I remember when a VA colleague of mine announced that her office was going paperless. That was in 2004, when I was tired of running spyware and virus programs everytime I turned around. Paperless wasn’t a goal of mine, but becoming a PC-less office was. Whew! Am I glad I am all Mac these days.

I didn’t get myPod until 2005 but I have definitely used it for far more than a music box. My best business uses have been to record client meetings and interviews and to for backing up my photography and other files.

My latest purely wondrous use is to haul it around when out photographing my Prescott surroundings, channeling Aldo Leopold all the while (with whom I share a hometown and love of nature). Only drawback is, of course, how to simultaneously record the sounds and sites of nature.

Meanwhile, I have been keeping tabs on just plain cool and/or elegant uses for iPods since acquiring my own. The first such post ran a couple of months ago and you can read it here.

Today I dug up a few more links to other unusual uses for the iPod.

• Top 5 Creative Uses for Your iPod is offered by SciFiTech. This discusses subway maps, fitness, finding dates, a dictionary, and playing Doom.
• Apple iPod Tours is featured on Apple’s website. This article features a couple of institutions which utilize iPods for self-paced tours. Museums, zoos and galleries are encouraged to use Apple tutorials to create their own versions.
• AfterMac is a great blog that covers all things Mac and from time to time specifically iPod related. You can browse the iPod category of posts over at AfterMac here.
• AfterMac also routed me over to Open Culture’s treatment of this topic titled “10 Unexpected Uses of the iPod.” Anyone who tracks down a link between iPods and the Human Genome Project earns my respect. You’ll find that here, along with mentions of assorted noble uses (medical, criminal justice) all the way to ignoble (cheating).
• Here’s the jackpot: 50 Fun Things to do With Your iPod, shared by Jason Kottke at kottke.org.