Apple makes beautifully simplistic products, and have won a lot of fans because of this fact.  The iPod is the prime example, seeing as how they sold an iPod every second last year.  (It's true, do the math!)  Apple makes technology friendly, by 'hiding' the complex administration and configuration tasks behind a pretty interface, which generally works quite well.  But every now and again it's necessary - or at the very least, nice - to be able to check under the hood to make sure things are in order.

So say hello to the iPod Diagnostics tools.  Every iPod has these tools on it, it's just knowing the magic button combo that opens it up for consumer use.  Be warned of course, that the options here are advanced, and can potentially reset your music player.  But if you go through the instructions (linked below) and understand what you're doing, it should be a breeze.

I've personally run a check on my iPod's hard drive, after some sketchy occurrences.  This is a great test to run to see if there are any lurking problems in the background, that may creep up on you.  Remember though, the larger your iPod's hard drive, the longer some of these tests can take.  (Like hours...)

We've just stumbled upon a very easy, efficient way to back up your entire iTunes music library, one that even accommodates those of you who have MP3 lists that are kilometers in length. 

It's dynamic, too, in the sense that it even provides a way of tracking new music, which really eases backing new additions up.

Click away and see if you find it as great a solution as we do.

If you're not using Quicksilver, it's time to start.  (It's a 'launcher' with endless tricks up its sleeves, and once you start using it, you'll never be quite the same.)  For those already in the know, there's a great new plugin available that will be a welcome addition to Quicksilver.  (If you're also a flickr user, that is.)

FlickSilvr allows you to select files from anywhere on your system, tag them, and upload them to flickr all in a couple keystrokes.  No more middle-man (like iPhoto, flickr uploadr, or whatever you've been using).  It's available from Quicksilver Preferences Plugins, or from here.

Here's how to use it:
Select the image files you want to upload to flickr (one or many is ok)
Invoke QS
Load the selected files into QS (cmd g)
In the 2nd pane, use the new 'upload to flickr' action
In the 3rd pane, type a space separated list of tags you want applied to your photo(s)
Hit Enter
Done

This is a Mac-only app, so sorry Windows users.  Maybe it's time to switch...

5th gen iPod users that call Windows their desktop OS should have a look at Xilisoft's DVD to iPod Suite v4.0.40.0217. Included is the Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter and the Xilisoft iPod Video Converter.

Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter is a customizable tool that can convert DVD content to iPod formatted video. Xilisoft iPod Video Converter is an app that converts standard video to an iPod friendly format. The following types are supported, AVI, MPEG, WMV, MOV, MP4, RM, RMVB, DivX, ASF, VOB, 3GP, to list a few. What's more, the application also converts a variety of audio formats into iPod-friendly MP3, such as: WAV, WMA, MP2, AC3, RA, M4A, OGG, AAC, and many more..

Each application, alone, is $29.00. As a suite, the lot can be had for $45.00.

Album Cover Finder by Amphonic Designs has been updated (v3.4.0 for PC and v.3.4.3 for MAC) This application makes for an easy way to find album art to your favorite cds for use with your iPod.

Enjoy cover art from your favorite artists with Multiple Results and Album Reviews from an Artist's Catalog returned with every search.

iTunes Integration to see and control what's playing. Find more Album Covers with Regional Searching for USA, UK, Japan, and Germany. Automatically send artwork to iTunes in one of three sizes. Listen to entire albums or double click on any track to play. On a Mac the currently playing artwork displays in dock. Plus so much more.

Updates for this version include:

• Album Cover Finder now locates the iTunes Music Library automatically

• Better resource management, New cleaner icons

• A few bugs fixed

iSquint is a video conversion tool for Mac OS X (Panther and Tiger compatible). It converts most popular video formats, including WMV up to version 8, into iPod and iTunes friendy MPEG4 Quicktime files.

iSquint uses the ffMPEGx engine and provides an easy to use graphical front-end. It works much quicker than Apple's own Quicktime Pro - in fact, on a 1.5GHz G4 it can convert most videos to iPod size in real-time. It can also convert files to a TV-friendly size.

