iLoad Vows Support for Apple iPhone

Apple's iPhone won't be available until June - FCC permitting - but iLoad already promises to enable users to load music CDs to the device directly.

Apple‘s hype-inducing and lawsuit-spawning iPhone won’t be available to Cingular (er, wait, AT&ampT customers) until the middle of 2007, but already iLoad is promising people they will be able to load music from their audio CDs onto the device without having to go throug the whole process of firing up iTunes, ripping the CDs to a hard drive, then transfering the tracks over to the iPhone. Instead, just buy an iLoad, put the iPhone into the dock, pop your CDs into the included drive, and let the iLoad do the rest.

The iLoad copies audio CDs directly to Apple iPod music players, bypassing iTunes and the standard “ripping” process whereby the application converts CD audio tracks to digital format (MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, etc.). The iLoad’s high-speed CD player lets folks convert standard music CDS in about one-fifth the CD’s actual playing time, and a variety of “skins” are available to dress up the iLoad so it looks slightly less than a combination of a Mac mini. The iLoad doesn’t need an Internet connection or a computer, but if you happen to have a home network with Internet connectivity, the iLoad will fetch track and title information for CDs it converts.

The iLoad is priced at $299; a new iLoad Backup Service also enables iLoad users to back up their iPod to a remote server without a computer.