Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Write Off Your iPod as a Business Expense

If you've been eyeing those sleek new iPods, but you didn't like the price tag, Uncle Same wants to help you buy one.

Before I go on, here's the standard CYA...
I'm providing this as information only. It's up to you and your tax professional to figure out if this is indeed a legitimate tax strategy for you. Now on with the show...

There are two principles at work here:
1) You have the right to deduct reasonable and necessary business expenses from your income before calculating tax on that income.
2) Continuing education to improve your business results has long been recognized as a reasonable and necessary expense.

So where does that shiny new iPod fit in?
If you're like me, you have many hours of mp3 recordings on your hard drive-- recorded conference calls, teleseminars, webcasts and other educational materials. I know I have well over 100 hours of such material on my hard drive.

There are also an increasing number of podcasts available dealing with business topics. Listening to those relevant to your business contributes to your ongoing business education.

There are also similar offerings on subjects like investing, tax planning, and so on.

Purchase your iPod through your business, and you can expense the total cost the year you buy it.

How's this for leverage?
You (meaning your business) spends $200 for a new iPod. You write off the entire cost this year, reducing your taxable income by $200.

You load up that 4 hour webinar you've been meaning to get around to, and listen while commuting. You learn something that adds $200 to your bottom line immediately.

Congratulations! You just got your iPod for zero net cost.

And the iPod is so small and light that you can leverage a lot of dead time (commuting, waiting in line, workouts at the gym, etc.) into productive continuing business education.

And it even plays music!
Music to help you concentrate while writing that new article or newsletter.
Making that music a deduction on its own.
As one guru said, the proper question is not
"Can I deduct this?"
The proper question is
"How can I deduct this?"

About the Author

John McCabe covers business topics like tax savings for the Success Letter, part of John McCabe's Web Guides

iPod Music Downloads – Free or Cheap Download Is Better?

iPod music downloads are available to music lovers either for free or at a cost. It can be perplexing to users as to why some sites could offer music downloads for free while some charges a fee. Let’s dwell a little deeper into the world of online iPod music and find out whether it is better to download free music or pay for your iPod music downloads.

When talking about free iPod music downloads, we are referring to downloading music files directly from sources such as Kazaa or LimeWire. These sites are essentially file sharing networks or what we term as peer-to-peer (P2P) networks where the music files are shared.

Now, there are some concerns associated with downloading free music from these networks. One potential problem could be the legality of the iPod music downloads. There could be instances where copyrighted music is uploaded and shared. This is in direct violation of copyright laws. Users could be toeing the line when downloading these copyrighted music files. While this may be true, there are millions of files that are uploaded by amateur musicians and singers who use these sites as a platform to share their music and songs and to launch their careers. These files are completely legal to download. In fact, talent scouting folks do scour these sites in search of the next Big Thing.

There are a host of other shortcomings you may have to deal with if you are considering if you should get some iPod music downloads from these specific sites. The security and protection from attacks of adware, spyware and viruses, or rather the lack of it when downloading the iPod music files is a cause for concern. The downloading speeds could be incredibly slow and the audio quality of the songs and music can be exceptionally poor. Some users have also complained that the songs are incomplete. You wouldn’t want to trade your precious time to download such iPod music that isn’t worth listening to. So it seems that there is some truth in the saying, “There aren’t any Free Lunch in this world.”

On the flipside of the industry is another group of iPod music downloads sites that have recently emerged. These sites offer users memberships to access millions of music and music video download files. It’s not free definitely, but you would be surprised to know that the price of lifetime memberships costs lesser than what you would be paying for a full-length music video DVD at some stores. Word has spread among the online music community that the problems discussed earlier about downloading iPod music files are non-existent at these download sites. It makes sense now why increasing numbers of people are turning to these sites to satisfy their iPod music hunger. Learn more at my blog about which are the iPod music sites that are fast gaining status as top sites for iPod music downloads.

The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only and is in no way associated with Apple, iTune, or any company or subsidiary of Apple. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

About the Author

Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Find out how you can access to unlimited ipod music downloads - digital quality music and music videos instantly and easily from home at ipod--music-download.blogspot.com.

iPod Download Tips - What You Don’t Know About iPod Song Downloads

The technology behind iPod downloads is interesting. If you are an iPod user, it is not new to you that you simply cannot download those stored song files in your iPod to your computer. In short, iTunes only allow a one-way transfer of files, from the computer via iTunes to your iPod device but not vice versa. People have questioned the rational behind this somewhat inconvenient shortfall in the design of these portable digital devices. We will find out in this article how we can work around this inconvenience and also explore other cost-effective ways to download tons of songs and music videos for pennies.

No, it is not because there is a design flaw but rather the design intention to ward off attempts of piracy, ie indiscriminate duplication of music files to be sold or shared. It may sound harsh to say that even sharing song files with friends could be illegal, but it is true that you may be in danger of infringing into copyright laws. The copyright laws are put in place to govern and protect the intellectual properties of their creators, the musicians, etc so that it remains profitable for them to run their music business. Without that, the music industry slowly wanes and dies a natural death. As a consumer, or music lover, you obviously won’t want that to happen right?

