At the risk of enabling in-classroom distraction, colleges and universities are supplying incoming students with iPod Touches and/or iPhones for use as wi-fi learning tools.

This isn’t too surprising, as the higher-ed institutions have been enamored with Apple’s shiny pods for years: The pre-wireless iteration of the iPod was doled out at Duke University and elsewhere to provide audio instruction.

I do question why iPhones are even in the picture, though:

At each college, the students who choose to get an iPhone must pay for mobile phone service. Those service contracts include unlimited data use. Both the iPhones and the iPod Touch devices can connect to the Internet through campus wireless networks. With the iPhone, those networks may provide faster connections and longer battery life than AT&T’s data network. Many cellphones allow users to surf the Web, but only some newer ones have Wi-Fi capability.

Why saddle students who assuredly already have a cellphone with another phone plan, just to get a mobile device that can access the campus’ already-present wi-fi cloud? This is a situation where the iTouch is an ideal device: It’ll always have a strong connection to the Web — particularly in a classroom — and therefore no need for a built-in 3G or Edge signal. The only other thing missing would be a camera, which would be unnecessary in this setting. It makes no sense at all for the school to invest in iPhones when the iPod Touch will do the job.

On Apple’s part, while there’s probably more money to be make in snagging college iPhone customers, they can really position the iTouch as a learning tool. It is indeed a more preferable alternative, for both students and professors, to lugging a full-sized notebook computer around.

This is my first, and maybe only, blog posting using the WordPress for iPhone app on my iPod Touch.

Considering that the preceding sentence just took me five minutes to tap-type out, I’m leaning toward “only”…

Actually it’s a pretty slick little app to have, just in case an on-the-go blogging emergency crops up. And as a free app, the price is right. It beats trying to publish via Safari; the WP backend isn’t really optimized for the small mobile-device screen.

The obvious drawback is the lack of cut-and-paste on the iTouch. My posts tend to be link-laden, and manually typing in permalinks isn’t feasible — from memory, yet! And using those “blog this” links ain’t my style. (I’m cheating on the links above — I’m actually sitting in front of my computer checking the URLs. I’m a geek, I know.)

One note: The app’s FAQ claims it requires WP 2.5.1 or higher, but I’m using it on 2.5 and it appears to be working fine.

And now that this rather short post took up the better part of an hour to craft, I’ll end this little iPod-blogging adventure. Keeping the capability in reserve, for now.

UPDATE: Based on the just-accomplished publishing of this post via the iTouch, here’s the resultant shortcomings of the WordPress for iPhone app, version 1.1 (I’ve switched over to full-sized computer keyboard to type out this part :

- Categories don’t seem to register upon publication, despite selecting them. When publication goes through, the post ends up Uncategorized. (I’ve since corrected that on this post, on the main computer).

- Timestamp doesn’t reset to actual posting time, instead keeping the time/date of the original drafting of the post. You can manually reset the time, but that’s an extra step; and I imagine that’d be a royal pain when it comes to live-blogging, a situation for which this portability is otherwise ideally suited.

- No way to include trackback URLs for referenced links.

Overall, not bad. It’ll do in a pinch, but not as a preferred substitute for the full-fledged WP backend.

There’s an insidious tone accompanying the news that Apple’s iPhone 2.0 firmware contains a “kill switch” component that can delete applications remotely, without the consent of the device’s user.

(Note that this affects iPod Touches as well, as they run the very same firmware. I suppose you could avoid exposing one to this never turning on the wi-fi nor syncing it with iTunes Store — a highly unlikely scenario.)

I don’t disagree that having to subject your gadget to this big-brotherish remote management is dicey, despite Apple’s good intentions of using it only in the event of a malicious app slipping through. If anything, it points to a deficiency in Apple’s vetting of additions to the App Store if it relies upon a backup guard like this.

