Last Look: iPod Photo Packs A Few Surprises.

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The iPod Photo is not without a few surprises, one of which I don’t have an answer (for).

Notice the iPod Photo menu to the left. See anything different?

Yes, there’s a “Photos” menu. That’s not surprising. This menu is accessible only through the Settings/Main Menu/Photos selection.

There’s two selections. The first, “Photos” simply turns the iPod Photo function on. Below it is another menu selection.

This selection says Photo Import.

That’s one of the surprises. There’s been some squawking from iPod users already that there’s no way to import digital photos directly from a digital camera or a card reader direct to the iPod.

That’s not quite true since even older iPods could do that through drag and drop (from the desktop) or from an external Card Reader (like the Belkin reader that some think is crummy).

Such is the case here, too.

On Page 35 of the iPod Photo manual, there’s a heading: “Storing Digital Photos From A Photo Card Reader.”

Basically, what it says is, you can store photos on iPod Photo and then delete them from the photo card (assume a Compact Flash here; that’s what I have). However, you can’t view those same photos (transferred from the Flash Card to the iPod Photo) in iPod Photo. Yet.

They can be copied later to iPhoto and they would get synchronized with the iPod Photo on next startup.

This is an important feature that is probably coming to iPod users in a couple of steps. Step 1 would be getting photos off a card reader and into the iPod Photo. The manual says it can be done but I haven’t figured out how. Yet.

Step 2 would be to get those same photos into the iPod Photo “iPhoto” sync without having to manually transfer them back to the Mac, then back to the iPod Photo again.

Here’s what I tried (no success): I took some photos with my digital camera which stored them on Compact Flash. I move the Compact Flash card to the Lexar card reader (Firewire), and plugged that into the iPod Photo.

iPod Photo has another menu selection called Photo Import (which shows up only when the other Photo Import selection is turned “on.” When I click that menu selection all I get is a blank white screen on the iPod Photo.

The PDF manual says that iPod Photo should be able to read a list of photos from a card reader. No go here. I’m using a Lexar Firewire Compact Flash card reader but the contents of the Flash Card never show up on the iPod Photo. The green light of the card reader never flashes, either.

It’s possible I did something wrong or the Lexar Compact Flash card reader isn’t supported. If there’s a way this works, let me know.

Regardless, I’m right about those two feature requirements. Step 1—get photos off a card reader and into the iPod Photo. And, Step 2—get photos inserted into the iPod Photo “sync.”

OK, what about playback of photos. It couldn’t get much easier. Plug in the AV cable (left and right channel audio, and video) into the TV. Turn on the iPod Photo, select the Photos menu, then select Photo Library.

You’ll see a list of Albums from iPhoto. Select one. Two clicks later the photos show up on the TV screen and play music, too. The Settings menu allows you to adjust the output, the transition, and a couple of other goodies.

It’s also necessary to get direct camera import, too. My Canon comes with a USB out and connector. It would be great to simply plug the iPod Photo into the camera and suck the digital images off and store on the iPod. Not yet, apparently.

Oh, one more thing. Don’t change iPhoto’s Preferences while you’re downloading images from a card reader. Mine didn’t like that and the PowerMac crashed—and wiped out all the images on the Compact Flash card. Poof. Gone.

Your mileage may vary. Any other reader experiences on the iPod Photo? What are your thoughts? As always, if you’re willing to share (anonymously, of course), click on the Comments link below.