Encyclopodia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Encyclopodia is a free software project that has created a version of Wikipedia that can be installed and read on the Apple iPod as an e-book.

Currently, the project claims that Encyclopodia has been successfully tested with iPods from the third and fourth generations, as well as with iPod Photo and both generations of iPod Mini. Although not tested, it should also work with iPods from the first and second generations and the iPod mini. Newer iPods (fifth generation and Nano) or the Shuffle (which has no screen) do not work with Encyclopodia.

Encyclopodia also works with the iPodLinux project. To use Encyclopodia, its installation utility must be used to install the encyclopodia e-book reader. After this step, the entirety of Wikipedia can be downloaded as an epodia file. Currently only English, German, and Italian Wikipedia are available, at file sizes of 1.5GB, 549MB, and 170MB respectively.

The downloaded versions of Wikipedia are static snapshots of the encyclopedia, and not necessarily fully up to date at the time that they are downloaded, and so may be lacking information in the area of current affairs. For example, English Wikipedia downloaded in November, 2006 does not mention Robert Gates confirmation. For the same reason, page edit histories are not available and thus instances of wiki vandalism will be harder to spot. These updates occur about once every six months.

With various discussions in progress debating possible ways of distributing Wikipedia, this method is a potentially revolutionary way of spreading and viewing Wikipedia. As an example, some have compared the ability to read an encyclopedia on a device as common as an iPod to the fictional Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a portable device that contains vast amounts of knowledge.