iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Chapter 2. The iPod Sync Connection

Sleek and smart as the iPod may be, it can’t do much by itself until it meets up with a computer. Once connected to a Mac or PC, however, the iPod is ready to accept whatever you want to give it—your whole music library, of course, but also everything from the complete recorded works of Tom Petty to your phone book, from news and calendar information to files too big to fit on a burned CD.

This chapter is dedicated to that concept of iPod as Satellite to Your Computer (and it concerns all iPods except the Shuffle, which has the next chapter all to itself). It explains USB 2.0 and FireWire, and how to use these connections to get songs and files off the mother ship and onto the ultraportable, ready-to-go iPod.

The iPod Software CD

The CD that comes with the iPod contains all the software you need to get up and iPodding in no time (see Figure 2-1). When you pull the disc out of the iPod’s box, you see a sticker that commands you to:

“Install software before connecting iPod.”

Unless you have multiple iPods and keep iTunes and all of your iPod software scrupulously up to date, you should listen to the sticker. (After you install the software, it’s a good idea to check for any updates that may have occurred since that CD was made. On the Mac, choose → Software Update; in Windows, open iTunes and then choose Help → Check for iTunes Updates.)

Insert the ...