However, it occurs to me: A remote way to kill off functions on an iPhone — mainly in cases of lost phones containing sensitive information — was a key request from corporate IT departments, and really the only software-based requirement that could have been included in the 3G. So it’s quite possible that this “kill switch” is nothing more than a concession to business adopters. And since BlackBerries already sport this feature, what’s the big deal about Apple now including it in their offerings?

I’m still not crazy about it, but if the more ubiquitous BlackBerry already does this, I don’t see why Apple’s emulation should spook anyone.

Of all the games that have rolled out of Apple’s new App Store, the best of the bunch just might be a totally free-of-charge one: Cube Runner from Andy Qua:

Cube Runner is a game for the iPhone and iPod Touch where the aim is to fly your ship across a terrain littered with Cubes. No-one knows how the cubes got there but you need to get through them.

Features
- Fast 3D graphics
- Intuitive controls - use the built-in accelerometer to fly across the terrain
- Downloadable layout packs - create your own layouts and share them

As you can tell from the screenshot, the graphics aren’t going to win any beauty contests. And the object is not that complex — you just have to tilt-and-whirl your device (the iTouch in my case) to negotiate blocky obstacles on a barren terrain. It very much comes off as an early-stage wireframe test for a more fully-rendered videogame.

But it’s that bare-bones simplicity that’s got me hooked. I’ll take ease of playability over flashiness any day, and the accelerometer use alone fills the feature-rich quota. The lack of polish means the gameplay value has nowhere to hide, and it comes through marvelously. I’m only on the Easy level, and I’m getting a challenging thrill out of it. It’s also neat to switch between portrait and landscape modes, and having to subsequently re-calibrate the playing field each time; all that really highlights the gaming potential of the iPod/iPhone platform.

It’s already picking up plenty of accolades. I would have installed it last weekend, had there not been an update problem that temporarily knocked it offline. I snapped it up this afternoon, as soon as it reappeared.

I can see this little time-waster eating up plenty of iPod battery life…

Yup, my iTouch is tricked-out with the 2.0 Software Update. So I’ve got the new doo-dads to suck up the battery power.

That said, the first App Store game I bought is decidedly low-impact, in the sense that it makes no use of the device’s accelerometer. Sumo! is a retro-ish strategy game employing number-tiles and belly-slamming:

Defeat the opposing sumo wrestler (”Rikishi”) by knocking him off the bridge (”dohyo”, fighting space). You can also win by being furthest advanced on the dohyo when the last tile is drawn. There’s a deck of numbered tiles, like playing cards. Each player has five tiles in their hand. Players alternate playing tiles to move or attack until a Rikishi is knocked off the dohyo or the draw pile is exhausted. You can attack with multiple tiles to increase the intensity of the attack.

I took advantage of the online Shockwave version to testdrive the game before ponying up $2.99. It was fun, especially because the tile-counting is fairly deemphasized — you can pretty much bull your sumo fighter forward and get results.

Unfortunately, the iPhoned/iPodded port falls short of the original Web iteration. The new animation and art are great, even though I’d have been happy with the oldstyle comic-booky look. But the gameplay is clunky and a bit buggy. It’s possible to get stuck at the end of the dohyo, without the properly-numbered tile to go either forward or backward, necessitating a game restart. Even worse, match results don’t re-center, meaning your sumo gets shoved off the edge of the screen, leaving you to play blind.

I’m hoping that publisher Stinkbot will release an update that fixes this, and adds some nice toggle on/toggle off background music as well.

Despite having to suffer through “iPocalypse” this weekend, Apple managed to birth the App Store, thus offering up bunches of third-party software for iPhone and iPod Touch users.

So why is it still maintaining Web Apps?

In my mind, Web Apps was a stopgap measure for adding functionality to Apple’s two touchpad/wi-fi devices, until the monetized App Store was ready to roll. I can’t believe it was intended to last, and in fact, there are too many advantages in using installable App Store wares for both consumer and developer to see an officially-sanctioned online repository stick around.

I’m surprised Apple didn’t integrate Web Apps into the App Store in some way. I realized the offerings aren’t identical, and that a bunch of the Web App developers did, in fact, port their offerings over to App Store. But why maintain two separate extensible areas intended for largely the same purpose?

