Controlling Your Music

OK, so now you have selected music and started to play it. What's next? Learn to control it of course.

Playing the Basic Way

Here are the basic controls you can use:

Play/PauseWhen music is paused, pressing this button causes it to play again. When music is playing, pressing this button causes the music to pause.
Previous/RewindIf you press this button once quickly, you will jump back to the start of the song. If you press this button twice quickly, you will jump back to the start of the previous song. If you press and hold this button down, the music will rewind; release the button when you get to the point at which you want it to start playing again.
Note
No, an iPod doesn't have a Stop button. But, thanks for asking.
Next/Fast-forwardPress this button once and you will jump to the start of the next song. Press this button down and hold it, and you will fast-forward the song; release the button when you get to the point in the song where you want to be.
Click WheelWhen the Now Playing screen is shown, drag a digit clockwise to increase the volume or counterclockwise to decrease the volume. When you start to drag on the Click Wheel, the Volume bar will appear on the screen to visually indicate the current volume level; the shaded part of the bar represents the current volume level (see Figure 4.9). As you change the volume, the shaded area will expand or contract, depending on whether you increase or decrease the volume. A second or two after you release the Click Wheel, the Volume bar will disappear.

Figure 4.9. When you drag on the Click Wheel, the Volume bar appears, and you can drag on the Wheel to change the volume level.

Tip

As you control your music, you can use the information at the bottom of the Now Playing screen to see where you are. You'll learn all about this screen shortly.

You can rewind or fast-forward music whether it is playing or not.

You can only change the volume using the Click Wheel when the Now Playing screen is shown. That is why the Now Playing option is listed on the Main menu. You can quickly jump to this screen to change the volume when you need to. (If you aren't at the Now Playing screen, dragging on the Click Wheel moves up or down the current screen.)

Playing the iPod Way

The basics of listening to music are cool. Now let's take a look at some of the cool iPod playback features that aren't so obvious.

Tip

Remember that you move "up" the menu structure by pressing the Menu button.

You can move around menus while music is playing just like you can when it isn't. As you choose other menus, the music will continue to play until you pause it or choose different music and play that instead.

The Now Playing screen provides lots of information about the music that is currently playing or paused (see Figure 4.10).

Figure 4.10. The Now Playing screen is packed with features, some of which might not be obvious to you.

At the top of the screen, you see information about the number of the current song out of the total you selected. For example, if you are playing the first song in a playlist containing 50 songs, this will be 1 of 50. This information helps you know where you are in the selected source.

Tip

If you selected All in any category and then played it, the display will tell you how many songs are stored on your iPod.

In the center of the screen, you will see information about the song currently selected, including song title, artist, and album. If any of this information is too long to be shown on one line, it will begin scrolling across the screen a second or two after a song starts playing.

At the bottom of the screen, you will see the Timeline bar. In the normal mode, this gives you a visual indication of the song's length and how much of the song you have played so far (represented by the shaded part of the bar). Under the left edge of the bar, you will see the amount of time the current song has been playing. At the right end of the bar, you will see the time remaining to play (this is a negative number and counts down to zero as the song plays).

If you click the Select button one time, the Timeline bar changes to indicate that you can now rewind or fast-forward using the Click Wheel (see Figure 4.11). When the Timeline bar is in this mode, you can drag on the Click Wheel clockwise to fast-forward or counterclockwise to rewind the music. As you drag, the Current Location marker moves to its new location and the time information is updated. When you release the Click Wheel, the Timeline bar will return to its normal mode in a second or so.

Figure 4.11. When the Timeline bar looks like this, you can rewind or fast-forward using the Click Wheel.

Note

Sometimes when song information is too long to fit onto one line, it's cut off and ellipses are used to indicate that there is more text. Frankly, I wasn't able to determine why some song information scrolls and some doesn't.

If you click the Select button twice, the Timeline bar is replaced by the Rating display. If the song currently playing has been rated, you will see the number of stars for that song (see Figure 4.12). If the song hasn't been rated, you see five dots instead (see Figure 4.13). You can rate the current song by dragging the Click Wheel clockwise to give the song more stars or counterclockwise to reduce the number of stars. A second or so after you stop touching the Click Wheel, the Timeline bar will return to its normal mode.

Figure 4.12. You can rate your music in iTunes and display the rating on your iPod.

Figure 4.13. You can rate your iPod music by choosing one of the dots shown here.

The neat thing about this is that the next time you connect your iPod to your computer, the rating information you set on the iPod is carried over to that music in your iTunes Library. So, you need to rate a song in only one place.