If you own an iPod, you most likely carry it with you when you travel. After all, there's no better way to fill time at the airport or on a train than listening to music or an audiobook. But now you have a new reason to bring along your handsome traveling companion: PodQuest, which lets you store directions from 15 popular map sites on your iPod.


PodQuest's main window lets you download your directions to the iPod.

You can use PodQuest at no cost for 30 days (Mac only, available here), but if you like it, you'll need to pay $9.95 for registration. After the fast installation, you'll notice that the right side of your menu bar now hosts a small car-shaped icon that you'll use to control PodQuest. With your iPod plugged in and your directions from a supported map site displayed on a Safari page, just select "Download directions to iPod" from the PodQuest menu; you'll be prompted to name the directions, and a few seconds later, they'll be saved on the iPod. We hope the programmers will add Firefox support soon.

To read your directions on the road, find them in your iPod's Notes section. PodQuest strips out the extra text and graphics from the Web page, so all you're left with are the clear, numbered directions themselves. We found PodQuest a snap to use.


PodQuest strips directions down to simple text for easy viewing on the iPod.

In the Preferences menu, you can select which map sites display in the PodQuest pull-down menu and automatically unmount your iPod after transferring directions. The latest version is a universal download, so it works with Intel-based Macs. We'd love to see a future version convert directions into audio files using a text-to-speech engine; that way, you'd be able to listen to your directions and keep your eyes on the road. Most of all, though, we'd like to see a Windows version.

Verdict

The good: Easy transfer of driving directions to an iPod; simple to install and use; works with 15 map sites; Universal download works on Intel-based Macs.

The bad: Macintosh only; works with Safari only.

The bottom line: Mibasoft PodQuest is a boon to any Mac-using iPod owner who spends lots of time behind the wheel.