iPodBomb - Free iPod Downloads, iPod Movies, and iPod Music!

Free iPod Downloads

The latest news is not good for iPod owners. How many of us have music downloaded to our iPod that some may argue are illegal copies?

According to breaking news from the Guardian, these songs may mean we have to leave our iPod behind when we travel - at least through international airports:
Photograph: Nick Veasey/Getty Images

The heads of the G8 governments, meeting this week, are about to ratify the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), which - it’s claimed - could let customs agents search your laptop or music player for illegally obtained content.

What they will do if they do find illegal music is not yet clear. But when you consider the recently published University of Hertfordshire study that revealed that the average teenager and student (14 to 24 year olds) have over 800 illegal songs on their MP3, it is clear that this new agreement will certainly keep customs agents very busy!

Looks like the queues at international airports are going to get a lot longer!

Free iPods? - Come And Get Them

How much do you love iPods? Well it seems as if iPods are so popular that they have become a favorite prize on offer for competitions.

So popular, in fact, that even the competition is giving them away as an incentive to get people to try their products! In an amazing twist, Microsoft is offering free iPods as their prize:

Microsoft is dangling prizes made by arch-nemesis Apple to entice Australian web surfers to give its online search products a second chance. (read more here)

One of these prizes is the iPod Nano. Sadly, this competition is just for Australians!

Still there are many more fun/interesting competitions currently on offer around the web where we can win an iPod of one sort or another!

If you are a Canadian and love animals, for example - then Peta2’s latest competition might appeal:

If you haven’t quite decided what you wish to do to help animals, we have a suggestion that’s nice and easy. Simply sign up to receive the peta2 e-news for the latest scoop on your favorite celebrities. Plus, if you sign up now, you’ll be automatically entered to win a free iPod! A-ha! We knew that would get you scrambling!

On the other hand you might prefer games? That’s OK there are free iPods out there for game lovers as well.

MMORPG.com has proudly teamed up with SmartCell and Shadow of Legend to bring you an exciting contest where you can enter for a chance to win an Apple iPod Nano, Shadow of Legend T-Shirt or a “diamond code” item that can be claimed inside the game Shadow of Legend!

The more you play, the more chance you have to win! Sounds like a fun way to get a free iPod. The contest only started today and ends on August 10, 2008 at 9PM EDT. So check it out

And not to be beaten on the culture competition scene, here’s a cool one for those of you in the UK: the Wales Millennium Centre want help naming a huge dance event they are promoting. - and they are offering an iPod Nano as the prize. Or perhaps you prefer an iPod Shuffle? In exchange for your contact details channel 4 will enter you in their contest to promote ‘The Insiders’ from Channel 4!

Somehow iPod seems appeal to culture?

Seen sites offering competitions to win an iPod in your country? Put the details in a comment to this post and we’ll check it out.

Play iPod On Computer

One of the great things about software companies is that they will often develop neat free programs as a way to attract us to their sites. Which is cool, because we get useful free software and they get the opportunity to show us the quality or ease of use of their stuff.

From time to time we will post directions to some of these freebies. Here is one we like from iPodsoft:

Pod Player

With this software -

You can play your music on any computer when your iPod is connected - without the need to install any programs such as iTunes!!

Should You Buy A Refurbished iPod?

This question was asked waaaaay back in 2004 on the Mac Rumors forums.

Back then, the answer from numerous people who HAD bought refurbished iPods was a resounding “YES!” - and today - that answer is still…

YES!

For some reasons why, check out:

5 Reasons to buy a Refurbished iPod

Why Should I buy a Refurbished iPod?

Yahoo Answers: Should I buy a Refurbished iPod?

To summarize what’s in those articles, the main reasons are:

1. A refurbished iPod comes with a ONE YEAR WARRANTY from Apple itself - just like a new iPod would.

2. Refurbished iPods are WAAAY CHEAPER then new iPods. Often half the price of a new iPod.

3. The biggest problem with any iPod is the battery life. When Apple refurbishes an iPod they put a BRAND NEW BATTERY in them - so you don’t have to worry about the battery not working, it’s a new battery anyway!

If you’ve bought a refurbished iPod, please leave a comment with your experiences.

Was it a good purchase? If so, why? If it was a bad experience, please let us know what went wrong!

Or, if you are feeling BRAVE …. you can try a DIY refurbish.

Follow this  guide to find out  how to do it:

Above radiokillplay has sorted his iPod into three sections: the hard drive, cpu board, and power board. Below is the iPod being reassembled:

So if you feel you can stomach seeing the insides of the iPod and feel confident that you too can do a refurbish and decide to give this method a try … then do let us know of your success (or otherwise!) and, of course, include pics!

iPod Music, Movies and Games -You don’t have to get them from Apple!

Well, we were planning to do a post on where to get cheap, quality songs (how does 13 cents for your favorite song sound?) and movies and games downloads for iPod.

We found several sites that offer quality downloads for iPod and were very impressed by the range and quality of the music, movies and games they offered.

You can get free iPod Wallpapers from Non-Apple sites

The way these sites work is by membership programs and we assume that there are some economies involved in getting large numbers of members together to enable them to provide these popular downloads at their incredibly low prices. Their software is easy to use and we found the membership system to be a quality alternative to Apple.

Unfortunately, so did Apple! They have found some “technical” legal trick to shut most of these sites down!

And this step is perhaps understandable. Apple are not really concerned about the tiny market share these companies were taking. This is really a fight for the minds of the consumer.

Currently most iPod owners are totally unaware that they can get software for their iPods from sources other than Apple.

We at iPodbomb intend to do out bit to keep your options open. We are now dedicated to reporting on all software that is produced for your benefit by non-Apple sources. We are searching to find a membership site that has escaped Apple’s attention. We will keep you posted!

Meanwhile, we were amazed to discover, for example, that most iPod owners did not even know that they could get free iPod wallpapers from NON Apple sources. Here is one site where you can choose from some very original ipod wallpaper designs:

Introducing Free iPod Touch wallpapers from a selection of
designers and illustrators from around the world