iPhone: The Missing Manual, 5th Edition

Chapter 13. Syncing with iTunes

Just in case you’re one of the six people out there who’ve never heard of it, iTunes is Apple’s multifunction, multimedia jukebox software. It’s been loading music onto iPods since the turn of the 21st century.

Most people use iTunes to manipulate their digital movies, photos, and music, from converting songs off a CD into iPhone-ready music files to buying songs, audiobooks, and movies online.

But as an iPhone owner, you need iTunes even more urgently, because it’s the most efficient way to get masses of music, videos, apps, email, addresses, appointments, ringtones, and other stuff onto the phone. It also backs up your iPhone automatically.

If you’ve never had a copy of iTunes on your computer, then fire up your Web browser and go to www.apple.com/itunes/download. Once the file lands on your computer, double-click the installer icon and follow the onscreen instructions to add iTunes to your life.

This chapter gives you a crash course in iTunes and tells you how to sync it with your iPhone.

Tip

In iOS 5, iTunes is no longer required. It’s perfectly possible to use all of an iPhone’s features without even owning a computer. You can download all that stuff—music, movies, apps—right from the Internet, and you can back up your phone using iCloud (described in the next chapter).

Using iTunes, however, is still more efficient, and it’s nice to know that your stuff is backed up on a machine that’s within your control. Besides: In iOS 5, you can keep using your ...