Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

For the time being Apple has decided to ignore the Zune’s ‘killer’ feature of being able to transfer music wirelessly between devices but while they may claim no one really needs or wants that option you can pretty much guarantee the iPod will one day gain that functionality. So for the time being the only way to copy MP3s, videos or photos between two iPods is with something like the Rapid Transit. Just connect two devices (including digital cameras) via their own USB cables to the RT and then using its built-in screen you can select what files or folders you want to copy between the devices.

And you can choose to view this feature as a plus or minus but the Rapid Transit also plays along with Apple’s DRM which means that music transferred from a friend’s iPod to yours can not be played until your iPod is re-synched to iTunes. (You need to enter your friend’s iTunes password to unlock the songs transferred to your own iPod.) However I’m pretty sure music that wasn’t purchased from iTunes is free of these restrictions. When travelling the RT can use its own rechargeable battery but also comes with an AC adaptor that allows you to recharge any USB-rechargeable device plugged into it.

The Rapid Transit is available from the Herrington Catalog for $129.95.

[ Rapid Transit USB Transfer Device ]