The Mac developer community has given us Mac users a ton of great software for our iPods. I’ve talked about many of my favorite programs in the past. Most of these, like Pod2Go and Podlock are shareware and commercial. But what if you wanted the best that freeware had to offer for your iPod? What if you wanted a core of freeware programs that would offer you the ultimate package for your iPod? I decided that I would wade through the freeware programs available and offer you a small group of 5 applications that would make your iPod work for you.

I understand that many of these programs have an alternative or two that might work just as well, but I went with the software I knew worked for me. I am also painfully aware that when going through all the freeware available for the Mac, and in particular, the iPod, I might have missed a program or two that should really be in my ultimate package. If you would be so kind as to email me with your additions, I’ll be happy to take a look and see if I agree with your assessment. Finally, it goes without saying that the main freeware program for the iPod is, of course, iTunes. I did not consider any programs that did what iTunes already can do, and I did not consider any freeware that works with iTunes, that’s for another article. Now, without further delay, here is my Ultimate iPod Freeware Package.

Senuti: http://wbyoung.ambitiouslemon.com/senuti
Take a look at the program’s name and then look at it spelled backwards, you got it, it’s like iTunes, but does the opposite, it syncs files off your iPod and sends them to your computer. There are many good reasons that someone would have to transfer music from their iPod back to their computer. There are many good ways to do it, too. Senuti is the only alternative that will give you the power and convenience that you need, wrapped in an interface that is extremely easy to use since it resembles iTunes itself. Senuti will play songs directly off of your iPod. It can even double as a jukebox player for your Shuffle or any other iPod. Senuti not only reads the playlists that you made on your iPod, but it allows you to transfer them back to your computer as well. A simple drag and drop action within the application will not only copy songs to your computer and add them to iTunes, but it will make a new playlist with the same name and add all of the songs to that list. The one program should be on all your Macs by default.

iPodBackup: http://www.amake.us/software/ipodbackup
iPodBackup is a shell script-turned-application (via Platypus) that backs up your home folder to your iPod using the open source backup utility rsync. Combine it with Automator and you have fully automated incremental backups to your iPod, for free! You can customize a list of items to be excluded by simply dragging-and-dropping them onto the app. By default, the Music folder, as well as certain cache folders are skipped, in order to prevent duplicating your music and because caches are not normally needed in a backup. A couple caveats, your iPod should be set to be used as a hard drive. Enable this from within iTunes. This is not technically necessary, but otherwise your iPod may be automatically ejected before you can begin the backup. According to user reports, PC-formatted (FAT32) iPods will work given that you backup to a disk image, and your data is less than 4 GB (Apparently FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 GB). This has not tested directly, so proceed at your own risk.

Book2Pod: http://www.tomsci.com/book2pod
Book2Pod is a utility to format large text documents so they can be read on an iPod using the built-in note reader capabilities. It supports documents larger than the 4KB per note limit of the note reader, and makes the 1000 note limit easier to live with. It also lets you organize your collection of electronic books and supports services. Book2Pod 1.2.2 requires Mac OS X 10.3 and an iPod with firmware version 2.0 or higher (Dock connector or iPod Mini).

MovieToGo: http://www.digigami.com
MovieToGo is a simple batch processing application for converting QuickTime movies into iPod friendly 320×240 H.264 movie files. The Macintosh program, available as freeware from the Digigami web site, makes it easy to convert a collection of QuickTime movies “To Go” with you on your video iPod. Converting movies to Video iPod format couldn’t be easier - simply open the movie file in MovieToGo, click on the “Convert to Video iPod” button, name the new movie file, and sit back and relax. Once the file conversion has completed, simply double-click on the new movie file and it will automatically be added to your iTunes Video library.

iPod-Linux Installers: 4th Gen iPods, http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/27660 and 3rd Gen or older, http://ipodlinuxinstl.sourceforge.net/faqs.html
The goal of these projects is to create an easy to use GUI program that enables Mac OS X user with iPods to install Linux on HFS+ formatted iPods while still allowing users to keep and use the Apple Supplied OS. When installed you can boot into either Linux or the original iPod software. Linux will add higher recording capabilities to your iPod and also a tons of programs, games and extras. Here are a few of the items Linux adds to your iPod, a recording program, calendar, calculator, Invaders, iPobble, Lights, Mine Sweep, Othello, Pong, Tetris, TicTacToe, TuxChess, Steroids, Cube, Matrix and others. Sometimes installation can be hit or miss, but the finished product is worth the effort.

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