arises as to what might sit well next to it. I'm suggesting one of these three books might be just the ticket.

That makes 4 things under the Christmas tree....apples, ipods, ipod book and tickets.

Thanks Slashdot for making my shopping easier this holiday season.

What colour, Tim?

Wait...what the-?

Elegance

I thought this thing was supposed to be the pinnacle of elegant design and intuitive operation. We need three books for it?

-Peter

Misnomer?

Most of the "hacks" listed are iTunes hacks, so if anything, these books are just misnamed. Because of the restrictive firmware, there is next to nothing the end user can do to modify their iPod, other than adding songs/contacts/calendars/notes. No, you can't add games (unless you count the Notes-driven choose your own adventure-style games.)

As an iPod owner...

I can definitely say, you don't need a *book* to learn how to use this thing. You probably won't even need the tiny manual that comes with it.

Even my less-technical friends and family can use it without being told anything more than "this button chooses items, and the rest should be self-explanatory"

All I want...

All I want for Christmas is to be iPod 'leet Be iPod 'leet, yes, be iPod 'leet Gee, if I could only be iPod 'leet Then girls would fawn and I'd get ass

All I want to know about the iPod is...

...is which USB2 and 1394 combo cards Windows 2000 and XP support AND is supported by iTunes for Windows. Apparently there are no combo cards that are WHQL certified, and Apple claims that they only support cards that have passed WHQL. I know I could use USB2, but I want to power the iPod at the same time that it's transferring date, over one cable. If I need to add a card to my PC, it might as well have USB2 AND 1394.

Screw the iPod, I bought myself one of these...

Other than the trendy fashion thing, or the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses thing, I don't understand the big deal behind the iPod. A simple Walkman does almost the same thing for a fraction of the price.

Instead, I just bought myself one of these thingies [laserpodusa.com]. This kind of gadget is not the kind of thing that can be very easily duplicated (unlike the iPod).

Amazon recommends

Amazon: If you liked this book, we also recommend:

- You and your mouse: Learn all the tricks, and move your mouse in ways you've never imagined

- Hacking your kettle: 101 hacks and mods for your electric kettle

This is ridiculous!

C'mon, these books are idiotic. These authors are clearly trying to ride the wave of iPod's popularity and make money in the process. If you want to read a book on the iPod, read the friggin' manual, not some half-assed "book" about an MP3 player.

please, mom, don't, please...

...please don't allow Santa to bring me worthless junk this year, please, we already got failry cheap toilet paper stocked up

if you do, I will write a book about having received a book about iPods, I swear I will

hey, maybe then I'll get loads of cash 'cause stupid folks are going to buy it

hell, there really are people out there who are so damn bored that they start to write books about their music players

only 3 books?

Perhaps it's because I have the 20Gig iPod, but I can fit far more than 3 books on it!

CB

Genuine I-Pod question

I was thinking of mounting an IPod or a mini-IPod in my car as a quickie MP3 solution.

However, one essential piece of the puzzle would be to power the device externally.

Since neither of the devices seems to have a power jack on it (which seems odd to me), does anyone have any suggestions on accomplishing my goal?

Having never seen an IPod charger (yes I live in a cave on Mars), is it a cradle or does it just charge over a USB trickle or what?

Pretty funny,,,,

Although, (how can I say this tactfully without being mod'd to flame bait?) some Apple users aren't exactly known for being the most technically savvy people in tech-land these books are a bit beneath anyone's levels I have met. These seem like an attempt to help the people who spent 200-500 dollars of their cash to listen to music, spend another 30-50 dollars on a book. They all suspiciously sound like books that weren't born of a need, but were born of a marketing department finding a target audience that spends money. I tried not to make this FUD, so please don't think me as a troll. I just don't see a honest need for these, except to line a publishers pockets. Am I wrong?

Ill wait for the e-book version to load on my ipod

And while waiting, I'll load an e-book about coffee tables on it and then place it on my coffee table in my living room and then add itty-bitty cork pad to my i-pod and voila! Ill get a coffee-table-coaster for my coffee table which plays tunes and has a coffee table e-book whose hard cover used to turn into a coffee table. Yowzaaa!

These books are not for the iPod recipients

I think they're targeting the people buying the iPods: parents and grandparents who don't know much and think the "kids" will appreciate a book on how to use this crazy device.

Not a good present

This and an iPod combined, is a bad idea for presents:

"Awesome, got me a iPod! You know what's great about these, they are idiot proof, you don't even need the manual they're so easy to use, I think only a complete moron would need to read instructions on how to use these things, in fact I'm almost offended it includes a instruction manual. [...] So, what else did you get me? looks like a some kind of book .."

who would buy these?

