Salvation of a Legacy on a Budget
Have an old iPod or iPhone? Repurpose them as your ultimate catechetical tool. Accessories for these devices are significantly reduced making them a budget friendly tech resource for your ministry. I am always on the hunt for budget savvy apps and gadgets that can extend the life of and restore a little more purpose to my legacy devices.
My latest find was a handheld Ipico projector compatible with iPod touch and iPhone reduced to less than half price! I was ecstatic about this find! This little accessory was to be the ultimate gadget to restore purpose to my 3rd generation iPod.
D-day
Delivery day was an exciting day! Excitedly I tore into that box and revealed the cutest dang projector. Exercising the virtue of self control I prudently began with the users’ manual. A few seconds into reading the long “Do not” list I tossed the manual aside and went all in. I have yet to master that virtue.
Eagerly I connected the projector to my iPod and headed straight for YouTube. Imagine my dismay when I couldn’t get YouTube to play along with the device. So sad. A dreaded error pop-up warns that the attached device only works with the native video player and photo gallery. Aghast I sat with my handy dandy legacy device eager to prove its worth and usefulness and I can’t get it to project a YouTube video. Those eager butterflies of anticipation turned to poison in my stomach.
The Workaround
The obvious choice (no workaround needed) is to download movies from iTunes. I, however, wanted to do more with this device than spend money on movies and at this point it didn’t seem possible. So I settled for one of the movies that exist in my iTunes account just to get a feel for the device and how well it worked.
I connected the device and gave it a go. The Ipico projector did not disappoint. It was awesome. The picture quality in brightness, detail, and color was great on dry wall. A victory for me.
Determined to find a work around to my YouTube dilemma I searched the Internet. My persistence paid off when I discovered Simple YouTube To MP3. This app easily converts YouTube videos to mp3 format that I could then display with the projector. In an effort to preserve storage on my device itself, I opt for cloud storage services like Dropbox to store and access my converted videos. BOOM! YouTube on the big screen, wall, ceiling, or floor!
Mission Accomplished
My primary interest in searching for a handheld projector was in fact to take my favorite catholic youtuber videos and share them with the parish. This was my budget savvy, cost effective approa
ch to accomplishing that. We have some amazing fun and FREE Catholic content that needs to be shared with those sitting in our parish. I can’t think of a better time to share AND discuss than while I have their undivided attention at parish events.
I have very high hopes for this tiny gadget. I shared my Jesus-tech with the Vacation Bible School kids, and boy was it a hit! I downloaded a lyrics video to a catchy tune and we had our own Jesus Jam in the Bible room. That was the room I was in charge of. A bible story tied in with a verse from 1 Corinthians 13 was presented and I had the perfect song that embodied the entire passage. The kids were singing and some were even dancing right along with the passion and emotion I had hoped to evoke.
As a side note, I do connect to a Bluetooth speaker as volume does not quite meet jam etiquette standards. Proper jam etiquette requires volume 11, so I have been told.
Which treasured gadget is your favorite to share with others? Which parish ministry could benefit from your treasure? How will you share your tech treasures within your parish?
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Copyright 2014 Gina Felter