Best of all, iSquint is totally free.

[Download iSquint 1.0]

ZappTek has just released iPod It v2.5, an OS X application that allows the transfer of PIM data (from Entourage, Stickies, Mail, Address Book, and iCal) to your iPod for easy, on-the-go access. With this application, downloaded weather forescasts and news headlines can also be stored directly on your iPod. iPod It supports all s of the iPod with firmware v1.1 or better with varying levels of functionality/mode.

New in this release:

• Adds RSS feed support
• Revamps iCal support to provide greater control over your calendars (including things like not transferring completed To Do items)
• Improves Mail processing
• Various other enhancements

You can get it in our iPod Download section.

Kainjow has recently released the latest version of Pod2Go, v1.5.  This Mac OS X program lets you move a variety of content to your iPod, such as movie showtimes, driving directions, news feeds, weather reports, lyrics and more.  The new additions in v1.5 are the ability to view local gas prices, along with importing music from the iPod back to the computer, a new directions tool, and more.  Also announced on the site is a iPod nano giveaway, in celebration of Pod2Go’s 3rd anniversary.

PodPlus has replaced iPod Agent. It is a brand new program by Purple Ghost Software. It is written by the same developer that created iPod Agent but is written from the ground up to more easily support functionality that would have been impossible with iPod Agent.

PodPlus is now available! PodPlus allows you to realize the full potential of your iPod. With PodPlus, you'll be able to transform your iPod into much more than a simple music player.

You will have the ability to turn your iPod into an information repository. You'll be able to transfer all kinds of data to your iPod, including contacts, appointments, email, notes, tasks, podcasts, RSS news feeds, weather forecasts, daily horoscopes, movie showtimes and more!

You will also have the tools necessary to copy selected songs off your iPod and back onto your PC as well as create song lists in various formats (HTML, CSV, etc). New features will be frequently added and once you buy a licensed version, you'll be entitled to all new features at no additional cost.

- Transfer songs from your iPod to your PC and/or into iTunes while preserving play counts, user ratings and last played dates
- Transfer all you Outlook data to your iPod (email, appointments, contacts, tasks and notes)
- Store weather forecasts on your iPod
- Download Podcasts from the internet to your iPod
- Pull RSS news feeds from the internet and store them on your iPod for reading at your lesiure
- Get your movie showtimes for your local theaters stored onto your iPod
- Put your daily horoscope readings on your iPod
- Backup any set of files and/or folders from your PC onto your iPod for safe keeping
- Create a library of text files on your iPod for reading on-the-go - these could be e-books, recipes, bible verses, anything
- Create listings in various formats (HTML, CSV, plain text) of the songs on your iPod - this could then be used to post on a website or to print out a listing of all your songs

Requirements
Windows 98, 2000, or XP
iTunes 4.7 or later
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1

You can get the trial version in our iPod Download section.
You can check out the official site [here].

TuneJack is a very easy to use iPod utility to recover songs off your iPod. It doesn't have all sorts of bells-and-whistles like PodPlus does. It is has one purpose in life and it does it's job well. It walks you right through the process. You simply start up TuneJack and wait for it to tell you to connect your iPod. You then connect your iPod. TuneJack will then detect that the iPod has been connected and then allow you to click a single button to start the process. When the button is clicked, TuneJack will go about its business. It will copy any songs that are on the iPod to your PC. If you tell it to transfer songs to iTunes, it will only copy songs that are not already in iTunes. It will also copy over any playlists that are on the iPod and not in iTunes as well as update existing iTunes playlists with any new songs copied over from the iPod that should be part of those playlists.

One very nice feature of TuneJack is that it ensures that iTunes will not automtically delete the songs on your iPod. This is a very common occurance when people try to recover songs from their iPod. This is because iTunes is programmed to keep your iPod in sync with what is in iTunes. So, if you've lost the songs in iTunes and they only exist on your iPod, the next time you iTunes syncs with your iPod, it may well delete all the songs on your iPod without warning. Using TuneJack to recover the songs off your iPod temporarily disables iTunes ability to do this to ensure your songs are safe.

You can get it for $10US at their website [here].