Mixing Paper and Digital Devices

I can hear the cries of Nooooo as soon as you have read the title... but if the thought doesn't scare you too much do read on....

I am putting my A5 Malden on a diet for my trip back to UK, the aim to reduce its overall weight as I have a limited carry on baggage allowance only for the trip.

Whilst removing spare pages, I also removed the pad at the back.

As you can see I'm not regularly using the pad anyway as the page corners get a little bent.

Once removed it gives you a useful pocket. I want to take my Kindle, but not in it's own case, another weight and bulk saving. It fits neatly in to the pocket.

 

And it pushes down in neatly

The Kindle is about the same thickness as the writing pad so it doesn't add any bulk to the A5. 

I already knew the iPod Touch fitted in my Pocket Chameleon zip pocket, but I hadn't tried the same trick in the Malden notepad pocket. 

It fits too and I can also slot the note pad back in again as well. But in this size of Filofax the iPod does add quite a bit of weight to the Filofax.

Then I had to try the iPad. It obviously doesn't fit in the A5... too big. But it will fit in the note pad slot of my A4 Classic... ! But I have a very good slim leather case for the iPad already so I doubt if I will be bringing the A4 out of retirement just yet!

Let's just say I had to try these ideas out... something else to tick off on the list of ideas! Photos apart from the last two taken with my iPad!

Filofax v Electronic Calendars

My other purchase last Saturday was an iPod Touch.... 'what' I hear you say... you went to a Philofaxy meet-up having just purchased an electronic gadget that can do calendars and contact lists and to-do lists... 

Well yes, but don't panic I'm not giving up on my Filofax, far from it. The iPod Touch can do lots of things, email, play music, browse the web, keep me up to date on news etc. But as a calendar it's rubbish....

I heard your sigh of relief as soon as you read that.... why do you say it's rubbish Steve...?

Well out of the box, it has a calendar application, but it only offers Day View, Month View and List View. The first two are ok, but the month view is as good as useless on such a small screen. The big omission is a Week View, which as we know from our polls on here is the most used format for Filofax users... Week on Two pages is what we like most.

There are other applications available to give me a Week View, but like so many of these things, working out which one to purchase is a mine field. Yes there are reviews, but they vary of Excellent 5 stars, to this is rubbish don't buy it 1 star. 

There is also the nightmare of synchronising the calendars with my Google Calendar, duplicates, lost appointments etc... you don't suffer that with a Filofax

To be honest with you I didn't buy the Touch to replace my calendar or contact list in my Filofax, so I might not bother with all the hassle of trying out these other applications, they will be flawed in some way or other I'm sure.

The Filofax is very tactile and you can see straight away what you are getting. It's true 'What You See Is What You Get', there is nothing hidden, it is what it is pure and simple.  OK I know we would all like a layout that is personal to us with lots of space for this or for that, but in say personal size, but you can't alter physics, a particular size of page can only give you so much space to write on. An electronic screen is much the same, you can zoom in to see the detail, but then you can't see the other days around it!

If you have looked at my own blog you will see that over the years I've gone through quite a few electronic organisers. They have all had their issues, and like different Filofax designs/sizes I wish I could pick the best bits from the ones I've owned and put them together in to one device, sadly that device will only exist in my dreams I suspect.

So in the mean time I'm going to relax, and enjoy my (growing) Filofax collection... time for an audit and a change around, now where did I put my new Chameleon......which I spent more time deciding on compared to the iPod Touch!

Filofax, Wallet, Portable Music?

So some people... myself included have combine their wallet or purse with their Filofax, the size of Filofax used seems to vary from Mini through Pocket to Slimline Personal.

Today I was looking at my wife Alison's iPod Nano and then wondered, I wonder if it would fit in a Pocket Filofax organiser?

I tried it in the pocket on the back which I'm not using for anything other than money, and Euro notes aren't very big so there is just about enough space to fit it in. But you would have to be careful not to have too many pages, otherwise it would bulge a bit!

It also fits quite nicely in the zipped pocket at the back, although I was keeping coins in there, not a good mixture unless your iPod is a bit battered already...

Another alternative is in a zip lock plastic pocket with the zip slightly open at the top, that seems to work well too, you would also be able to slip in a sync cable in there too!

So do we have an ultimate accessory for your Filofax? Anyone else tried this at all? Please let us have your comments below... Oh and yes I have returned the iPod to its owner!

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Filofax and iPods

Could this be the ultimate combination... a Filofax that has an iPod built in or has a 'holder' for an iPod.

I use my iPod virtually every day about as much as I use my Filofax I suppose, I don't use my iPod for contacts and calendars although I know it has that capability. But I wonder is there a 'holder' that can take say an iPod nano or iPod Touch that could clip in to a Filofax organiser?

This idea was prompted by this article on Cnet from 2006:

Why has Apple turned the iPod into a Filofax?

So do you use both?

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