Get To Grips With Your iPod

The basics - for the technically challenged!

If you are not a technical genius, picking up an electronic device like the the iPod can seem like translating Greek or another foreign language. However, the iPod is gaining popularity and you do not want to be left out in the cold. Face it, even the youngest of children are learning how to work these new devices with ease. Learning how to use your iPod doesn’t have to be difficult. Once you learn the basics, it will become second nature.

What is an iPod?

The iPod is a portable digital music and video player made by Apple. Apple designed the iPod to work with the iTunes media library software, which lets users manage the music libraries on their computers and on their iPods. iTunes can automatically synchronize a user's iPod with specific playlists or with the entire contents of a music library each time an iPod connects to a host computer. Users may also set a rating (out of 5 stars) on any song, and can synchronize that information to an iTunes music library. Apart from iTunes there are also several third-party applications available that can be used to transfer songs to the iPod. iTunes lacks the ability to transfer songs from iPod to computer because of legality issues, although there are third party programs that tackle that issue.

iPod controls

The iPods (other than the iPod shuffle) have five buttons:

1. 'Menu' (which backs up one level in the menus)

2. 'Play/Pause' (which plays or pauses the track in play)

3. 'Previous' (which skips back through tracks in play)

4. 'Next' (which skips forward through tracks in play)

5. 'Center' (the button in the center of the scroll wheel; this selects a menu or a menu item)

A 'Hold' switch also exists on the top of the unit. Setting this switch to display orange will make the buttons and scroll wheel unresponsive, so that users do not activate them accidentally. This is particularly useful if you carry your iPod in your purse or pocket!

Downloading music

There are many varieties and types of iPods. Do not get confused when you go shopping for your new portable music device. Shop and compare and if you are computer-challenged, do a little research. An iPod and a run of the mill MP3 player are not the same thing. Before buying, know what you are looking at before going to the store. Also, another good thing to remember when shopping for an iPod is that when you download music off of the Internet, it is most likely not free. Most legal music download sites will charge some fee per downloaded song. In addition, be careful and know what you are downloading before doing so. Not all of these sites are the same.

Additional features

Fourth and fifth generation iPods, second generation iPod minis, iPod nanos and iPod shuffles automatically pause playback when headphones are unplugged from the headphone jack. They however, do not start playing again after insertion of the headphones by default.

The iPods with FireWire ports can be put into FireWire Disk Mode, in which it behaves like a FireWire hard drive without any of the additional iPod functionality.

An iPod unable to start (due to either a firmware or a hardware problem) displays a sad face.

iPod accessories

All iPods come with headphones with white cords and earbuds, the color matching that of the initial iPod. The white cords have become symbolic of the iPod brand, and advertisements for the devices feature them prominently. Despite the fact that new generations of the iPod now appear in black as well as white, the cords remain white. In addition, you can spice up your plain iPod by purchasing all sorts of decals and “skins” for your device. There is no need to have a plain iPod when you can personalize it to your heart’s content.

iPod speakers

If you want to listen to your music without earphones, you will need to purchase some iPod speakers. These range from tiny, portable speakers to serious, room-filling surround sound from the best makers - and have become quite an accessory in themselves. Some speakers also act as a "dock" - ie a means of charging your iPod without connecting it to the computer.

When I used to travel to college a large proportion of my car was taken up with stereo (amplifier, turntable and so on), speakers, LPs and all the rest of the necessary pariphanelia. Now you can pack up your mini portable speakers, iPod and your entire music collection into half a shoe-box! Isn't technology wonderful?

iPods in the car

Unless you own a new BMW and have been provided with the means to dock and play, you will have to purchase a separate method to enable you to use your iPod in the car. If you have a cassette deck this is relatively easy: you can buy a cassette-adapter which will route your iPod's music through your car speakers, inexpensively. If you don't have a cassette-player, you will need to buy an attachment which allows you to route your music over an unused radio frequency. If you live in the UK there are unfortunately currently plans to make this illegal, so check before you buy.

Are iPods bad for your hearing?