iPod: Portable Music and More

It's hard to appreciate the significance of the iPod until you load it up with hundreds of songs and begin carrying it around with you.

Then it hits you: all of your favorite songs are right there with you, ready to playin the car, on a walk, in the living room, on a plane. There's no finding and fumbling with CDs, and every song is only a couple of button presses away.

Several factors work together to make the iPod the best portable music player, starting with its integration with the iTunes Music Store: no other portable music player can tap into the store's vast selection of music, videos, podcasts, and more.

Another factor is the iPod's integration with iTunes: connect the iPod to your Mac, and iTunes automatically synchronizes your music library and playlists.

And finally, there's the iPod's versatility. Its ability to store videos, photos, contact information, your calendar, appointment schedule, and other files make the iPod more than a portable music player.

The iPod is more than a music playerit's a cultural phenomenon. There's even a service, podapic.com, that will turn a photo you supply into a mock iPod ad. Here's Sophie modeling the latest earwear.

Life with an iPod

Step 1.	Build a Music Library Use the techniques described earlier in this section to import songs from audio CDs, buy music and videos from the iTunes Music Store, subscribe to podcasts, assign equalization settings (optional), edit song information (if necessary), and create playlists.
Step 2.	Transfer to the iPod Connect the iPod to your Mac's USB port (older iPods connect to the FireWire port instead). You can also buy a dock that makes connecting to the Mac even faster and more convenient (see page 108). Whether you use the dock or just a cable, when you connect the iPod to a Mac, iTunes copies your music library and playlists to the iPod. While the iPod is connected, its battery charges. The battery charges to 80 percent of its capacity in an hour or two, and charges fully in about three to four hours. The iPod's battery gauge is located in the top right corner of its screen. You can adjust settings for updating the contents of your iPod by using the iPod Preferences dialog box, described on pages 98 and 99.
Step 3.	Listen and Repeat Disconnect the iPod and start listening. When you modify your iTunes music library or playlists, you can update the iPod's contents to match by simply connecting the iPod again.