iTunes is best data transfer software, but it becomes very expensive as you have to purchase your video albums and movies from the iTunes store. I purchased iPod nano 3rd generation a couple of months ago. After a few days I realized that I need additional software to convert stuff that I already had on my computer. I found loads of free software on internet. Here is list of some very handy software that are absolutely free. These third party tools will save you money and give you more control over your iPod.

WordPod

If you are fan of reading books in your leisure time than this tool is for you. This free software converts an e-book into iPod readable format. The version is supported on all the new versions of iPod. After synchronizing the books with iPod you will feel like the book was designed for iPod. You can browse chapter wise or navigate page by page. This tool also les you read the books available at the Project Gutenberg library. The library has about 16,000 classics.

Latest version of the software is WordPod 1.2 and is available under GPL (General Public License) license. The software is compatible with Windows and Macintosh.

iAppoint 0.5.1

iAppoint is a free utility designed for iPod. It copies all of your Outlook appoints to a single file, which can be easily transferred to iPod or Mac.

 

 

iPod Plug-in for Winamp 3.02

This is a quite handy plug-in and is absolutely free. All is does is that it adds synchronization feature right in the Winamp player. After installing the software it adds your iPod to media list. You can easily send MP3 and M4A files to you iPod without launching iTunes. You can also play songs from the same iPod on any other computer having Winamp and plug-ins installed.

 

KS Free iPod Video Converter 2.4

This is a free software from Koyote Soft. The utility can convert ASF, WMV, AVI, VOB, DVD, MP4, MPG, Xvid, DivX and FLV (Youtube) formats to native iPod format. This software also allows you to directly download video from Youtube and save it to your iPod.

 

YamiPod v1.7

YamiPod is yet another iPod manager. It's a free software and can run on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The tool needs no installation at all and can run directly from your iPod. Using this utility you can easily backup mp3, acc and m3u/pls playlists etc.

 

 

PodLyrics 1.5a

Using this free software you can easily find lyrics for you songs stored on iPod. All you have to do is to install the utility, connect iPod to your machines and select the song. The software will search and download lyrics of the desired song to your iPod. After synchronizing you will e able to vie lyrics on iPod screen.

 

MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter 0.12

Open source software that can convert one or more MP3 files to one file. The converted file is in the audio book format with all the speed control and bookmark facilities.

 

iNews 1.5

iNews is a free windows software and allows you to synchronise your favourite RSS feeds. The feeds are maintained in organized form on your iPod and you can easily access the headlines.

 

iPod Reset Utility 1.0.2

As the name suggests this software restores factory settings of your iPod. This utility was made by Apple for iPod shuffle. iPod nano and video have this option right inside the gadget.

Ziepod 1.0

Ziepod allows you to subscribe and download podcasts. The software is free and can also search podcast episodes via freezie.com. The downloaded podcasts are labeled and tagged in a separate folder on your computer. The software also recognizes ID3 tags in the audio files and you can overwrite it manually or automatically if desired.