mishare

mishare -
What is miShare?
It's a simple device that connects two iPods so you can transfer songs from one to the other.


There's virtually zero information on the company behind this, or about the actual workings of the device itself, but if this miShare thing could be pretty hot if its creators can get it to market -- and the word is that it's in production in China as we speak. The concept is straight forward enough, involving the little $100 miShare unit with dock connectors on each end, allowing for speedy file transfers from iPod to iPod. We've seen similar devices for traditional USB drives, but the iPod compatibility makes this a whole new ballgame. How exactly you select what gets transferred and what doesn't remains to be seen, but we know one thing for sure: Apple's not going to be happy about this, given its insistence on limiting your iPod to one library at a time. We can only hope that this spurs the company to get song sharing going on the iPhone and iPod touch sooner rather than later, but in the meantime it looks like we can have some fun swapping tracks in a physical fashion whenever this thing becomes available.

Update: We chatted up miShare's Nathaniel Wice who clarified the product a little bit. The unit is actually running a lightweight Linux installation and is using open source tools to access the iPod as a mass storage device and open up the database files. You can set the miShare to transfer music, video and pictures, and when in music mode it'll automatically transfer the most recently played song, or if you hold the button it'll transfer everything marked in your On-the-Go playlist.

Remember the days when you sat in a room with your friends and listened to music together? It seems almost no one shares that experience anymore, plugged into their own device. But a new gadget called miShare could change all of that, making music part of social networking again.

Nathaniel Wice, co-founder of miShare explains.

What is miShare?
It's a simple device that connects two iPods so you can transfer songs from one to the other.

How did you get the idea for miShare?
My partner was working at a cool design firm and realized he could solve the relatively complicated technical problem of putting iPods together. I'm the suit! The guy who figures out how to make a business out of it.

What made you realize it's a business?
Our gadget turns the iPod into a publishing platform, sort of like what makes YouTube such a success. But also, the iPod is an incredible phenomenon but it's really anti-social, even more than talking on a cellphone. It seemed like a great trick to give people a reason to talk to each other. We want it to be a commercial success, of course, but it would be incredibly gratifying to see people use this to make connections with each other, not just with their iPods. Which is why our logo has two people holding hands. It could be a funny pickup moment - hey, what are you listening to you on your iPod?