Best iPod Instructions – Simple Steps To Turn You into an iPod touch Pro

Can't wait to get started? Here's my guide to getting started with the iPod touch, Quick and Easy. More detailed features will be looked into
later.

Starting Up

Before connecting and firing up make sure your package whether you bought it from an online store or from a store near you contains all the
necessary contents. Read the packaging box for list of contents and verify if the contents inside match the items in the list.

Your package must contain:

1. Your iPod touch

2. Earphones

3. Dock connector to USB Cable

4. Dock adapter

Your iPod touch comes with a built-in non-replaceable battery. Your iPod touch's battery needs to be charged before playing it for the first time.

Sorry folks, for technical reasons Apple does not ship a fully charged iPod touch. It may carry a small charge though but that will not be sufficient enough to play songs or watch videos. The little charge that it carries though is enough to talk to your computer.

Patience is the key. If you cannot wait just give your iPod touch 2 hours and it will be 80% charged.

There are basically two ways to charge your iPod touch...

1. Using your computer

2. Using the Apple USB Power Adapter

Disconnecting your iPod touch is a very important function and one to be done with care.

Some important notes on disconnection...

1. Do not disconnect your iPod touch when it is syncing. The following image is displayed when the iPod touch is syncing.

2. Do not disconnect your iPod touch if it is set to be managed manually via the Manually manage music and videos option.

In the above two cases first eject your iPod touch prior to disconnecting. Failure to do so may damage critical files on the touch and may also render it useless.

Undoubtedly the most important of all software that you will need for your iPod touch is iTunes. iTunes needs to be installed on your computer (desktop or laptop).

As of this writing the current version 9.0 is available for free download from Apple's website,
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download

Syncing as the word means is basically ensuring that your songs and other media on your computer are in sync with those on your iPod touch. You don't have to do any of this manually as iTunes takes care of that automatically.

For the first time when your iPod touch is connected to your computer where iTunes is already installed the iTunes program is invoked automatically and it already searches to find out if songs and other media needs to be downloaded to your iPod touch. In other words iTunes tries to perform a sync.

Follow the instructions on the screen to fill your iPod touch with music, videos, podcasts, photos etc., from your computer. You can also buy music, videos, and TV shows from the iTunes store online. You can also load your touch with apps (or applications).

Note that your iPod touch automatically starts charging in the background if the charge in the battery is low. It does this everytime you connect your iPod touch to your computer. iTunes will prompt you for song transfer and if you answer Yes to this question iTunes will begin automatically transferring files to your iPod touch.

This setting will be in place unless you wish to change it and perform these activities manually. Every time you connect your iPod touch it will automatically be updated without prompting you for questions. Therefore your iPod touch and the music and media on your computer are always in sync. If you answer No then the manual update option comes into place and you will have to personally update your iPod touch by dragging and dropping media onto it.

There are several things to observe on iTunes when your iPod touch is connected to your computer. On the left side of the iTunes opening main window and in the vertical tree of folders under DEVICES you will notice your connected iPod touch details with an Eject button located beside the description.

There may also be times when you do not want to sync your iPod touch for various reasons. For instance you could have a huge library of songs and other media that your iPod touch may not be able to hold (which is very rare).

You may also want to select only a particular set of songs say to take to a party or on a trip and may want to add songs selectively.

The first thing that you need to do in this case is to disable iTunes when you connect your iPod touch to your computer. For this click the iPod link or object shown in the image under DEVICES. On the right the Summary for your iPod touch is displayed. If they do not appear click the Summary tab.

1. Clear the check in the Open iTunes when this iPod is attached checkbox.

2. Check the Sync only checked songs and videos checkbox.

3. Next click each of the tabs for Applications, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, iTunes U, Photos, Info to customize the sync processes for each of these.

4. To explain the sync process for music, click the Music tab.

5. To sync only selected playlists select the Selected playlists radio button.

6. Select the playlists that you need to be synced by checking the corresponding checkboxes from the list displayed in the box.

7. Check or uncheck the other checkboxes as desired.

8. Repeat the process for the other tabs for Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Photos, Applications, iTunes U, Photos, and Info as desired.

9. Finally click Apply to save the changes.

The next time you connect your iPod touch to your computer only the selected items will be Synced. You can set these sync options whenever you connect your iPod touch to your computer.

With iTunes your CDs can be transferred to your iPod touch via syncing and you have your entire CD collection on the move.

Here's my quick and easy guide to ripping and importing songs from a CD into your iTunes music library...

1. Insert an audio CD into your computer's internal CD or DVD drive. If your computer is connected to the Internet, iTunes will automatically
display the album title and all track names (if the album is listed in the Gracenote CD database).

2. With the list of songs in the iTunes window, deselect songs i.e remove the checkmark from any songs you don't want to import.

3. To copy all songs from the CD, drag the CD icon in the Source list onto the Library icon. To copy individual songs, choose the CD in the Source list, then drag the songs you want from the song list pane onto the Library icon in the Source list. To choose multiple songs use the Command button on the Mac or the Control button in Windows and the mouse click before dragging them to the LIBRARY list.

To add the selected songs to your library or the contents of the entire CD in your CD/DVD drive click the Import CD button located at the bottom of the iTunes window. The iTunes software display will provide feedback as it copies each song from the disc. iTunes will convert your song files to the file format you set under the Importing tab in the Advanced tab of the Preferences dialog. Note that AAC is the default file type.

If you have a data CD or DVD containing MP3, AIFF, WAV, or other audio files, you can add them all to iTunes in the same way you would add files from a folder. Double-click the disc icon to open it, then drag the files onto the Library icon in the Source list.

