Howto View PDF on iPod Touch

Howto View PDF on iPod Touch. My iPod touch 2nd generation can natively display many file types, such as PDF, Doc, mp3, mp4 and m4v.

The only problem is getting the file onto the iPod.

So far I've found three methods:

- Air Sharing from avatron.com. Works by installing a WeDav service onto your iPod, which you can then upload and download to using any WebDav client. For example from OSX Finder goto to Connect to Server, enter http://address.ipod:8080 and you get a drive in the finder which you can use like any networked drive. Air Sharing has name and password options, but as these pass clear text over the wireless, don't use anything you use for banking etc!

You get Air Sharing from the App Store for $4.99 / £2.99. Works pretty well.

- Discover from bbase.mobi. The page says it works like Air Share but is free. Once running, again you need to set a nam and password (clear text transmissio again!) and go to http://192.168.0.95:8888. Three folders are there by default. I was unable, from 10.5.6 to upload anything to 'photos' or 'private'. The docs indicate I should have been asked for a password, but nothing popped up. Discover has a thumbnail option which is cool, but the lack of ability to upload files means I would use Air Sharing.

- FileMagnet from www.magnetismstudios.com. Unlike the first two, FileMagnet has two parts. The client on your iPod, and a small servlet on a host machine. The servlet / uploader needs OS X 10.4 Tiger or Leopard 10.5, or Windows XP or Vista. When the server is running, you drag files into the window, and then the client on the iPod polls the server and downloads them.

Using FileMagnet would be agreat way to distribute homework, or new jobs processes, or maps. Its also $4.99 / £2.99 and works really well.