I mean, hacker-types who might want to do out-there stuff would probably already be familiar with the concept of "find it online." Is there a person can not figure out iTunes and an iPod but *buy* a book and *read* it?

The leaflet that comes with an iPod is pretty good, and iTunes, by default, is pretty much set to "do everything for me." All the people I work with who don't take the Apple URL shortcut out of their dock do *not* want to get the most out of iTunes (or their computer, for that matter.) They want to just use it out of the box and Apple comes with great defaults for clueless users.

(Note that I don't look down on uncaring users. I'm sure there are plenty of places in my life I could optimize, but I just don't care that much and want to spend my time doing other things. I totally understand if someone's involvement with their iPod goes no further than "rip all my music, buy some songs online, and put them all into this little box.")

I did actually look at the manual (since I had never played with one before buying it, and some things (like "turn the iPod off") are not obvious) and I can't imagine a simpler "get me up and running" guide.

Cultlike Fanaticism for DUMMIES

Or the alternate title of "The Compleat Idiot's Guide to Listening to Music".

Ah, you mean books ABOUT the iPod

I thought maybe they'd gotten eBooks on the thing. Screen's a bit small for that.

Other book ideas

Why does an Ipod need a book.
If it sells well I may consider writing a few myself:

- Dell Inspiron 8000 book
- Microsoft Optical Intellimouse book
- Sony Cybershot Digital Camera book

slightly cheaper hacks for the ipod:

http://ipod.hackaday.com/
part of the hackaday.com collection

Get a book on tape inside it...

Books on tape are a great way to use the iPod. May I suggest Ender's Game or Eragon.

ipodder? gigadial?

The trouble with dead tree books, of course, is that probably none are new enough to mention new extensions to podcasting such as ipodder [sourceforge.net].

Here are the only two books I'd buy for iPod

Ok you knew this cheap joke was going to be posted by some nitwit: iBook and Powerbook.

Re:Where's the Complete Idiot's Guide to Ipod?

Well, there is an iPod for dummies. [wiley.com]..

Re:Yeah but...

Apple has been dying since Steve Jobbs founded it? That must be why they have been in buisness for almost 30 years now. Lasting 30 years in the technology sector is quite a feat.

Re:Yeah but...

Who's the dumbass who modded this obvious flame/troll as "informative"?

Say goodbye to your karma, dolt.

Re:Yeah but...

Why is this flamebait/troll ?? Ok its offtopic but seems to be funny to me esp
In order to enjoy a smooth running reliable and lightning fast operating system which will run on anything from the original 80186 CPU to the newly released Pentium II processor, we recommend that you use Microsoft Windows Millenium Edition (TM). To obtain this software please visit www.microsoft.com

Re:What would sit well next to an iPod?

The receipt and the price difference for an iRiver

I know you're a troll... because the price difference you allege doesn't exist [cnet.com].

I'm happy to check out a link that shows otherwise, and bad-mouth the moderators for calling you a troll as a result, but... until you do, everyone has the link above, showing clearly that, if anything, the 40GB iPod can be had cheaper than the 40GB iRiver.

There are some other 40GB players that are actually a bit cheaper than the iPod, if you weren't just a troll you might have mentioned one of them, or provided a link to back up your troll. Sadly, you're just a troll...

Just to be clear, I don't own an iPod and could care less which 40GB MP3 player is cheaper ( I'm not buying one, sorry ), I just like to bug people who don't back up their baseless claims with at least links to other baseless claims...

Re:Yeah but...

Unfortunately they can at best be described as gay.

Then it seems to be your problem that you can't describe stuff well, neh? Maybe you should learn some more vocabulary beyond kindergarten playground insults (and hopefully some FACTS while you're at it) before attempting to ascribe a lifestyle preference to..uh..computer cases.

One can only hope that Apple throw in the towel

Key word: one. Just one. Namely you. Everyone else at least recognizes Apple's worth.

Although I do appreciate your correct use of the subjunctive...oh, wait, you think "Apple" is plural for whatever reason. Curses. I was hoping to be able to find something good in your post.

to the newly released Pentium II processor, we recommend that you use Microsoft Windows Millenium Edition

I'm not surprised it won't run on the PIII and P4 - I'm just surprised it runs on the PII. Oh, and it's probably telling of its quality that you think the PII is "new"? Quite slow Web browsing there....