In iTunes, select iPod touch in the Source list, and then click the Add (+) button located at the bottom-left of iTunes or choose File > New Playlist.

Type a name for your playlist.

Click an item, such as Music, in the Library list, and then drag songs or other items to the playlist.

Drag a song to a playlist on your iPod touch to add the song. Select a song in a playlist and press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete the song.

If you set iTunes to manage music manually, you can reset it later to sync automatically.

Setting iTunes to sync selected playlists to your iPod touch is particularly useful if the music in your iTunes library doesn't all fit on iPod touch (again, this is rare considering the space iPod touch currently offers).

Only the music in the playlists you select is synced to your iPod touch. To set iTunes to sync music from selected playlists onto your iPod touch...

1. In iTunes, select iPod touch in the Source list and click the Music tab.

2. Select Sync music and then choose Selected playlists.

3. Select the playlists you want to be synced.

4. To include music videos and display album artwork, select those options.

5. Click Apply.

The settings for adding podcasts to your iPod touch are unrelated to the settings for adding songs. Podcast update settings don't affect song update settings, and vice versa.

You can set iTunes to automatically sync all or selected podcasts, or you can add podcasts to your iPod touch manually.

To set iTunes to update the podcasts on your iPod touch automatically...

1. In iTunes, select your iPod touch in the Source list and click the Podcasts tab.

2. In the Podcasts pane, select Sync Podcasts and choose the number of episodes you want in the pop-up menu.

3. Click Automatically include... all or Selected podcasts. If you click Selected podcasts, also select the podcasts in the list that you want to sync.

4. Click Apply.

When you set iTunes to sync iPod touch podcasts automatically, your iPod touch is updated each time you connect it to your computer.

1. In iTunes, select iPod touch in the Source list and click the Summary tab.

2. Select Manually manage music and videos and click Apply.

3. Select the Podcasts library in the Source list and drag the podcasts you want to your iPod touch.

You can customize the layout of icons on your Home screen by including the Dock icons along the bottom of the screen. You can also arrange
them over multiple Home screens.

To rearrange icons...

1. Touch and hold any Home screen icon until the icons begin to wiggle.

2. Arrange the icons by dragging them.

3. Press the Home button to save your arrangement.

You can also add links to your favorite webpages on the Home screen. You can also rearrange the Home screen icons and the order of the screens in iTunes 9 or later when your iPod touch is connected to your computer. Select your iPod touch in the iTunes sidebar and then click the Applications tab.

You can also create additional Home screens. While arranging icons drag an icon to the right edge of the screen until a new screen appears. You can flick to return to the original screen and drag more icons to the new screen.

To delete items you added to your iPod touch simply display those items under Devices, under your iPod touch by clicking the disclosure triangle next to your iPod touch.

Then select these items (under your iPod touch and not in iTunes) and press Delete on your keyboard (you can also select an item, right-click it and choose Delete). If you manually remove a song or other item from your iPod touch, it isn't deleted from your iTunes library.

To use Voice Control press and hold the Home button until the Voice Control screen appears and till you hear a beep. You can also press and hold the center button on your iPod touch headset or the equivalent button on your Bluetooth headset.

You can now speak into the microphone and your iPod touch will comply with your commands. (Note: This feature is only available on Fall 2009 32GB or above iPod touch model)

Note that for voice control to work successfully you need to speak slowly and clearly. Use only your iPod touch commands and pause between commands.

By default, Voice Control expects you to speak voice commands in the language that's set for iPod touch i.e under the General -> International -> Language setting. However you can change this setting. Note that some languages are available in different dialects or accents.

To change the language or country under Settings, choose General -> International -> Voice Control and tap the language or country.

Your iPod touch connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi networks. Your iPod touch can join AirPort and other Wi-Fi networks at home, at work, or at Wi-Fi hotspots around the world.

When joined to a Wi-Fi network that is connected to the Internet, your iPod touch connects to the Internet automatically.

This happens whenever you use Mail, Safari (Apple's proprietary Internet browser), YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Weather, the App Store, or the iTunes Store.

The Wi-Fi settings let you turn on Wi-Fi and join Wi-Fi networks.

To join a Wi-Fi network turn on Wi-Fi: Choose Settings -> Wi-Fi and turn Wi-Fi on.

The life and the lasting power of the Lithium ion battery that your iPod touch uses largely depends on the type of model (8/32/64 GB) you have purchased and your usage.

Every battery can only be charged and re-charged a particular "n" number of times.

However here are my top tips that will provide you with years of good performance from your iPod touch's battery.

Do's

1. Respect your iPod touch. After all didn't you buy it to serve you and it will if you treat it right.

2. Play from playlists if you want to play your iPod touch for a long time.

3. Always learn to pause your touch when you are not watching or listening to it. You may not be aware of huge playlists or songs in an endless loop.

4. Use the Sleep/Wake button whenever your iPod touch is on sleep mode. Accidentally waking your iPod by clicking or hitting any other
buttons can drain its battery heavily.

5. Charge your iPod touch regularly like once in three or four days even if it wasn't used.

Don'ts

1. Do not subject your iPod touch to extreme heat or cold. The optimal temperature for the iPod touch to operate is 32 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit (0 to 35 degrees Celcius) which is a very good range for the touch's operation. It is good to remember its non-operating temperature as well which is -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C).

2. Avoid jumping from song to song and traversing menus constantly.

3. Avoid using your iPod touch as a flashlight replacement by using the screen's light.

Click here to download your copy of the best iPod instructions ebook.