iPod Tracker

With the release of the latest iPod with video playback capability people have been scouring the web for video. While there are some decent podcasts out there (Diggnation for example), a lot of them are really quite poor. Even worse, it can be tricky to find new video content for your iPod.

Searchforvideo.com aims to fix this by making it easy to search for and find new video content for your iPod. The site has channels of content for iPod, but there are also lots of other videos in iPod-compatible format for you to download.

Head over there and try it out.

New audio chips released by Wolfson Microelectronics will boost the battery life of pretty much every iPod sold. The new audio chip, called the WM8985, is reported to give up to 70% more battery life according to Wolfson. If these figures prove true, then you can expect a big jump in the length of time that you can spend listening to music.

However, with the recent iPod nano and video bringing brighter screens and extra photo / video capabilities, these improvements might go unnoticed. However, Apple are historically keen to boost battery life across all iPod models, so it is quite possible that they will use the new chip in upcoming revisions.

Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street is now offering iPod training, but at a premium price! If you are new to the iPod (and can’t make the Apple Store at the bottom of Oxford Street) then head to Selfridges and get 40 minutes of training, priced at £65.

Apparently Selfridges have been inundated with new iPod users who are confused about using the player, even though it is by far the simplest to operate. Aside from their in-store training program they are also offering home-based training.

As part of their move into iPod services they have just setup a new service called SpeedPod where Selfridges staff will load music onto the customer’s iPod.

I was checking through my MacUpdate feed and noticed the number of apps for converting video for iPod (just after posting about how iTunes does it)! Anyway, here is a fairly good list of apps for converting your videos to playback on your iPod. Here goes.

• MoviePod: Drag & drop conversion of movies for iPod.
• DVD2Pod: based on HandBrake, DVD2Pod rips your DVDs into an iPod-compatible format.
• iSquint: Free app with drag & drop video conversion for iPod. Can also optimize for TV.
• MoviesForMyPod: Batch conversion of QuickTime movies into iPod-compatible video. (Creates podcast movies / 320×240 MPEG-4 / H.264 files).
• podFlicks: Automatically convert movies into iPod-compatible format.
• Transipod: Converts files for iPod. Batch processing, add to iTunes, drag & drop.
• Video2Pod: Shareware app for converting movies for iPod.

As usual, if there are any missing just drop a comment. Likewise, drop me a comment if any suck!

As part of MacWorld Steve jobs gave his usual run down of sales figures for iPod and iTunes.

iTunes

• New FM radio tuner that works with all current iPods. $49.
• Reports that Apple have sold over 8 million TV shows since they started on October 12th.
• iTunes currently running at 3 million downloads per day, 850 million songs already sold.
• iTunes has 83% marketshare, selling at the rate of over 1 billion songs per year.

iPod

• Apple sold 14 million iPods over the 2005 Christmas shopping season.
• They were selling at the rate of over 100 per minute throughout the entire quarter!
• Since Apple first released the iPod they have sold a total of 42 million iPods.

Google recently announced that they will start selling video downloads, but there was no mention of support for iPods during the release. But now, just days on from the announcement, Google Video has opened with a selection of downloads from multiple networks.

But it seems that Google Video does actually support iPod, which is great news. Moreover, Google Video also offers downloads for PSP. It’s utopia for gadget lovers!

Chrysler will make integration with iPod in some of it’s 2006 models. Integration with the car has been key to the success of iPod with other companies offering iPod integration such as Audi, Mini, Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Chrysler will offer iPod integration priced at $175, with the possibility of retrofitting certain 2005 models.

Recent figures indicate Apple’s success in getting iPods into cars with 40% of all cars sold in the USA in 2006 coming with iPod integration. Apple’s strategy is clear, position iPod as the dominant player for cars and secure the market.

Every year Google releases a Zeitgeist, a list of the most popular searches in the year through Google.com. This year, iPod related searches were all over the lists.

‘iTunes’ ranked 6th in the top 10 top gainers of 2005. But in the list of top searches through Froogle (Google’s shopping comparison engine), iPod was clearly the most popular item taking 4 of the top 10 spots:

1. ipod
2. digital camera
3. mp3 player
4. ipod mini
5. psp
6. laptop
7. xbox
8. ipod shuffle
9. computer desk
10. ipod nano

Google also released a graph showing how iPod searches jumped overnight after Apple released iPod nano. Podcasting searches also made good growth through the year.

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We’ve known for a while now that Apple’s iPod, and in particular iPod nano, has been selling really well. The 4GB iPod nano is sold out in both the UK and USA Apple Online Stores and will not be available to ship for another 2 weeks.

Now comes reports that analysts are expecting Apple to sell 11 million iPods in the December quarter, with approximately 100,000 iPod nanos shipping per day. There are even reports that because of the inexhaustible demand Apple are considering releasing a new 1GB iPod nano that would slow sales of the larger iPod nanos and free up supplies.

Apple are expected to update the current iPod shuffle line at the MacWorld expo in January. Rumours are that they will introduce a new black iPod shuffle.

If you want to buy an iPod shuffle this Christmas, you are too late. The Online Apple Store have announced that supplies of their popular lower-end iPod shuffle has sold out in the UK and USA. Apple’s website states that the line is: ” Currently unavailable. Sold out for the holidays and we hope to have supply again later in January.”

Stocks of the hugely popular 4GB iPod nano are also running short with a wait of up to 2 weeks before shipping in both the UK and USA Online Apple Stores. However, there seems to be stock of the 2GB version of iPod nano still available.