BOSTON -- ThinkFree Inc. on Tuesday released a Beta version of ThinkFree Office 3 Show, iPod Edition, which enables any user with an iPod or compatible MP3 player to create, edit and transfer PowerPoint presentations. Because it loads directly from the external device into the host computer's RAM, users can work on their slideshows even when at a computer that doesn't have Microsoft Office installed. In addition, the software can display PowerPoint slides on an iPod or compatible MP3 player equipped with a color screen.

ThinkFree Office 3 Show, iPod Edition features more than 130 drawings and autoshapes, 17 animation effects and 40 transitions, all compatible with PowerPoint. In addition to saving files in the standard PowerPoint format, it can also save them as HTML, PDF or SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) files.

ThinkFree Office 3 features Write, Show and Calc modules that are compatible with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, respectively. It offers most of the features found in Microsoft's software but sells for US$49.95, or $29.95 as an upgrade from an earlier version.

The iPod Edition's system requirements call for 100MB of free space on an iPod or iPod mini. The host computer needs Mac OS X v10.3 or v10.4 and more than 256MB RAM. ThinkFree expects to ship the new software in August at a suggested retail price of $39.95. More information about the Beta, including download location and expiration, was not available on the developer's Web site as The Mac Observer posted this article.