- Get iTunes
- Control Your Music
- Move Your Music
- Organize Your Music
- Incorporating Your iPod
- Burning Music
- Taking Your Music with You
- Put It on Your 'Pod
Incorporating Your iPod
If you have an iPod, you will see the iPod icon. The iPod is the only MP3 Player that will work with iTunes. If you have an iRiver, iAudio, or Rio Karma, you are out of luck. Is this necessarily a bad thing, to be stuck to just one device? Well, you have to be the final judge.
You can add two different types of playlists to your iPod: smart and normal. A smart playlist updates itself. For instance, you will see a smart playlist for Top 25 Most Played. This playlist always updates itself on your playing habits. iTunes comes with a tool that lets you create your own smart playlists, too. Select File, New Smart Playlist, and just follow the directions for creating one. In the bottom-left corner of the iTunes screen, you will see a button with a plus symbol. Selecting this button creates a new playlist. You can drag music from the Library to this playlist. It is not intelligent in the way smart playlists are, but it's a playlist nonetheless. Whether smart or normal, playlists make it easier to add only the songs you want to your iPod. They also make it easier to find the music you have. There are now no excuses for not finding that lost Abba track.
Moving your songs to your iPod is as easy as plug and play. A Firewire or USB 2.0 cable from your iPod connects to your computer. As you make the connection, iTunes begins syncing new songs and playlists to your iPod. It's that easy.