Apple's iPod stands apart from the crowd of innumerable digital music players and justifiably so because it has a lot more to offer than music. Apple Inc. have introduced IPod with 40 GB capacity that promises to change the lifestyle of the common man. It is as small as a pack of cards and as slim as a cigarette lighter and is capable of holding the entire CD collection in the back pocket.

A 40 GB iPod is a step above a PDA or paper notebook, since it can be used as a hard disk drive. This enables the 40 GB iPod to be used as an external storage device for the laptop. Some of the applications that are in use but are not installed on the laptop can be run off the 40 GB iPod.

It can also be used as a boot drive if there is an operating system installed on it provided, the computer supports booting from an external fire wire device. 40 GB iPod will automatically show up on the desktop as an external drive, without the need to install fire wire drivers.

A 40 GB iPod can hold up to twenty four thousand photos and with the help of a card reader connected to the iPod, it is feasible to transfer pictures from the digital camera that acts as a bridge between the digital camera and the iPod. Then the pictures can be pulled out from the 40 GB iPod and transferred into the computer.

The main functionality of 40 GB iPod is to store up to 10000 songs. 40 GB iPod has a long battery life, of up to 12 hours. With online music store- iTunes, 40 GB iPod helps to buy and download songs. 40 GB iPods also include some simple games and there are certain websites from where more games can be downloaded and stored in 40 GB iPod such as music quiz, solitaire, brick and parachute but of the simple kind, unlike the games on the PCs or the latest phones.

40 GB iPod is also capable of functioning like a PDA (personal digital assistant) so that the daily schedule can be stored along with a calendar to store the forthcoming events. Another unknown feature of a 40 GB iPod is its ability to store and display addresses, phone numbers and other text based data. The amount of data to be stored is limited only by the available space on the 40 GB IPod's hard drive. Thus 40 GB iPod enables a person to take important information and text files onto the road.

Along with 40 GB iPod, many accessories such as external speakers, a remote control, stereo connection kit, add- on voice recorder and kits for using the iPod while driving
are available that expand the functionality of the 40 GB iPod and make it more useful.