While on sabbatical, I found time to write a few new songs. To record my demos, which usually consist of a basic rhythm piano/guitar track, vocals, a drum track, and some accompanying melodic lines, I rely on my Mac and Apple's GarageBand. With every demo, I try to record the essence of them quickly, naturally and with as few technical hurdles as possible.

Songwriting is a very personal and private process for me. With kids around the house, it isn't always easy to get this privacy. To solve this problem, I began looking for an even smaller and more portable solution to facilitate quick single-track recordings, thereby giving me more options from where to record from.

I actually came very close to considering one of the new digital 8-track recorders until I remembered the iPodLinux Project and, best of all, the 'recording' capabilities that it enables on iPods.

The iPodLinux Project is an open-source venture set with the goal of making a Linux distribution that can be installed onto an iPod. For Mac users, there is a special iPod-Linux installer, that makes the process of installing Linux onto one's iPod very convenient. Installing Linux on my iPod was simply a matter of selecting my 'iPod' from a list and then clicking an 'Install' button from within the iPod-Linux Installer.

After booting my iPod into "Linux-mode", I went straight for the 'Recordings' option. I then configured a 'Sample Rate' of '96kHz', plugged in my microphone and began on some test recordings.

Given the fact that the iPod was not designed with this purpose in mind, I was actually very impressed with the sound quality. This set-up turned out solving my entire demo-recording predicament. I even tried out a few recordings using my iPod's headphones instead of the microphone. The sound quality wasn't as good as the microphone's but it was still acceptable, especially for demos.

All in all, I was very impressed with the work put in by the developers of the iPodLinux Project and the iPod-Linux installer. Beyond the 'recording' feature, there are loads of games and other features included to expand the capabilities of the iPod.

Before installing Linux on your iPod be sure to read the included 'Read Me' files and the helpful FAQ's provided on their sites. Ultimately, if you should find them as useful as I did, you may also want to consider making a few donations to help their cause.

Donations: The iPodLinux Project, iPod-Linux Installer