The iPod has been such a success that it's spawned a horde of accessories and add-on devices, such as voice recorders, armbands, car adapters and so on.

However, all these products are hardware based. In contrast, Roxio's Boombox is the first collection of software accessories for your iPod.

The Boombox currently only works on a Mac, but Roxio may release a Windows version if the Mac version does well.

The first of the five programs is CD Spin Doctor, which can be used to record vinyl records and tapes and turn them into digital recordings that can then be transferred to an iPod.

Then there's iPodder, which lets you download podcasts quickly off the internet. Or, if a particular program that you like isn't available as a podcast, you can use Audio Hijack to schedule the recording yourself and copy it onto your iPod.

There's even a program called iSpeak It that can be used to download text-based news and other information from the internet, which can then be read aloud using 'text-to-speech' software.

The last of the five programs is a bit of an oddity. MusicMagic Mixer can analyse the sound and tempo of all the songs in your music collection and then automatically create a playlist of music to suit a particular mood.

So, if you like Bob Dylan's laid-back acoustic style, the program will scan your music collection and compile a playlist containing similar stuff.

Most of these programs have been available as separate products in the past, but buying them all individually would have cost about £70. Boombox costs just £40 so it's certainly good value for money.

The emphasis on podcasts may not appeal to those people who have yet to catch the podcasting bug, however if you want to do more than copy a bunch of CDs from an iPod, then Boombox presents a good investment.

Also consider:
Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5 Supersonic