My guess is that Apple will deemphasize the Web Apps area while trumpeting App Store long and loud, with the idea that Web Apps will quietly die out from lack of activity/interest. No tears shed over here, as the always-online requirement means the Web Apps stuff isn’t optimal for iTouch portability.

I think I once declared that I wouldn’t let my ever-present electronic devices dictate how I dressed or, furthermore, how I buy my clothing.

But really, that’s a hollow claim. Because whenever I know I’ll be toting my iPod Touch (which is, basically, all the time) I make sure to wear a shirt that has a breast pocket. Because anyone who’s regularly tethered to earbuds knows that this placement works best for access and avoiding cord tanglement. T-shirt, dress shirt, casual button-down — whatever the style, it’s got to have that crucial compartment for optimal iTouch carriage.

So yes, I’m a slave to what I’m calling, for lack of a better term, the “iPod-cket”. Fashion yields to function.

Technically, this pocket-placement isn’t limited to the iTouch. I deposit my cellphone there from time to time, especially if I’m paranoid about missing an incoming call. But let’s face it, i-tagging something is the ticket these days.

The last time I posted an iPod Random 8 list, I thought I’d picked up a correlation between rainy days and this exercise.

But maybe it’s broader than that: Any crappy weather will do. Such is the case today, sorta, as New York is sweltering through the first heatwave of the year. Normally I eat up the heat, but even I’m suffering; must be the abrupt shift from semi-cool one day to blazing hot this weekend (or else I’ve finally acclimated away from my former Floridian climate-control).

Whatever the cause, my most recent shuffling of iTouch sounds produced the following.

Side note: I’ve gone ahead and finally created an iPod category, with iPod Random Tracks subcategory, and placed all past posts on this subject in there. Makes it a lot easier to hunt through the past editions of this mess. Plus, it occurs to me that this subgroup would be ideal for trying out WordPress’ new tagging capabilities, although I’ll have to think about that more.

1. “Break The Ice (Soul Seekerz Dirty Club)”, Britney Spears - You’ve got my heart beating like an 808.

2. “The Race Is On”, George Jones - True love’s scratched for another’s sake.

3. “Freedom! ‘90″, George Michael - But today the way I play the game is not the same.

4. “Cherry Blossom Girl (Simian Mobile Disco mix)”, AIR - Tell me why can’t it be true?

5. “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex”, CSS - Music is my favorite mistress.

6. “14th St. Break”, Beastie Boys - [instrumental, no lyrics]

7. “Roam”, The B-52’s - Shootin’ through every degree.

8. “The Girl You Lost to Cocaine (Stonebridge Vocal)”, Sia - I’ll never get laid while I’m running your life.

Funny thing. It was a miserably rainy day the last time I was inspired to post an iPod Random 8 list, and so it is again today. Must be a trend.

Anyway, here’s the latest shuffle-determined string of output from my iPod Touch (or “iTouch”, if you prefer). Length of said string synced to 8trk, which I’m told is progressing nicely.

1. “Let Me Think About It (club mix)”, Ida Corr vs. Fedde Le Grand - That I am the true way towards ecstasy.

2. “F-cking Boyfriend (Peaches Remix)”, The Bird And The Bee - When you lay down with me, you never slept that night.

3. “Mysterious Ways”, Angelique Kidjo - She sees the man inside the child.

4. “Mer du Japon (Remix by Kris Menace)”, AIR - J’en perds la raison (I lost my mind).

5. “Relaxation Spa Treatment”, Dan the Automator - [instrumental, no lyrics]

6. “Good Love”, Isaac Hayes (as Chef from “South Park”) - You’ll recommend me to your mother, your sisters, your aunts and your nieces.

7. “Let’s Stay Together”, Al Green - Loving you whether, whether.

8. “Colours”, Donovan - Freedom is a word I rarely use.

