INFORMED CONSENT: Patients have the right to know the details of the prescribed treatment. AFP Graphic:Gargyee Bhattacharyya Roy

I call my iPod “Ma”. It is ageing and brittle but consistent in its performance. Above all, it is very versatile. Just like Ma. If you got a new iPod this season, or did not — like me, here is some good stuff I have for all you Ma-lovers.

Are you looking for a free iPod? Millennium Music (www.millenniummusic.com) is ready to take your old CDs and trade them with you for a new pod. For 45 CDs you could get a 1-GB Shuffle, for 75 CDs you could get a 2-GB Nano, and more. Of course, the catch is that your CDs need to be approved by them, and the jewel cases should be intact. If you got that, you are on!

When I bought my first iShuffle a few years back, I promptly gave it a baptism by fire… sorry, water! The damn thing was in my trouser pocket when it went into a fuzzy logic washing machine that washed it and spun it dry. At the end of the spin, my mouth went dry as I heard the Shuffle loudly play a Wet Wet Wet number with nary a care to its unprogrammed bath.

Back then, I learned that for anything that goes wrong with the player, one should keep in mind the five ‘R’s —

1. Reset your iPod.

2. Retry with a different USB port.

3. Restart your computer.

4. Reinstall iPod and iTunes software.

5. Restore your iPod.

Somewhere later came on another ‘R’: Resell your iPod and buy the latest model!

I then bought a book on managing problems with the player called The Rough Guide To iPods worth a few hundred bucks just to know what to do when disaster strikes the precious one.

Well, today you can get a great deal better. iLounge (www.iLounge.com) has an absolutely free iPod Book 2.0 available at their site. What’s with a book, you may ask. Well, for starters, you get a peek at over 900 Pod accessories, enough to make you drool or droll.

Not enough? Well, what about an All Things iPod Guide? This gives you invaluable information on lifesaving actions such as a $3,000 iPod customisation inside a $50,000 Porsche Boxter sports car. It also tells you how to make a video suitable for your video iPod, where to buy and sell iPods, maintenance stuff, and much more. All said, iLounge is a one-stop site for the podophile, with an estimated 1,00,000 members in its free discussion forum.

Talking about looks, if black, white or red is too passé for your taste, why not have a wooden iPod? Handmade with African Padauk wood or redwood, it is fully functional, including the scroll wheels and buttons. Stunning looks, if you are in favour of antique chairs in your living room or if you smoke cigars after dinner. Interested? Contact the creator at www.zapwi zard.com and negotiate your offer for a unique piece.

Alternatively, you could clothe the pod in some stunning, patterned cases (for that exquisite Indian appearance) made by Kaftan (www.northshoreexports.com). Costs are reasonable at around $13 to $20. For that cool but affordable gift that is so elusive, this would be a great idea.

You could store an important document or create an e-Book in your iPod, though it can be a real pain if you are not a gizmo wiz. Try www.ipod-notes.com for a very easy way of using your player as a note reader on the move. Buy magnifying glasses too, by the way, if you are so serious that you need to use an iPod to read something rather than freaking out listening to music!

Need to make a PowerPoint presentation at your next meeting? Just carry your pod and make an impression! How does one do that? Head on over to www.zapptek.com and download iPresent It. It’s now available on both Windows and Mac. iPresent It will take any PowerPoint or PDF file and convert it into a series of images that can be viewed as a slideshow on an iPod. It supports file tracking so you can easily update your slideshows whenever you make changes to a presentation. Moreover, your pod’s stopwatch will allow you to rehearse your presentation and time it as well.

If you want to convert videos to view on your pod but don’t know how, download Videora (www.videora.com) or 3-GP Converter for this.

To catch some videos and load it in the iPod is a breeze. You can download from the mighty Google site some (if not all) of the video clips that are formatted for the iPod. Look for files with a “Download to iPod” button at www.video.google.com. You can also get free iPod compatible movies at www.veoh.com.

Well, there’s more if you are greedy for more free fun for your pod. Mogopop is a free site for sharing and downloading iPod multimedia content. Log on to www.mogopop.com, register your name (it’s free), and bingo! you can post your profile, publish your silly poems no one wants to read, upload a funny video of your dog or kid for others to view and download, get movies, audios and text from this “mini-website for iPods”. And enjoy it all on your dear device.

I wonder how the world survived and carried on for so long without the iPod. Today, the pod can be a dictionary, alarm clock, gaming device, virtual bartender (iBar), trip director, language teacher (iLingo), universal remote and so much more. Oh, I forgot, the iPod can work like an MP-3 player, too!

Dr B. Ramana is a Calcutta-based advanced laparoscopic surgeon. He can be contacted at rambodoc@gmail.com