birdPod is now called birdJam

New — birdPod changes its name to birdJam

birdJam on the iPod Nano in the MacAlly speaker on left and the iPod 30 GB in the iMainGo speaker on right

birdJam on the iPod Nano is so easy you can operate it with one hand

You can see the new birdJam color photos on the iPod 30 GB screen inside the iMainGo speaker. You can scroll the iPod wheel through the clear plastic window.

Back of the iMainGo speaker showing the high output stereo speakers

You fasten the iPod inside the speaker case

At Birdwatch America, here are two members of the birdJam team, Jay Davis "database guru" and web developer on the left and Charlie Hayes, graphic artist and photographer on the right. Hi guys. Marketer Denese Van Dyne, the third team member, was busy waiting on customers when I snapped the photo.

birdPod has just changed its name to birdJam. If you google birdPod, it will take you to the birdJam website. According to PRWeb.com, the company "has new updated branding to reflect the major market expansion the company will undertake in 2007. The new product brand name, birdJam, and corporate name, MightyJams, are effective January 1, 2007. MightyJams is now making its birdJam Maker and Backyard birdJam CDs available for distribution through retail stores and additional web sites."

The birdJam/birdPod creators say “we are still the same great company with the same great products”. Their birdJam Maker software works with the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs CDs and an iPod to create “a revolution in bird song identification” enabling you to find a specific bird song lickedy-split. You can easily scroll on the iPod with one hand through the bird playlists to access the bird song you want.

The birdJam Maker software creates playlists using the songs on the Stokes Field Guide To Bird Songs, Eastern and Western region CDs. The birdJam playlists are organized by habitat or family such as,

Crazy Birds
Fields
Forest
Marsh
Nocturnal
Paddlers, etc.

This is useful for learning bird sounds when you don't know a bird. You can pick a habitat group and find your bird by a process of elimination.

You can load the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs CDs onto an ipod (whether or not you are also using the birdJam software) and you get all the Stokes bird sounds organized the same way they are on the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs CDs Eastern and Western regions, such as,

Seabirds
Heronlike Birds
Swans Geese and Ducks
Hawklike Birds
Chickenlike Birds
MarshBirds
Shorebirds
Gull-like Birds, etc.

If you know the name of the bird whose song you want to hear, you can easily go to that Stokes playlist, such as hawks, and scroll through the hawk names until you get to the name of the bird you want to hear, for example, Red-shouldered Hawk. It is incredibly fast to do this with the user friendly ipod.

The birdJam/birdPod software also removes the spoken bird name from the tracks (you can read them on your iPod screen anyway), splits double tracks and adds bird photos.

About the Photos

The photos available to date for the birdJam are warblers and a set of 99 photos of common eastern bird species, one photo per bird. Current birdJam/birdPod customers who purchased either a birdPod/birdJam or the birdPod/birdJam Maker software can download birdJam Maker 2.0+ with the warbler photographs and new playlists free of charge here. Photographs are visible on all ipods models with a color screen. More photos will be available in the future.

At the Birdwatch America trade show we just attended, the birdJam folks were featuring more new things. The iMainGo Speaker, works with most any model iPod and has a state-of-the-art digital amplifier with excellent, high output stereo speakers. You zip open the case which contains the speakers and fit your iPod into it, securing it with a little seat-belt like strap. Turn on the speakers, zip up, and you can access and scroll on the iPod screen right through the clear plastic window in front. You can also see the bird photos on the screen through the window and look at them while you're listening to the bird sing. We like that you can hook the iMainGo onto your belt, or carry it in your pack.

BirdJam keeps adding new downloadable playlists to their website, such as ones for various North American birding festivals and they plan on providing additional website content such as podcasts. So stay tuned.

Products are available at their birdJam online store and are coming to retailers soon.