I sure do pick the damnedest times to leave town. While I was funning and sunning in Florida, a silent rave broke out in Union Square yesterday evening.

What’s a silent rave? It’s a rave without sex, without Ecstasy, and without music — at least outwardly-audible music:

It was striking for what could not be heard.

On the west side of the square, city workers ripped up the street with jackhammers. On the east side, a stalled caravan of drivers, no doubt frustrated by streets’ closing for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, leaned on car horns.

But in the middle, there might as well have been a Cone of Silence. A mass of people — a head-bobbing, arms-above-the-head, conga-line-forming full-tilt boogie-woogie — emitted what seemed like no sound but rather music visible.

Everyone danced in place, listening to an iPod and prancing to his or her own playlist. For long minutes, in the distance, only the square’s ever-present bongo players could be heard, while close up only shoes, or bare feet, could be heard padding on concrete. Video cameras and cellphones were everywhere.

Note that this go at silent raving differs from the conventional version, where all the separate iPods are synced to the same playlist. Personally, I prefer the Union Square method — more chaotic and freeform.

This couldn’t have been a more perfect opportunity for me. I may not be Facebook-enabled to have RSVP’d, but there were other ways of finding out. And the start time: 6:17PM? Practically my lucky number (don’t ask). Plus, like so many New Yorkers, I’m practically fused to my iPod.

The negative is that this is, obviously, little more than a latter-day flashmob scene. But with a decidedly individualistic edge: While social grouping is the point, having everyone listen and groove to their own private soundtrack injects some self-absorbedness into the experience. It’s really the natural next step in the prevalent iPod cocooning that everyone does daily. (That may be corrosive societal trend, but it’s pretty well unstoppable at this stage.)

I’m going to keep my eyes open for the next edition. A repeat of the Union Square site would be just dandy, but any Manhattan location would do.

Time for a new spew of shuffled-up tracks out of my iPod Touch. It’s a rainy April Fool’s Day here in New York, and that has nothing to do with this little exercise, but what the heck.

My last listing was back in January, indicating that this musical roundup has taken on a quarterly schedule. It’s anything but intentional, believe me.

As always, the Number Eight is brought to you by 8trk. Coming any day now, I hear.

1. “Starlett Johansson (Narctrax remix)”, The Teenagers - You don’t believe in monogamy.

2. “The Race Is On”, George Jones - Heartaches are going to the inside.

3. “We Are Your Friends (Lee Cabrera’s ‘Lower East Side’ Remix)”, Justice vs. Simian - You’ll never be alone again.

4. “Welcome To The Terrordome”, Public Enemy - Crucifixion ain’t no fiction.

5. “Fat Albert (TV show theme)”, Bill Cosby - And Bill’s gonna show you a thing or two.

6. “The One I Love”, R.E.M. - A simple prop, to occupy my time.

7. “Ch-Check It Out”, Beastie Boys - Sport that fresh attire.

8. “Sympathy For The Devil (Soul To Waste remix)”, Laibach - [instrumental, no lyrics]

From the start, the strategy behind iTunes has been to spurn the subscription model in favor of straight track/album sales. It’s made them the market leader in digital music, so you’d think it’s the right idea.

So why is Apple now allegedly contemplating unlimited access to the iTunes Store with every iPhone and iPod sold, to be covered in a sticker-price increase for the digital media devices?

Here’s the structure of the concept:

This latest concept is similar to Nokia’s “Comes With Music” program set to launch later this year. Nokia is reportedly rolling an $80 fee into the price of compatible phones for one year of access to Nokia’s music store, which includes music from labels like Universal.

Apple’s plan is different in several respects. Since the average iPod owner buys about 20 tracks from the iTunes, Apple wants to make the premium about $20, arguing that it should cover the average consumer’s downloads. Then the owner can make unlimited music downloads from the iTunes Store for the life of the device. Once downloaded, the tracks are yours to keep, even if you get rid of the original iPod or iPhone. And since iPod and phone owners tend to replace devices fairly regularly, the record labels would be getting the fee whether or not the consumer makes any further downloads. Silicon Alley Insider did the math and thinks it’s a good deal all around. But according to the Financial Times’ sources, the labels are looking for numbers closer to the $80 Nokia is reported to be paying.

