There’s an app available that allows you to open things online and read them offline, you know…I have it but I can’t remember off the top of my head what it’s called.
Once again guys thank you for the support. Now it is just saving the pocket change et al. Do you guys find the accelaratomer (or however it is spelled) annoying? I mostly use my nano for running on an elliptical, and could see it being a liability? Can you disable it for managing your play list?
Stanza.
Ive found the Airsharing app works best for transferring pdfs to the ipod. I use mine for reading all the time and I love it (I like Stanza as well).
Sweet! I’ll give that a try! 
That’s not the one I have. Hang on, let me grab it…it’s called Instapaper.
Never heard of that one. Thanks I must try it out myself.
I have the 32GB, which was a Christmas gift to myself. I seem to be the only one saying this, but I LOVE having it for watching movies. If you spend a lot of time sitting around waiting (wife is shopping, on a plane, etc.), this thing rocks! I always found the traditional iPod screen too small, but the Touch is perfect and allowed me to get rid of a bulky portable DVD player that just wasn’t convenient enough to bring to a lot of places.
What I now want to know is:
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Is there a program that RAPIDLY transfers DVDs and other video to MP4 format? Handbrake and their ilk are slow as Hell - 6-8 hours for a 2 hour movie is ridiculous. I want something that will do it in 30 minutes or so and not require supercomputer hardware to do it. YOU may be running a supercooled quad core God-knows-what, but I have a five year old computer that works fine with this one exception, and I’m not willing to upgrade the hardware just for that.
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Any good (cheap) earbuds that will actually STAY in my ears? Wholly crap, I must have alien ears because the buds will not stay in unless I stand perfectly still. Forget exercising with them. Sure, I can use real headphones and even get the bonus of noise canceling, but then the damn headphones are bigger than the whole entertainment system, and can’t just be thrown in my pocket.
Sounds like in-ear monitors (canalphones, IEMs) are what you need. They’re available all over the place (Target, Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, etc.) in a wide variety of prices and colors. I’ve seen 'em as low as $5 and as high as a couple hundred. I would imagine even a $15 - $20 pair would be an improvement over the problems and sound you’re currently experiencing with your earbuds.
ETA: Some also come with molded earpieces that fit around your ear to hold them in place during sports or strenuous activity.
So how is the iphone for texting? I would love to get an iphone, but I do a lot of texting, and I’m not sure how efficient the touch-screen keyboard is. I think my other option is a blackberry pearl.
I have the iPod Touch but I imagine the keyboards are very similar if not the same. It’s surprising how adept you get at touching the keys with just the right part of your thumbs/fingers and after a while you can get pretty good at typing with your two thumbs.
I’m not sure how well it works with long fingernails, though. The screen responds to changes in electrical current caused by the touch of your finger and doesn’t respond to objects like a stylus or, presumably, fingernails. Still, I haven’t heard any complaints in this regard, so it may be okay.
If there’s an Apple Store or Best Buy near you, you could stop in and play with one and see how you like it. That’s what I did. (Best Buy was far, far less crowded and noisy; I couldn’t even hear the little internal speaker at the Apple Store.)
It doesn’t respond to fingernails.
I grew out my fingernails a little while ago, and using the iPhone was a bit more of a pain. Not very much more, mind, but you have to be rather dainty about it.
The predictive text is nothing short of amazing, though. I hardly ever have to correct typos, and the phone even learns pet names, and autocorrects typos to those pet names after a while!
Thanks Tabby_Cat and Starving Artist.
I’ve been resisting the urge to want an iphone, but everyone that has one LOVES it. The urge is slowly taking over.
Well then let me be the first wet blanket. 
I love my iPhone, but I realise it’s not for everyone. Namely, it’s not that great a phone. It’s more like a mp3 player/palmtop with occasional phone use.
No cut and paste
slightly lousy phone call quality
slightly lousy reception
cannot forward SMSes
battery life is occasionally dismal and sometimes appalling
Now, I don’t really call or text people very often, and I do surf the net and play games, make notes etc on the phone all the time, and I can charge my iPhone from my dock in the office, so the iPhone is a good fit for me.
If you need to forward SMSes at all, or don’t have a convenient daily charging point, you may not want to rush into the iPhone.
[Devil on shoulder] Pssst…go ahead! Do it! Do it! You’ll love it! Go ahead, do it! [/Devil on shoulder]
Seriously though, and keeping in mind once again that I have the iPod Touch so battery drain and charging may be different, but I haven’t found charging the battery to be a problem at all. After several days’ use at several hours a day, I usually still have over half a charge left but charge it then anyway. I bought an inexpensive dockable mp3 player at my neighborhood Wal-Mart for $60 or so and it automatically charges the iPod (and pretty quickly, too) while it’s docked. Less quick but just as convenient is that you can charge it from your computer’s USB port using the supplied USB connector cable that comes with the unit.
As far as SMSes go, I got nothin’.
Oh man, I’m so conflicted!
I have an 8 gig Touch, and its pretty much crack, like everyone’s said. Those of you with a 2nd Gen Touch, and access to near constant wifi will want to check out the Truphone, fring, and iTalk apps (all free). Truphone and fring allow you to make calls with your Touch via Skype, and iTalk allows you to use your Touch as an audio recorder (you’ll have to supply your own mic, of course, but the iPhone headsets work just fine).
The big problem I have with Stanza is that it strips the images out of any PDFs, and converting an image heavy PDF to a non-image PDF, doesn’t work so well with the Windows desktop app (don’t know if the Mac version is any better). There are PDF readers for the iPhone/Touch that leave the images intact (Files is one), but if they’re really big PDFs (100+Megs), expect the app to crash and/or be very sluggish a lot. This kind of crimps my intended uses for the Touch (lots of machinist books are available as free PDFs, of course, since I’m now unemployed, its not like I have much use for them at the moment), but its still pretty handy to have.
Here’s a recent thread of favorite iPhone/Touch apps. Most apps will run on a Touch, but some (like those relating to the camera, won’t), and there’s oodles of free apps out there, so you can fill your device up pretty quickly, without spending a dime. (The Google Earth app is a must have. Its just too frickin’ cool.)
I’m posting this from my new touch over the campus wifi! Wheeeeee!
Gah!! I decided I really really want an iphone because they are awesome, but I don’t need an iphone. So I should get a blackberry! Maybe…? Frick!
ps. sorry for hijacking this thread
wow! you guys are awesome at feedback, and have helped me make up my mind. I’ll definately be picking up the 16 gig. Thanks!