Editor’s Note: The following article is an excerpt from Take Control of Your iPod: Beyond the Music, a $10 electronic book available for download from TidBits Electronic Publishing. The book is on sale for 50-percent off through December 26, 2005.
Although its capabilities are limited compared to a laptop, it is possible to use a full-sized, color-screen iPod to run presentations developed in PowerPoint on Windows or Macintosh, or Keynote on the Mac. You’ll need to attach the iPod to a projector or a TV so that everyone can see the presentation, and to speakers if you have a soundtrack or narration to go with the presentation. What you can do—and what you might want do—depends on a few factors:
• If you have an iPod with video, it will play a movie or a slideshow. Other color iPods will play only slideshows. The nano is color, but—as of this writing, it can’t be used for presentations, because there is no way to connect it to a projector or other video device
• If you have a Macintosh and the $29.99 QuickTime Pro, you can export movies. If you don’t have QuickTime Pro on your Mac, you can export only slideshows. If you use Windows, you can only export slideshows.
Since your iPod is no bigger than most projector “clickers” and you simply push the Forward button to go to the next slide or start a movie, the capability of the color iPods to display presentations comes in very handy when you travel for business. Would you rather carry a 5- to 8-pound laptop, or just bring your iPod? Not only can you use it to show your presentation, but you can also entertain yourself with your music, photo, and video library.
All good presenters know to be prepared, so even if you plan to drive your presentation from a computer, having it on your iPod can be a lifesaver if the computer has problems.
I recommend that you give it a try if you have a color iPod, as you may be pleasantly surprised by the results. It’s also worth a shot to see if you can get your company to foot the bill for an iPod with video.
Tip: Before you make a public presentation, see how your slideshow or movie looks when projected from your iPod. Some slides and movies may look blocky when projected on a large screen so I suggest a test run with your iPod and the projector or TV you’ll be using.
iPod slideshows
To run a slideshow on an iPod, you first convert it to a series of JPEG-formatted images. Then, you move those images to the iPod in a specific way. Let’s begin with the steps for converting to JPEG:
If you use PowerPoint:
PowerPoint exports the slides to wherever you saved them, with one JPEG file for each slide.
If you use Keynote:
( Note : For this technique to work, you need the Pro version of QuickTime, not just QuickTime Player. It’s available from Apple for $29.99.)
The slides are saved into a QuickTime movie. Next, you need to convert the QuickTime movie into a set of JPEGs.
1(the number one) into the frames-per-second field.
The slides are saved as JPEGs into the folder you specified.
Move the JPEGs to your iPod
Now that you’ve converted your slides to JPEG images, use iTunes to move your JPEGs to your iPod:
iTunes optimizes the JPEG images and syncs them to your iPod.
Show the slideshow
Before you give your presentation, take a little time to prepare your slideshow settings:
Now that you’ve set your slideshow preferences and transferred the files to your color-screen iPod, use the iPod AV Cable to connect the iPod to a projector or a television. Navigate to Photos on the color iPod, and choose the first slide to project it to the screen.
iPod movies
The iPod with video gives you another option for delivering presentations because it can play movies, which you can make in Microsoft PowerPoint for Macintosh and in Keynote. These movies can be self-running presentations, complete with an audio soundtrack.
I describe how to convert PowerPoint or Keynote presentations into QuickTime format, and then to MPEG-4 video (M4V) format. I then explain how to move them to your iPod and deliver your presentation.
To prepare your presentation, you need the Pro version of QuickTime, not just QuickTime Player. It’s available from Apple for $29.99.
Note : Windows users cannot export their PowerPoint presentations to QuickTime movies. At this time, only PowerPoint for Macintosh (part of Office 2004) can export presentations in the QuickTime format.
Convert to QuickTime
The first step in converting a presentation to a movie and showing it on an iPod with video is to convert it to QuickTime format:
If you use PowerPoint:
PowerPoint saves your presentation in the location you selected. To learn how to check your movie and convert it to MPEG-4 format, skip ahead to the “Convert to MPEG-4” section.
If you use Keynote:
Keynote currently can’t export the QuickTime movie with the transition and build times used in your presentation. Instead, during the conversion you enter durations for transitions and builds that are used everywhere in the movie.
5 secondsbetween slides and
20 secondson my builds. That provided enough time to talk about each bullet point on the slide—your mileage may vary, but make sure that these durations are long enough that your movie doesn’t skip ahead of you if you’re narrating it in person.
320 x 240 pixelsas the movie size—the Video pop-up menu changes to Custom Size automatically. The audio settings just below don’t need to be changed. Click Next.
Keynote exports the movie to the location you specified. Now, it’s time to check the movie and convert it to MPEG-4 format, as I describe next.
Convert to MPEG-4
Now that you have made a QuickTime Movie, it’s time to check it and convert it to MPEG-4 format:
QuickTime Pro saves the file in the same location as the QuickTime movie with a MPEG-4 video (M4V) file extension.
Finish up
To complete the process, transfer the movie to iTunes and then to your iPod:
Show the movie
Now that you’ve transferred your video to the iPod, you’re ready to give your presentation:
Tip: If you have the $39 Apple Universal Dock and the $29 Apple Remote, you can connect your iPod with video to the TV or projector, and then use the tiny Remote to start and pause (if necessary) your video.
[ Steve Sande is editor of The Gizmo Ranch and CacheCaster, producing podcasts on a regular basis for both sites; his latest e-book is Take Control of Your iPod: Beyond the Music ( TidBITS Electronic Publishing, 2005). ]
PowerPoint 2004 for Mac has a number of options that optimize your movie for viewing on or from an iPod with video.The first step in exporting your Keynote presentation to the iPod with video is exporting it as a QuickTime movie.Keynote doesn’t export your movie with the transition and build times you’ve previously built into the document, so you have to provide standard durations that are applied to every slide and transition.Here’s where you enter the screen size of the iPod with video.Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.