Is this enough of an incentive to overcome the jacked-up price? Apple’s devices already sell at a premium compared to competitor gadgets, and while that hasn’t stopped the iPhone and iPod from becoming ubiquitous, how high can they go in price point before consumers decide to pass?

Plus, this plan sort of assumes that a new owner will need the unfettered iTunes access to start loading up their iPhone or iPod. In fact, most people probably already have at least a modest digital music/movie collection on their computers that they can immediately start transferring to their new toy. Or is an unlimited iTunes offer a subtle way of veering people away from P2P networks?

It’s not a necessity, but the thrust of the idea seems to be the use of an iPhone/wi-fi connected iPod as the primary conduit for obtaining music off iTunes — not the traditional computer-to-iPod route. That in itself indicates that Apple sees a major shift in how people are getting their music (perhaps backed up by solid data from their servers).

When I first got my iPod Touch, I was amazed that I was able to manipulate the touchscreen controls and keyboard so effortlessly and so quickly. I was afraid that my fingers wouldn’t be thin enough to accurately tap the onscreen keys, buttons and sliders, thus making my experience with my shiny new toy less than ideal.

Well, for some odd reason, the last few days have seen me regress in my iTouch adroitness. I’ve had to tap on the little sucker’s screen twice, three times even, to fast-forward to the next track or adjust the volume. Keyboard typing has been better, but even there I’ve been less accurate than usual.

In short, I’m completely off.

Have I gained weight in my digits? Unlikely. At least I hope so. I wouldn’t want to resort to having my fingers surgically “whittled” thinner, like some people have, just to cut down on my iPoding errors. It seems like an extreme solution.

In addition to making you look vaguely hip, those iPod-tethered earbuds also mark you as a potential crime target, according to the Urban Institute. The Washington-based think tank argues that the mainstream popularity of the iPod sparked a noticeable increase in violent crime over the past few years.

Actually, this isn’t a new idea. Back in 2005, the NYPD suggested the same correlation between the spread of iPods and subway crime. And I believe the supporting ideas were that a tipping point had been reached back then: The iPods were widespread enough that a sustainable criminal resale market had developed, making it worth the while of thieves to swipe the media players.

But did it lead to an epidemic of iCrime, with people suddenly eschewing Apple’s ubiquitous gadgets? No. And I don’t expect any shifts from these findings. If anything, it’ll only pave the way for a cloned report about an uptick in iPhone crime in a year or two.

Because the pre-loaded wallpaper images on the iPod Touch are all either boring or slightly feminine, I decided to import this 1958 Salvador Dali watercolor, “Allegorical Saint and Angels in Adoration of the Holy Spirit”, into mine. So now it shows up every time my iTouch gets prompted out of lock mode (which is often).

I’ve expressed before how much I like this piece. It holds up pretty well in shrunken, digitized format. I especially get a kick out of much Nirvana’s cover art for the “In Utero” album evokes “Allegorical”, and the almost side-by-side visual I get whenever one of those tracks ticks up on shuffle-play.

I’d still love to get a wall print of this painting. I’m heading down to Tampa Bay next week, so even though the Dali Museum doesn’t list this as being available in their giftshop in any form, I might luck out. At least see it in person one more time.

Any time I see a house DJ unloading sleeve after sleeve of CDs in preparation for a show, I automatically think: Dinosaur.

Which is unfair, because ultimately it doesn’t matter what the music is stored on, as long it’s pumping. But really, when iPods are so widespread and hold so many tracks, seeing a professional mixmaster clinging to discs (compact or, even, vinyl) is a signal that they’re not making the most of the tools that are available to them.

