Tips for new iPod owners and how-tos�.

So, you bought an iPod. You are now the proud owner of the highest selling portable digital music player. I would call it an MP3 player, but this handheld device plays WAVs, AIFFs, MP3s, AACs, and Audible formats just to name a few. Weighing in at just 6.5 ounces, The iPod is a work of art. You could just stand there all day and look at it and play Parachute (one of the included games) or you can really start to use it. Not just use the iPod as the instruction manual tells you, but also really learn how to use the iPod. First, I am going to give you some tips, then I will give you some things you can do to hack, fix, or how to explore the iPod.

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Apple says you can get up to eight hours of battery life on the new iPod. Just how much you actually get is up to you. Here are some tips to get the most out your battery.

1. Do not change songs often. The iPod will play a playlist 8 hours long if you don�t change the songs. The way an iPod works is by spinning up every 20-30 minutes and putting the next songs in the list into a piece of 32Mbs or ram. If you play a song, then go to another playlist, the hard drive has to spin up again. You will kill your battery quickly that way.
2. Turn Off the backlight. This can drain the battery faster than an SUV uses gas. Leave it off unless completely necessary.
3. Leave Sound Check and Equalizer off. These require more power to be used, and require processing from the built-in ARM processor thus using energy.
4. Do not play songs large than 20Mbs. This will save you some heartache. Although WAVs can be played on the iPod, they are usually pretty large, and will cause the iPod hard drive to spin up every minute or so. Use the smallest file size possible. It is best to compress your songs into MP3s or AACs before playing them on the iPod.
5. Use the Notes Area (more on that later) with the least amount of notes possible. Do not put an entire novel in Notes, it will spin up the hard drive, and use-processing power to scroll down that massive document.
6. Keep the iPod in an area with a moderate temperature. Extreme heat or cold can shorten play time.

Now that we have the battery running at optimum capacity, let�s find out what you can do with the iPod. Owners of the first and second generation of iPods will need to take note of this area too. There are some changes to the third generation of the iPod that you need to know.

1. On-The-Go is a new playlist where you can add songs to a playlist while away from your computer. On-The-Go is located in the Playlist area. To add a song, artist, album, or composer to the On-The-Go all you have to do is highlight that song and hold down the select button. That is the button inside the jog wheel. The highlight blinks twice and it has been added.
2. The built in clock is a great feature. You can set alarms that beep, or play certain playlist. You can also select an option to display the time in the menu bar so the time is always there. The clock is also used to remind you of iCal schedules.
3. Using iSync you can sync your address book and iCal calendars to the iPod. Just have Mac OS X 10.2 or higher and install iCal and iSync at www.apple.com/ical and www.apple.com/isync Then you can set up your addresses with Apple�s built in address book and make appointments w/ iCal, then with iSync put them on your iPod.
4. There are four games on the iPod. Parachute, Brick, Solitaire, and Music Quiz. These are all addictive games. I have to warn you the music quiz game keeps your hard drive constantly spinning so stay close to a power source.
5. In settings you can turn on Shuffle, Repeat, Equalizer, Sound Check, and other options. This is all to help you control your music. Mess around in here for a while to find the preference you like the best.
6. If you want to turn on the backlight and fast; don�t go to settings, just hold down the MENU button. After 1 second, the backlight will come on.
7. For a quick turn off of the iPod, just hold down the Play/Pause button and the iPod will turn off. Remember the iPod will turn off on its own after two minutes of inactivity. This means the iPod is not playing anything and you have not touched any of the buttons.
8. The Hold switch on the top of the iPod is a lifesaver. Now you can safely put it in your pocket and forget it. You don�t have to fear that some of the iPod buttons will get pushed while you walk down the street.
9. The Notes section of the iPod enables you to put text or html documents to view on the iPod�s screen. To put documents on the iPod, when the iPod is mounted, drag them to the /iPod/Notes directory. You can get anal and put folders in there, too. Be careful though; the more notes you load, the longer the hard drive has to spin up to load those notes into ram. If you have a lot of notes, you will be waiting a while to even get in and view one note.

Now that you have streamlined your music listening, what else can you do with the iPod? Are you still not impressed with what this little 6.5oz device can do? There is more, but you will need the help of some 3rd party apps. Here are some applications that take iPodding to the next level.

1. PodUtil: This app enables you to copy songs from your iPod back onto your Mac. I don�t support piracy. I just think that it is a great way to back up your music. I have used this tool after restoring my computer, twice. It copies all of your songs back to their rightful place.
2. Pod2Mac: A utility that takes RSS, weather and stock feeds from hundreds of websites and puts them on your iPod. You can customize what you want; it pulls it from the web and onto your Mac. It is shareware, but does a great job. I use it daily to read the news, and weather on my way to school.




There a few website that have all the latest info and accessories on iPods. You should check these places often so you can stay up to date with everything iPod.

1. www.ipodlounge.com
2. www.ipodding.com
3. www.apple.com/ipod


Last but not least, there comes a time when your iPod is having problems. Here is a way to troubleshoot it. First you have to diagnose the problem, and then solve it. In fact as I was writing this, I used iSync to sync my updated calendars and contacts to the iPod, and iSync gave me errors, I will tell you how I fixed this, too.

Q: My iPod is not responding and is locked up
A: On 3g iPods, put the hold switch on and off one time, and then hold down the Play/Pause and MENU buttons at the same time. After a few seconds the iPod will reset back to normal

Q: My battery is lasting only a few minutes.
A: First of all, do the things I highlighted in section1 for energy conservation. If this does not work, do the following. Reset it, and reformat the iPod w/ Disk utility. If you have stuff on there, take it off of the iPod. Then go to www.apple.com/ipod/download and get the latest iPod software. Install it on the iPod, and add all of your songs again. This might fix the problem. If the problem were still there, I would recommend completely killing the battery. Keep resetting it, and resetting it, until finally it won�t even go the main screen, it will just say, �Low Battery�. Then find a power source and completely charge it. I would charge it overnight to be safe. If all else fails, call Apple. They might replace your battery. If not, they have a battery repair program.

Q: Are there any tips on keeping my battery like new.
A: Yes, follow the included directions with the iPod that say completely charge iPod, first run for example. Also, make a note that if the battery gets below 50%, you should completely charge it. I don�t know why this is, but it is healthier for the battery.

Q: I am getting errors while syncing to my iPod with iTunes and iSync. First thing I always say when there is an error with reading/writing data, it to repair the disk. Open Disk Utility and repair the iPod�s hard Drive. If there are still problems, repair permissions on your boot volume and the iPod�s. If all else fails restore the iPod with the iPod software.

Q: Can I install Mac OS on the iPod?
A: Yea, in fact for the longest time, I kept OS 9 on my iPod just in case my computer HD was having problems, I could simply boot from the iPod. I also used it to play OS9 games. You can install Mac OS X on there, too. Be warned, the iPod is not for this type of activity. It is a slow hard drive, and will shorten the life of it, if used as a constantly spinning booted drive. Don�t say I did not warn you.

Q: Is there a book or publication that I can learn more about the best Portably Digital Music Player?
A: Yes, refer to �Secrets of the iPod�, by Christopher Breen. He is an editor at Macworld magazine and does a great job of covering the 1st generation up to the latest iPods.


I hope this article got you started and will spur your interest in all things iPod. With 2 million iPod owners and counting, there is no shortage of info online, or in print. Go and search for more hacks to the iPod, and how-tos. Above all, don�t drop your iPod, and enjoy listening to all of your favorite music, �In Your Pocket.