iPod alternatives

C|net offers a nice summary of iPod alternatives. They do seem to be missing the new iRiver Clix, which seems like an oversight since they originally gave the Clix a user rating of 8.7 out of 10. I've been playing with the Clix recently and it's better than I thought it would be.

If only I could figure out how to convert and transfer a bunch of Noggin video files I have in time for my cross-country flight with my toddler daughter!

How to make your own ringtones

If you’re like me, the idea of making your own ringtone seems like a cool way to make your phone a little more fun. It’s great that mobile phones come loaded with so many different ringtones built-in, but who wants to go with the canned sounds when you can hear “This is radio clash…” (one of my favorite ringtones).

There are a couple of different ways you can go about making your own ringtone. For starters, you can buy and download a ringtone from your mobile service provider. This is definitely an easy way to do it, however, it does cost anywhere from $1-2 each plus air time charges.

Another option is to use an application like Xingtone. Xingtone makes it super easy to edit your favorite song to a nice clip and automatically transfers it to your phone. The software costs about $20 and you will incur a data charge from your service provider since the ringtone is sent via your carrier.

The third option is do to it yourself by transferring the song to your phone over a Bluetooth or USB connection. This is the cheapest option and gives you the most flexibility.

Tips for making your own ringtone

1. Pick a song that’s appropriate. If your phone rings while you’re in a meeting with the VP of Marketing, you don’t want to be embarrassed by a ringtone that’s trashy.
2. If you’re creating your ringtone from a CD (or transcoding from an existing file), copy the track to a different folder than the rest of your mp3s so the ringtones don’t get mixed up with your music library.
3. Once you have a song picked out, edit it down to a short clip. Using a full-length song will take up a lot of space on your phone. And, most likely, you’ll never hear the entire song because you’ll answer the call right away. The ideal ringtone clip is approximately 10-20 seconds in length.

Of all the ways to make your own ringtone, Xingtone is my favorite because it’s just so easy to use. However, I’m a Verizon customer and Verizon has put a cap (sound familiar? They do this a lot!) on the size of the ringtone allowed by Xingtone, which means they can only support a ringtone of about 5 seconds. If you can come up with a cool and catchy ringtone that’s less than 5 seconds in length, I want to hear about it.

So since I’m an unhappy Verizon customer and I can’t use Xingtone to its fullest ability, I use the USB option to send ringtones to my Treo. It’s not easy, but it works. And now when my phone rings and I hear “Communication Breakdown” by Led Zeppelin, I always smile, even if it’s my boss who’s calling.

Workout like a star

iTrain has put together 10 Hollywood personal trainer workouts combined music that can be downloaded to your MP3 player of choice. The series includes programs for flexibility, strength and cardiovascular training. An "a la carte" package lets you buy programs at your leisure, or you can subscribe on a monthly basis ($9.99/month) or for a year ($49.99). Sounds like a great way to get motivated for that morning run!

Tivo HD DVR coming soon

TiVo has notified both the FCC and cable operators that CableCARD compliant HD Series3 units are currently being tested and should be released to retail soon. I'm so excited! I've been a huge fan of DVRs for 3 years now and the only reason I haven't tried Tivo is because they don't sell an HD DVR. "Zatz Not Funny" has a few more details. In the words of Morrissey, "How soon is now?"

What I love/hate about my new Treo 700P

I’ve been a loyal Palm user since 1997. I got my first Palm Pilot back when they were made by U.S. Robotics. At the time, I was working for a company called Concept Kitchen which sold accessories and software for PDAs. The Palm Pilot has since become an integral part of my life. My most recent Palm Pilot, the Tungsten C, was absolutely fabulous, but alas, it died a tragic death two weeks ago (apparently due to my 15-month old daughter dropping it one too many times).

The death of m Tungsten, however sad, presented an excellent opportunity to upgrade to one of the new smart phones. After doing lots of research, I ended up with the Treo 700p from Verizon. I’ve been using it for about 10 days now and thought I would share some of my initial thoughts with you.

Top 3 things I love about the Treo 700P

1. One handy device replaces my phone AND PDA. I know this is quite obvious, but for someone like me who carries the smallest purse possible, it’s nice to be able to fit the Treo in my little Coach wristlet. I couldn’t do that with my Tungsten and RAZR!
2. All of my old apps and files transferred over seamlessly. Well, almost seamlessly. I’m having problems with SmartList To Go from Dataviz, but I still need to investigate that.
3. The phone quality is excellent.

Top 3 things I hate about the Treo 700P

1. It doesn’t have native graffiti support! I was astonished by this. In fact, despite all of the research I did before purchasing, I never read about this fact. It totally baffles me. I did install an app called Graffiti Anywhere, but haven’t used it very much because you have to activate it by
2. No wi-fi: this is a known issue. And it doesn’t sound like this will go away anytime soon.
3. It’s slow. Launching an app isn’t nearly as responsive as previous Palm Pilots.

I debated whether or not I should keep this phone or stick with my RAZR and buy a LifeDrive. But ultimately, the convenience of a smart phone wins out. I guess it will just take me a while to adjust to my Treo.