They’ll have no choice eventually, as iPods are already overtaking what used to be cutting-edge spinning:

In 2006, consumers in the United States spent about $125 million on D.J.- specific hardware, said Brian Majeski, editor of Music Trades magazine in Englewood, N.J. Some $35 million of it was on CD players. But CD player sales are probably going to shrink.

“Instead of buying expensive CD players, people are starting to migrate to hard-drive devices, in many instances substituting an iPod for a CD machine,” he said. “The Numark iDJ2s have appeal both to consumers and mobile D.J.’s. You don’t need to haul as much stuff.”

The use of the iPod, often wielded by amateurs, has raised eyebrows among some professional D.J.’s. “It’s as though their guild is being infringed upon,” Mr. Majeski said.

The concept of whipping an iPod out of your pocket and instantly commencing on break-beating is appealing. Since I’m now in possession of two iPods — my everyday Touch and my now-backup Classic (nee Video) — it’s occurred to me that I could easily transport a party-to-go, provided there’s appropriate soundsystem equipment at the destination.

But as cool as that would be, the iPod’s playback interface doesn’t lend itself to true mixing. The Touch, especially, would be a pain to manipulate with fades and sound effects. The fact is, it wasn’t designed for aggressive playback. I guess that’s why these porting consoles are coming out.

Let’s get this out of the way: My first 2008 listing of the last 8 random tracks to spew out of my trusty iPod Touch. And only one month since the last go-round.

As always, the choice of 8 tracks instead of some rounder number is in support of 8trk, which we should be seeing more fully-formed in ‘08 (appropriately enough, in meta-marketing terms). And with that:

1. “Let My Love Open The Door”, Sondre Lerche (Dan in Real Life soundtrack) - Release yourself from misery.

2. “What A Life”, Juliana Hatfield - You wear it like propriety.

3. “You’ve Got the Best of My Love”, Emotions - Love has kissed me in a beautiful way.

4. “Torture”, KMFDM - Scenes, once negated, ushered in.

5. “Bad Girl”, Madonna - I’m not happy when I act this way.

6. “Tainted Love”, Soft Cell - I don’t pray that way.

7. “Beautiful”, Goldfrapp - Turn me onto your star.

8. “Rock the Bells”, LL Cool J - And the best thing you wrote was a bunch of bullshit.

Not since this past summer have I posted a shuffle-generated list of tracks (with lyrical snippets) resulting from my iPod.

The reason? In that time, I’ve since upgraded to a latest-and-greatest iPod Touch. So mostly, I’ve been too preoccupied just noodling with the iTouch and all its neat features. The music’s still pumping out of it on an almost-daily basis, but I haven’t focused enough to make note of the sequence.

Until now. So here, in the nick of time 2007-wise, is the list of random 8 — 8 in keeping the sync with 8trk (where I’ll be cross-posting this):

1. “I Wanna Be Sedated”, The Ramones - Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show.

2. “Head Like A Hole”, Nine Inch Nails - Let’s go dancing on the backs of the bruised.

3. “Rapper’s Delight”, Sugar Hill Gang - Now what you hear is not a test.

4. “Super Disco Breakin’”, Beastie Boys - Nothing sounds quite like an eight-oh-eight.

5. “You’re No Rock ‘N Roll Fun”, Sleater-Kinney - Fill our Christmas socks with whiskey drinks and chocolate bars.

6. “Mer Du Japon (Remix By The Teenagers)”, AIR - J’en perds la raison (I lost my mind).

7. “My Fair Lady”, David Byrne - Calls to me a strange attraction.

8. “Heart of Hearts (Radio Edit)”, !!! - Talking ’bout real love baby.

After watching too many television commercials touting Ford’s Sync in-car mobile device communication system, I started to wonder: Given that Sync was designed by Microsoft, is it safe to assume that it wouldn’t play all that nice with Apple’s iPod?

