A text reader?

[Vance]

I thought I read about iPod now having a text reader, but all I can find out about are Notes. Does this feature let you input .txt files and read as the music is playing?

My use: I do a lot of audiobooks, and getting a text version of certain ones (the Bible or Shakespeare) would actually be nice, since I can read along if I want.

Thanks for any information on this point.

note: I don't yet have an iPod, but am considering it, thus the many questions.

[WK CrazyHorse]

Yes, you can drop small .txt files on the iPod and read these notes as you're listening to music.

The problem, however, is that the text files are limited in file size.

To overcome this, there's a program for Mac called Book2Pod (search MacUpdate.com for it) that will split up large text files and move them to your iPod in their own folder. You'll then be able to view them as 'chapters.' If you don't have a Mac, either you're screwed, or maybe search VersionTracker.com for a Windows equivalent.

Hope this helps.

[evoGage]

Yeah just drag some text files into the 'Notes' folder on the ipod and then view them in the notes sections in extras. You can also play music and view them at the same time.

[Vance]

Great, thanks guys. What is the size limit? (since I am PC, not Mac)

[evoGage]

On the 5G the text size has been increased from 4K to 8K. Not sure how many words that is.

[Vance]

Ah, I will see how much space a simple text version of a play takes up. Thanks!

[blinktwice]

i tried to read along once but my eyes started to hurt

[Chricton]

I have something called Wordpod. Works great, and it's free.

[Vance]

Wordpod? Ah, got to go and google that! Anything special I should know about it?

[j82]

After some searching, I found a free program called Chainsaw (found at Brothersoft.com) where you just drag and drop the text file into the program and it converts them into .txt.chunk files (these work on the 5G iPod). It's very easy to use. You can actually specify how big or small you want the split files to be (I chose 4kb) I also use a program called HTMASC (v. 3.0) which converts HTML files to .txt files. They offer a 30-day trial and as far as I can tell - with that, the program fully functions.