If your in-box is bursting, you may not have time to read all your e-mails at the office. Shift that chore to your commute or another convenient time with PodMail (available at MacUpdate), a helpful piece of Mac-only freeware that transfers the contents of multiple mail accounts to your iPod.


PodMail's main interface is simple and effective.

Downloading PodMail is quick, and it'll be a breeze to anyone who's ever set up a mail account. The plus and minus buttons at the bottom of the interface let you add or delete mail accounts. For each account, use the pull-down menu on the right side of the screen to indicate whether it's a .Mac, POP, or IMAP account, then enter the account information. You can select how many messages PodMail will sync, up to a maximum of 50, though that's still too low for the power e-mailers who most need this program. Note that the program will sync your most recent messages, read and unread, up to the number you selected.

After you sync, your messages will show up in a Notes file where you can easily scroll through them. We like that the programmers added a helpful index page so that you can see all the titles of your messages in one list, then click the one you want to open.

The big drawback with PodMail is that there's no way to answer the e-mails since iPods don't have input abilities. You can compose the perfect reply in your head, but you'll have to wait until you're back at your desk to actually type it out.

Since PodMail is freeware, there's really no technical support, although there's a mail link so that you can drop a note to the programmers (the makers don't guarantee a response). However, the built-in help system will guide you through the process of setting up an e-mail account if you've never done it before.

Verdict

The good: Puts your current e-mail on your iPod; free; easy to set up.

The bad: Limits each account to 50 e-mails; no way to compose a reply; no technical support; Mac only.

The bottom line: PodMail is a great way to make reading e-mails more convenient, letting you spend your office time in other ways. Since the price is right--free--we say get it.