A graduate of Yale Law School who earned his BA in math and English at Williams College, Joe Masters has an extensive background in technology consulting. As a student at Williams and Yale, Joe Masters designed a groundbreaking computer program, EphPod, which made Apple’s iPod compatible with the Windows operating system.
As described in a 2002 New York Times article, the problem was that Apple Computer did not initially produce a version of its pioneering portable MP3 player device (iPod) that was compatible with Windows PCs computers. With computers designed for Microsoft operating systems far outnumbering Macs, EphPod offered an essential workaround solution.
Free to download at www.ephpod.com, EphPod worked in tandem with utility programs such as DataViz’ MacOpener in enabling the built-in hard disk of the iPod to be opened in Windows Explorer. The end result was that users could copy music and other stored data from their iPods to their PC computers and easily access it.
While the ephPod iPod manager application has not been updated for many years, it is still available online. It can be used by those who possess vintage iPod models released in 2006 or earlier. Visitors to the site also have access to the CopyTrans Backup Extractor, which is designed for users of the latest generation iPhones, iPads, and iPods.
