Do you find yourself envying the songs found in your friend's iPod? Well, you might want to try out the latest platform launched by doubleTwist. It allows users to free their media and share it with other peoples' favorite devices. Find out more in the full article.

Sony was the darling of the music world when it came out with the Walkman during the '80s and the 90's, until the iPod came along and Apple dethroned the Japanese multinational corporation. Now, Sony declares that it's learned its lesson and vows not to have the Sony Ericsson lose to the iPhone.

Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer admitted in a rare candid interview that he feels rueful about Sony's loss to the iPod. When he took helm in 2005, the company already had a stubborn design philosophy. All divisions were in their "own little worlds", sheltered from one another and interested only in how one of its products trumped another.

Stringer admitted that Sony's been working with IBM on electronic music distribution as early as 1997, and could have came out with a digital music player five years earlier than the iPod. But the music giant couldn't get its people to understand software. As a result, Apple took hold of the industry with its digital media player, the iPod.

However, Sony's CEO believes that the Sony Ericsson versus iPhone battle would be different. The Japanese-Swedish partnership has warmed up to newer ideas, including the concept of music on phones. But they'll never bet against Steve Jobs. In this new phone battle, thinking that your enemy is weak is a weakness itself.

Completely waterproof and compact, the SwimMan will probably be the swimmer's only companion during practice or just plain leisure dips - unless you sweat waterfalls... It's a 1GB iPod Shuffle that comes with its own waterproof headphones.

SwimMan is the originator of waterproof audio players and waterproof headphones. They decided to merge two products into a single robust and high capacity audio package. Well, that's if you consider 1 GB as a lot. It's small enough so you can clip it to your goggle strap.

Anyway, you're probably asking, how in the world did they do it? Well, from the people who brought you the waterproofed audio cassette player (the WalkMan) it probably didn't take much. And take note, it's not the outside that's waterproofed: it's the inside.

The product itself comes with a 30-day no-questions-asked Return Policy and a 1-year warranty. And yes, it's a genuine second generation iPod Shuffle that they waterproofed.

To find out more about it, click on the Read link below.

We here like to cover everything iPod, from the rumors swirling around on the next version of the iPod, to Steve Jobs' latest foray into the lovely world of corporate litigation. Every once in a while, stories appear that kind of helps us to put into perspective this wonderful little gadget.

Not long ago, my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I smiled and said, "Nothing, honey. I already have everything I want." A smart man knows this is code for, "You'd better find me something perfect or there will be hell to pay." He managed to pull it off for yet another year when he gave me an iPod.

There are plenty of stories from iPod-doubters-turned-converts. How else would the iPod soar to such tremendous heights in the world of retail electronics. No other product, save for the Sony Walkman, has captured the attention of consumers like the iPod has.

From dear-old-grandmas to children barely able to read, the iPod seems to be universally accepted. Hell, the Queen of England congratulated the designer of the iPod herself. Here's hoping for that next innovation from Apple.

[Via, News-Miner]

Ace Burpee, a writer for the Winnipeg Sun, says he bought a Video iPod to keep up with the times, but he now refuses to use it. Rather than just opening the thing and getting to familiarize himself with it, he instead jots down a list of negatives he sees associated with the iPod.

There are some real doozies in there, to be sure. Among other things, he harps on the screen being too small to view anything comfortably on it -- though I can't remember the last time I was able to fit in my LCD television in my pocket and pull it out at the DMV to watch a quick show while waiting.

He asks whether the iPod can get wet. Wet? That's the biggest concern bugging him? In the article, he wants to know if he can watch Desperate Housewives underwater yet he just got finished saying he wouldn't like to use the tiny screen to watch television at all. Anyway, I'll let him do the talking.

Basically, I'm 32 and fighting it. The box is staring at me as I type this. I think I may go leave it unguarded in the back seat of my truck and wait for someone to steal it. Then I can say I used to have an iPod, making it seem as if I'm already beyond that.

I suppose it would be better for him not to open it. Could go back to that old Walkman Cassette Player he said he still has.

[Via, Winnipeg Sun]

 

How many of you out there are aware of the dangers of hearing loss? Okay. How many of you actually care? Yeah, I figured that, not very much. Well, you will in a decade.

That's according to The Washington Post, and the subjects interviewed for a story about the dangers of hearing loss and its relation to the relatively new iPod, an increasingly ubiquitious accessory today. In the story, the writer exposes what some researchers have found in studying older devices, more commonly the Walkman and other personal players that people have used for years.

Though the devices have been found to cause some hearing loss, the writer argues that everyday, noise, from jetplanes, to the sound of traffic on your way to work, or a game at a stadium, are as likely to contribute to hearing loss.

But not everyone agrees.

"A person can be listening at 60 percent volume, but then as the auditory system adapts to the intensity of the sound, the perception of the intensity is that it is becoming less, so the response is to continue to turn the volume up," Hull said.

Damn right.

For those who can manage it, experts agree, there is a happy space at about 65 to 70 decibels, the level of normal conversation. At that level, a person could listen indefinitely without worrying about contributing to hearing loss.

No, thanks. Bring on the hearing loss.

[Via, Washington Post]

If Apple releasing computers based around Intel processors isn't strange enough for you, how about Sony showing off an iPod accessory at the CES? Sony's automotive division had this on display, although their representatives on the show stand were not able to give much information.

Named the Xplod, it's an iPod car adapter for Sony in-car entertainment units. As with similar adaptors form rival manufacturers, just plug your iPod in, stow it away, and control your music collection from the in-car hi-fi.

What's really strange is that Sony have produced this before producing similar units for their own range of Walkman or Network Walkman MP3 players, or even their old MiniDisc players.

[Via ATRAC life]

Not all hacks have to be about good looks, really. Such is the case with the hack that Dave Derwin recently undertook in gutting an old Walkman-style portable AM/FM radio / casette player and turning it into a hardshell carrying case for his 4G iPod. Seeing the two units merged is almost an artistic expression of aesthetic opposites, really. (The Walkman is pretty ugly.)

Have a look at Dave's colorful account of the project, complete with step-by-step photos. You might not want to try this at home....