[rampancy]

So I got a used 2G 8GB iPod touch from a fellow computer geek around where I live, for $150 CDN (a bargain considering what I've seen them going for on eBay)...it seemed like he really knew what he was doing with it - the screen is totally scratch-free, and the back has only a few scuffs on it.

Outside of the shuffle, my only experience with "traditional" iPods was the old-school 1G 5GB iPod from way back, so I feel a little overwhelmed. I'd like to ask the folks here what would their advice would be to someone new to the iPod touch? What settings should I turn on/off, what apps should I snag from the store, and how much of a difference does the 3.0 update make over the 2.2 release of the OS?

Thanks in advance, guys. Holding this little thing in my hands reminds me of when I first booted up my first Mac way back in Grade 8...

[torifile]

Do you do Twitter? If so, Tweetie is best of breed, IMHO (even with the broken search until an update).

Games: Fieldrunners is worth every penny. I've played it for hours.

Music: last.fm and pandora are both great. I've found myself using wunderradio more and more frequently.

Shopping: the amazon app is super convenient if you use amazon with regularity.

Social: The facebook app is pretty good. Not great but definitely passable.

And load it up with some music.

[PKIDelirium]

Yahoo app is really good if you use their mail or news.

Colloquy if you use IRC.

Fandango app is great if your theater uses their online ticketing system.

[Capella]

Pandora and an IM client are musts for me.

[psmith2.0]

Apps? My five favorites (all free too):

- Fandango (movie times, locations, buy tickets if you want, etc. Very slick, quick and easy...I use it all the time)

- MacTracker (standalone app version of the great info found at the website...a library of Apple hardware knowledge, in your pocket. Helps you win bar bets, assuming you hang out at bars nerdy enough where people make bets on which iMac had which specs in which year )

- Units (handy unit conversions...you won't use it all the time, but when you need it you'll be glad it's there)

- What's On TV? (easy, attractive TV guide...more handy than you think! Tag favorite shows, easily know when they're coming on...great for things like ballgames and other shows that aren't on a set, specific schedule or shows that are on in syndication on various networks at various times. I've got all my "Law & Order" franchise shows tagged, along with my favorite Discovery, HGTV, Travel Channel and PBS shows, which tend to do a bit of "floating" in the schedule, or have special showings or marathons that you can never predict)

- Wi-Fi Finder (like the name says...this one lists free Wi-Fi hotspots. There's a companion version that provides all nearby Wi-Fi spots, but I'm cheap and only want to know the free...I had the other version, but this cuts down on a lot of scrolling/sorting)

[ghoti]

geoDefense. Try it, you'll be hooked. Starts out slow, but gets crazy difficult really fast. There's also a demo with a few levels.

And if you're not into action so much: Subway. Great logic puzzle game, and simply beautiful.

And for rocking out, try one of the Tap Tap games, like Tap Tap Revenge. Dance is my favorite.

[rampancy]

Wow, thanks for the suggestions - you guys totally rock!

I've been trying out as many of the apps listed here as I can, but I've run into a snag - when I launch an app, it looks like it's starting up...and then it drops back to the home screen. The iPhone OS's equivalent of apps quitting after bouncing around in the dock? From what I've gathered the fix can involve everything ranging from a hard reset, to deleting your apps on the iPod touch and reinstalling them using a sync from iTunes, to a total restoring of the device. Anyone know why this happens?

Maybe it's my old Mac habits resurfacing but I feel compelled to find a way to clear the OS caches, scan for corrupt preference files, take a look at the crash logs and the system/console.log files, update the prebindings and rebuild LaunchServices on this thing. You don't suppose trying to run DiskWarrior on this would help, would you?...

[beardedmacuser]

A few other suggestions not mentioned above already, from my five pages of apps now!

Wikipanion - simple way to browse Wikipedia quickly.

Google Earth - not hugely useful but fun to show others.

Remote - awesome if you have a larger iTunes library than can fit on your iPhone/iPod and you have an Airport Express hooked-up to your stereo.

Road Trip - tracks my motoring expenses and car's efficiency (47 mpg (UK) at my last fill for my 9 year old 1.6 litre petrol car!).

FlightControl - in hindsight showing this to colleagues wasn't a great idea as they'll borrow my iPhone every other day to try and beat each other's scores!

