Let's give a cheer for Mike Matheson. He took on the task of linking together two products -- the iPod and Microsoft Outlook -- whose crucial programming is zealously guarded by their makers. And he's done it.

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iPodSync $13.95 from Matheson's ICC Software in Ontario, Canada, now in version 2.14 is a must have for Window iPod users.

I had given the 1.x version a lukewarm review a year ago, while it still was very much a work in progress. Since then Matheson has diligently fixed the glitches in his software, Meanwhile the latest iPod software has PDA capabilities that are largely inaccessible to Windows users without iPodSync. This is especially so for the "3G" (third generation) iPods and their 2.1 software, which greatly improve the functionality of these tools.

By no stretch of the imagination would you want to toss out your PDA and use an iPod instead. But the features are handy to have. There are many occasions -- a vacation, for example -- when you would have your iPod with you and want to leave your PDA at home.

Mac users can easily transfer data to their music player via the iSync application. But for Windows, you would need to save your Outlook contact and calendar items one by one as vCard or iCalendar files respectively, then transfer them to the iPod through Windows Explorer.

iPodSync neatly fills the void. With an interface that emulates iSync and a multitude of customization option, it lets you transfer Outlook data to an iPod with a single click. In fact, in addition to contact and calendar items, it will sync Outlook notes and tasks as well by converting them into iPod Contact items.

A new feature of iPodSync 2.x is Web accessibility to let you put news and weather reports on your iPod -- sort of streamlined AvantGo for the music player. The latest release of the software includes support for 3G iPods' capabilities to work as a voice recorder and digital photo storage medium.

I suppose you could do some of this yourself; provided you wanted to take a couple of hours instead of a couple of minutes to do it. Count me among those who would regard that as a total waste of time. To make full use of your iPod in Windows, go with iPodSync.

A couple of other utilities are worth a quick mention also. CopyPod  ($8) for Windows and iPod Rip ($10) for the Mac let iPod users transfer songs from their iPods to their hard drives. As a concession to the music industry, Apple programs the devices and iTunes so that you can sync only with one computer and only send songs to an iPod. That, in turn, annoyingly limits your ability to move your own music library around via your iPod. These tools read your iPod and let you back up your music files where ever you want them. Since these days litigation is becoming the definitive measure of what has companies up in arms, note that Apple has made no moves to stop these utilities (whereas it has literally scoured the world going after software that crack its "FairPlay" digital rights encoding scheme).

(c) 2004 Al Gordon.
In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.com

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