How To Put Music On Your Ipod

Whether you just got your first iPod or you’ve simply never used the one that you have, learning how to put music on your iPod is quick and can improve your life by leaps and bounds. Not only can it energize your workout or make a long plane ride more bearable, but you’ll never have to talk to that weird guy next to you on the bus again. Just follow these steps, and learning how to put music on your iPod is as easy as one, two – one, two, three, four!

What you’ll need to put music on your iPod:

• An iPod
• A USB cable
• A computer with iTunes loaded and an internet connection
• Music – from a CD or purchased online in MP3 or M4A format.

1. Plug your iPod into the computer using the USB cable. iTunes should launch automatically, and in the column on the left of iTunes, “iPod” should also show up under “Devices.”

2. If this is the first time you’re connecting your iPod, iTunes will walk you through a set up process. You’ll name your iPod and choose whether to manage your music manually or to allow your iPod to sync automatically with your library. If you have plenty of storage on your iPod and use only one computer, automatically syncing your library is a simple way to put music on your iPod, as it copies the entire iTunes library onto your iPod.  However, if you have a small iPod(like a nano), you’ll want to manually manage your iPod by unclicking both of the “Automatically Sync” options in the setup process. You can change how you manage your music at any time.

3. To put music on your iPod, you’ll have to first get the music into the iTunes library. You can go to the iTunes store to purchase music, and it will automatically load into the iTunes library. You can also choose to add a CD by putting it in the computer’s disk drive. A window should pop up and ask you if you’d like to import this CD into iTunes. Click “Yes.” It takes between 2-10 minutes to import, based on your computer.

4. You can also import a CD by locating it in the left column of iTunes and clicking on the title once. At the bottom, on the right, you’ll find the “Import CD” button. Click that and squiggly orange lines will appear by the song titles as they import. As long as the CD is not home made, song titles should automatically appear. A tone will sound when the CD is done importing, and all the songs will have a green checkmark by them.

5. If you’ve chosen to automatically sync your iPod, simply go to the “File” menu at the top of iTunes and select “Sync (whatever you named your iPod).” All the music from your iTunes library will be copied onto your iPod. Beware, however, that if you add music to your iPod from another computer, it will be overwritten unless you also add it to this computer’s iTunes library. Only use this option to put music on your iPod if you're absolutely certain, since there's no way to recover overwritten files.

6. To manually put music on your iPod, navigate to the “Music” subdivision in your iTunes library, where you’ll see all the songs that are stored on your computer. Find the song you want to add and click the title once so it turns blue. To make multiple selections, hold down the “Control” button on your keyboard and click multiple song titles. Drag your selections to your iPod music library, located in the left hand column of iTunes under “Devices,” “whatever you named your iPod,” and then under “Music.” Beside “whatever you named your iPod” you’ll see a little spinning arrow wheel while the music is being copied onto your iPod.

7. To make sure that you've actually put music on your iPod, place your mouse on the “Music” tab under “whatever you named your iPod” and click once. You should be able to find the new songs in your iPod’s library. Repeat this process until you have the music you want on your iPod, hit eject, and hit the road.