Skype - useful if you're away from home and don't have your normal computer for Skype calls.

If you like flight sims then some of the X-Plane apps may be of interest too.

Enjoy!

[stratotom]

Originally Posted by rampancy I've been trying out as many of the apps listed here as I can, but I've run into a snag - when I launch an app, it looks like it's starting up...and then it drops back to the home screen. The iPhone OS's equivalent of apps quitting after bouncing around in the dock? From what I've gathered the fix can involve everything ranging from a hard reset, to deleting your apps on the iPod touch and reinstalling them using a sync from iTunes, to a total restoring of the device. Anyone know why this happens?

A few apps advise restarting after installing the app, to avoid problems like crashing. Also, and this is just a guess, perhaps some apps are optimised for iPhone rather than the Touch? I'm not sure on this point, the two could be the exactly the same w/r apps for all I know.

[beardedmacuser]

Originally Posted by rampancy Wow, thanks for the suggestions - you guys totally rock! I've been trying out as many of the apps listed here as I can, but I've run into a snag - when I launch an app, it looks like it's starting up...and then it drops back to the home screen. The iPhone OS's equivalent of apps quitting after bouncing around in the dock? From what I've gathered the fix can involve everything ranging from a hard reset, to deleting your apps on the iPod touch and reinstalling them using a sync from iTunes, to a total restoring of the device. Anyone know why this happens? Maybe it's my old Mac habits resurfacing but I feel compelled to find a way to clear the OS caches, scan for corrupt preference files, take a look at the crash logs and the system/console.log files, update the prebindings and rebuild LaunchServices on this thing. You don't suppose trying to run DiskWarrior on this would help, would you?...

I've had this problem a couple of times, but not for quite some time. If I restarted the iPhone, and reminded the iPhone of my iTunes account by downloading something such as a free app (where you still have to enter your iTunes Store details) the problem was solved. But it's been months and months since I've had such issues.

[rampancy]

I tried a hard reset, in addition to deleting my apps and reinstalling them using an iTunes sync - everything seems to work just fine now. I'm really amazed at the quality of some of the free apps, but I'm also appalled at some of the trash on the app store. It's somewhat disappointing that so many apps I've seen are either demos labelled as "Lite" apps, or marketing cash-ins like that Terminator Salvation app.

I'm puzzled why the touch isn't supported as a USB storage device in iTunes, something I also assumed was true for the nano and classic. Looks like I finally found a use for PhoneView that I got from the MH3 bundle.

I'm pondering making the jump to 3.0, though I'm not sure if you can rollback to an older version in case the upgrade goes bad.

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 What's On TV? (easy, attractive TV guide...more handy than you think! Tag favorite shows, easily know when they're coming on...great for things like ballgames and other shows that aren't on a set, specific schedule or shows that are on in syndication on various networks at various times. I've got all my "Law & Order" franchise shows tagged, along with my favorite Discovery, HGTV, Travel Channel and PBS shows, which tend to do a bit of "floating" in the schedule, or have special showings or marathons that you can never predict)

New favorite app, thanks Paul. This thing is going to be useful when I don't feel like using the cable box. Just seems real handy.

[scratt]

/blatant self promotion

You could try my game.... I wrote it for my wife..

http://orb.ginetix.com

As soon as the gnomes wake up at Apple the 1.1 update will be out with Scoreloop integration so you can challenge other people in a social gaming network and win shiny virtual "Gold coins"..

And the music by 3PeakAudio is awesome. Worth downloading just for that!

/blatant self promotion

[turtle]

My most used apps are:
Road Trip - Tracks gas milage and filled with other great statistics.

WeatherBug Elite - I used the free version but felt the minor upgrade cost was well worth it. It was totally worth it and seems like it's the best wether app out there.

SplashID - Great for keeping encrypted content like bank account, SSN, credit card and such data that's handy to have but needs ot be locked down.

WordPress - Easy blog posting while on the go.

Groceries - Shopping list on steroids.

1Password - Companion app to the desktop version.

[ghoti]

Why do you use both 1Password and SplashID? I have all my stuff (except for SSN, I can remember that in 1Password. Why would you use two programs?

[turtle]

Well, I used SplashID for syncing and then got 1Password in a bundle thing. The iPhone app was a free add on so I tried it. Now, I really only use SplashID because I like it's interface better. I do still use 1Password's app though.