However, not being able to download iPod songs from iPod to computer meant that we cannot do a backup of our song collection. This can be a nasty experience if our computer crashes or when our iPods are faulty. There is a need for easy transfer of song files between the iPod device and any computer such that retrieval would not be so painful. The “piracy-proof” functionality of the iPod device to prevent transfers of songs to a computer ended up becoming a handicap for owners who genuinely just want to do proper backups.

Software developers saw this shortfall coming and have already designed some applications to work around this problem. iPod users can now conveniently carry out transfers from their iPods to their computers with ease, without fear of formatting problems. Here’s a list of iPod-compatible software applications supported by Mac/Windows Operating System that are available for downloading. Free trials are available for testing.

1. iPod Music Liberator
2. iPodRip
3. PodUtil
4. iPod Access

With the above software, you can rest at ease, knowing that your private iPod downloads of song and music collection is safe even when your iPod or computer is down. I am sure you have heard of horrific stories where folks who have painstakingly built up a huge iPod music collection only to see them wiped out with a technical glitch. It’s not a matter of effort only but the amount of money that has been invested into the iPod downloads.

Fortunately, there is now a better way to download iPod songs, music and music videos. In the past year, other than iTunes, many new players have entered into the market changing the business model of paid iPod downloads. Instead of charging per iPod download of song or music video, these membership sites are offering life-time membership for pennies. Considering the vast library of millions of iPod downloads they offer which range from the latest music to movies and TV shows, it is proving to be a more worthwhile investment for iPod users. Learn more about how you can access to unlimited iPod downloads of music and other media files at my iPod blog.

The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only and is in no way associated with Apple, iTune, or any company or subsidiary of Apple. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

About the Author

Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Find out how you can access to unlimited ipod downloads - digital quality music, full length DVD quality movies, TV shows and videos legally and easily from home at ipod-downloads-site.blogspot.com.

iPod Music Downloads – Download iPod Music to Your Heart’s Content

Downloading iPod music always brings thrill to users whenever they manage to find the tune they are searching for. Just not long ago, when radio was the only free source of music, people would stay tuned to their radio or portable receiver. Then CDs came along, followed by music MP3s. It is apparent that the MP3 player has invaded almost all the modern homes of America. Chances are you would find one MP3 player or more specifically an iPod in the homes since it is the most popular MP3 player. More than 21 million iPods were sold in just the last quarter of 2006 alone, boosted by the Christmas sales. Having a nice gadget with such enhanced capacity to hold hundreds to even thousands of songs and music is not enough. You need to know how and where to get hold of unlimited iPod music downloads in order to do justice to your iPod.

When people think of iPod music downloads, the first place they would think of is iTunes. If you do a quick review, you would discover that they have a wide selection of over 3.5 million songs, movies and over 200 TV shows, over 20,000 audio books, games etc. Prices range from $0.99 for a music track, and movies retail at $9.99 per movie, while TV show sells at $1.99 per episode. Frankly, that’s quite a large database of iPod media files and there are old fans who stick with it since that’s probably the very first site that they knew and got their first iPod music downloads.

However, there are others who feel that it is ridiculously expensive if they want to beef up a private stash of music and songs with tons of iPod music downloads. Naturally, they would switch to downloading iPod music at free download sites like Kazaa or Limewire. Why should anyone bother to download iPod music that comes with a price tag each time you do so? People quickly figured this out and as a result, huge demand for free iPod music downloads ensued. More download sites using the same concept as Kazaa pop up.

But there are some problems with downloading iPod music at sites like Kazaa. These download sites would expose your computer system to malware such as viruses, adware and spyware. In exchange for downloading iPod music for free, you are obliged to view those pop-up advertisements, or commercial ads. Needless to say, this would badly affect your PC’s performance such as speed and memory and its functionality. Imagine the kind of trouble you would be in should your PC crash on you and wipe out all your important files and documents. The reformatting, reinstallation and so on so forth is something most people would love to avoid.

Business owners saw the loopholes and pitfalls in these free iPod music downloads sites. In meeting the ever-increasing demand for cheap music downloads for iPod, new membership sites that offer lifetime access to millions of iPod music files, music videos, and other media files like business audio books, TV shows and movies came into the music scene. Instead of a pay-per-download fee structure, they go for a one-time fee based concept. Various download sites charge a different fee but it is generally in the low range of $40. The music community, especially iPod users has welcomed such a refreshing change. Music enthusiasts can now access to as many iPod music downloads as they wish, without expensive charges under an environment safe from malware attacks.

Read my blog to find out how it is possible to access to millions of iPod music downloads and get the latest tips and reviews of top iPod music sites.

The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only and is in no way associated with Apple, iTune, or any company or subsidiary of Apple. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

About the Author

Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Find out how you can access to unlimited ipod music downloads - digital quality music and music videos instantly and easily from home at ipod--music-download.blogspot.com.