Imagine my surprise to find out that not only does Sync work well with iPods, it actually prefers them over Microsoft’s competing Zune player:

Zune: You connect it, it says “Connected” on the screen just as if you hooked it up to a computer. However, it seems when you play a track, it will read it over the USB and play it through the Sync system itself. If you try to fast forward a track through the Sync system, it goes achingly slow. By achingly, I mean seconds at a time. So if you have a long track, it’s going to take you a long time just to fast forward a few minutes. I thought this was the norm for the Sync system. Then I bought the iPod and used that.

iPod. You connect it, and the screen actually changes. It shows the Ford logo on the screen of the iPod itself, not just a basic generic message. Then I noticed something else too. It actually will load up your current on-the-go playlist if you left one on the iPod before connecting it. The Zune doesn’t support that. Then I tried to fast forward…. the Microsoft Sync system actually uses the iPod to play the track, and then just pumps the audio signal through USB. That means it looks like the fast forward command goes straight to the iPod and plays the track on the iPod, unlike the Zune which seems to just go through the Sync system itself.

So apparently, not even Microsoft’s individual business units (in this case, the Automotive group) want anything to do with the Zune.

Seriously, I’m surprised MS didn’t try to leverage this placement to at least make iPod interfacing buggy, in contrast to a smoother experience with a Zune or other media players. I’m guessing Ford pretty much insisted on no funny business, recognizing the iPod’s ubiquity with the public, including prospective car-buyers.

Just spreading the word on 8trk’s upcoming “An Apple A Day” promotion, seeing as how I’m helping launch the site. Dissemin-8-ing, so to speak (pardon the pun — or don’t).

Read on:

In service of 8trk’s commitment to expanding your interest in music, from December 10th thru December 31st 8trk will be giving away FREE MUSIC to one new winner, every day, from Apple iTunes.

That’s the “Apple a day” part. Get it? (It’s really an iTunes gift card code, but “an iTunes a day” didn’t have the same ring to it, y’know?)

There’s more! One lucky winner will walk away with a BRAND NEW IPOD from Apple – how’s that to feed your music appetite?

The rules of the giveaway are simple:

* Visit blog.8trk.com as often as possible
* Comment on any post(s) that you find interesting or answer a survey question, providing your email address in the process
* Tell your friends to visit blog.8trk.com. Okay, this one is not exactly a rule, but hey – spread the love!

That’s it. If you win you will be able to immediately go to iTunes to get that album that you’ve wanted and couldn’t find, that album you had and lost or one of any of those fantastic 8trk recommendations. Good luck!

More details and legalese right here. Yes, you will need to have iTunes loaded up on your computer in order to make use of those sweet gift card codes; but then, you’ve already got it, right? So have at it.

And to help create more comment-worthy terrain for contest purposes, you’ll be seeing a few timely postings by yours truly over at the 8trk blog. Try keeping the doctor away with all that!

Without fail, whenever I whip out my iPod Touch in public, those interested enough to comment invariably compliment me on owning… An iPhone.

Which is a reasonable mistake. Even on close inspection, the visual differences between the Touch and the iPhone are few: The iPhone is slightly thicker and taller thanks to its integrated earpiece and camera, both of which are absent on the latest-generation iPod. That, plus a few other minor design details (and a more icon-heavy default start screen, although that’s adjustable via hacks), is the only way to get a quick read on which Apple gadget one is packing. If you’re not overly familiar with one or the other, you’re not going to be able to tell right off the bat.

Beyond that, it seems the iPhone got loads more hype leading up to its release; by now, the popular consciousness is familiar enough with the iconic visual of an ultra-slim handheld that most can safely assume the item in question is the iPhone. By contrast, despite a standout television commercial, the iPod Touch hasn’t received nearly as much exposure. In fact, I think the Touch has been pretty much lost amid the lingering buzz over the iPhone.

I actually take advantage of this fuzziness by using the common shorthand for describing the Touch: It’s an iPhone without the phone part. Essentially true, but it undermines the device by defining it in terms of another, too-similar device (albeit not a competing one).

Anyway, I’m not scoring too many points off being a faux-iPhoner (iFaux?). Once I clear up the matter, it usually leads to a nice, if brief, chat on how cool our modern-day tech toys are.