Chapter 6. iPod: iTunes to Go

IN THIS CHAPTER:

42 Transfer Your Music to Your iPod

43 Use a Large iTunes Library with a Small iPod

44 Autofill Your iPod Shuffle

45 Transfer Your Music to a Mobile Device

46 Find and Play Music on the iPod

47 Rate Your Music on the iPod

48 Transfer Only Preferred Music to the iPod

49 Create an On-The-Go Playlist

50 Listen to an Audiobook

51 About the Care and Feeding of Your iPod

The first iPod was released within a year of iTunes itself, in November 2001, and it's been a smash hit since day one. It wasn't the first portable digital music player on the marketnot by a long shotand it wasn't even the first high-capacity, hard-drive-based player either. What made the iPod such a runaway success was a combination of its small size , its high capacity, and (perhaps most importantly) its groundbreaking user interface. With the navigation wheel enabling the user to scroll quickly through lists of hundreds or thousands of songs and zero-in immediately on the one she wanted, as well as to dig down into the hierarchical collection of music using the same implicit organizational methods as iTunes itself (instead of the arcane files and folders of contemporary players), the iPod truly wasas its original marketing described it"iTunes to go."

The iPod was designed specifically so that the process of synchronizing it with your computer's music collection was a matter of simply plugging it in and waiting for the few seconds necessary for your music to be transferred to the iPod over the high-speed FireWire or USB 2.0 connection. Ideally, under the right conditions, that's all it involves: Just plug your iPod into its Dock whenever you return to your computer, and not only will its battery always remain fully charged, the music in your iTunes Library will always be synchronized with your iPod so that you can grab it and go, your newly purchased or imported music readily available right in your pocket.

However, there are some complicating factors to keep in mind. Your iPod, for instance, might not have enough capacity to contain all the music in your library; this is especially true of the budget, ultra -portable iPod shuffle with its comparatively tiny 1 gigabyte of capacity. Additionally, synchronizing your music carries with it some complexities regarding special kinds of audio files, such as audiobooks , and the handling of unique features such as On-the-Go Playlists that you create on your iPod and sync back into iTunes.

NOTE

Because every iPod model is of a slightly different thickness , the Dock must be specially fitted with a shell that has the right size slot for your iPod. If you're buying a Dock separately, be sure that it comes with the right snap-on shell for your particular iPod model.