Trouble in touch paradise

After having acquired and installed firmware 2.0 yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some of the neat new things I have with my “improved” iPod Touch. But as I was trying out another app I installed, the thing just froze on me. And no matter how much I tried resetting it, I was still faced with the Apple logo on a plain black background.

This is the second time I’ve had an iPod scary moment like this. And despite having a bit of experience, it does not take away the fear that your well-loved music companion might be well on its way to tech heaven. Thankfully that wasn’t the case for both times.

So what was it that caused the Touch from stalling? I wasn’t using Safari at that time so I guess it rules it out. I think it was one of the new apps I installed and ran prior to the hanging. I say that it might be the cause because there were only 2 of them that I had new, and the other one was working just fine. I dare not try to run it again to avoid having to go through the torment again.

How did i fix it? Well, you probably know by now that turning it off and resetting it didn’t do any good. I had the latest version of iTunes (7.7) so it wasn’t really that either. I took out the firewire cable from the cradle, attached the iPod Touch directly to it and waited until iTunes recognized it… well, sort of. It was halfway through and it was gone again.

Seeing what happened, I tried resetting it again with the cable still attached. I then proceeded to delete the backup file of the iPod which you can find by going through iTunes > Preferences > Syncing, then highlight the file and click on the delete button. This will not erase your iTunes library because were only dealing with the iPod, and provided you can still recover the iPod from its frozen state, you can create a new backup anyway.

That being said, I am so happy to now give out a list of FREE apps I have on my iPod at the moment.

Remote

This was the very first thing I tested out, and I must admit that it does what Apple says it should, at least on the iTunes side of things. I do not have an Apple TV so that to me, remains a mystery.

It is pretty cool to be able to control your iTunes library from the Touch for it somehow brings a sense of control and interactivity between Apple products. However, it is most probably just a novelty for me. It would be great to show it off to family and friends who haven’t seen it yet. Nevertheless, Remote is a handy tool to have around.

PayPal

Just having recently activated my own PayPal account, this handy little app will prove useful to those constantly making purchases on eBay or making their payments through the PayPal gateway.

iPint

Everyone who has tried iPint is gonna ask “Why?”, and my response will be that it seemed like a good idea at the moment. Its will kill a few minutes when you’re bored, but what I like the most is when you get rewarded with a pint. The animation is really good that both Kitchie and Tim were giving their praises.

Zenbe Lists

I used to make a to-do list on the iPod’s notes, but it just doesn’t feel right. A lot of people have been clamoring for a to-do list native on the iPhone and iPod Touch. And although Apple itself hasn’t answered the call of the people, it’s nice to know that there are some other people out there who are willing to take on the challenge… and offer it for free too!

Conclusion

Out of all the free apps available on the AppStore, only a number of them have caught my attention. As with everything else, better and more fascinating things come up as the service matures. This is a great way to have budding developers show off their stuff.

There are a number of apps I have yet to explore so I will not be mentioning them here. TypePad Mobile seems very promising, but unfortunately I am a WordPress guy. Here’s hoping that they get to launch the WordPress for iPhone app soon.

My iPod has been backed up, restored and is in perfect working order. Now I will be able to look into the other new stuff in it.

Related posts:

1. Using the iPod Touch
2. Smooth to the Touch
3. iPod Touch: January update
4. Anticipation
5. Scary moment

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