The

iPod NEW

Guide 2010
EDI TION

Every new iPod covered ISBN 1-906372-91- 8

THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 007

Reviews
008 Choosing an iPod
010 iPod line-up
018 iPod touch vs iPhone
021 Nike+ iPod Sport Kit
022 iPhone 3GS
Not sure which iPod is right for you?
Here’s an easy way to find out!

START HERE
Do you want to
Do you want to play YES carr y more than YES
more than music, 14,00 0 songs?
books and podcasts?

NO
NO
NO

Are you happy

BUT steppin g through
iPod
2GB shuffle
your musi c without
500 s a screen?
£45 ongs
4GB
1000
£
£59 songs YES

gs
iPod nanodeoo
8GB
2000 son s
8 hours vigse
£115 ideo
eo
Are you happy only BUT 16GB
bein g able to view 4000 son s
16 hours v id
your contact s and
£135
appointments , but
not edit them?
YES
NO
 REVIEWS 009

iPodcla
iPod classic
160GB
160GB NO
40,000 s ngs
u s video
200 hour
ho
£
£189

Are you happy to

BUT comp romis e on
capacity for featu res?

Do you want to
watc h much video
on your iPod?
YES

NO
iPhone
From £342.50
depending on
YES capacity.
So a small screen Available in 8GB
woul d be ok? (3G), and 16GB
and 64GB (3GS)
NO
YES

iPod touch
8GB
1750 songs
10 hours video
£149 YES
32GB
7000 songs
40 hours video
£229
NO Would you consider
64GB gettin g a mobile
14,000 songs BUT contrac t and an
80 hours video iPhone instead?
£299
01 0 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

iPod line-
up
Apple has comple tely revamped the iPod, discarding its iconic
white design and adding a host of new technologies. We examine
the ins and outs of Apple’s latest media players.

If you still pictu re a chunky white brick whenever

someone says ‘iPod’, you’re behin d the times. Apple
CEO Steve Jobs brought the all-white era to a close in
Septembe r 2007 with the introduction of the iPod
classic. The company completely revamped its music
player line-up in an effort to drive ever greate r sales,
and it worked. Since then, it has reworke d the range
twice more, and now iPod s come in a dazzling array of
colours, with the iPod nano alone being available in an
unp recedente d nine different finishes.
The iPod has been replaced at the pinnacle of
the line-up by the touch, a widesc reen, touch-sensitive,
wireless iPod. The player take s its cues from the
iPhone, but completely redefines what constitutes
a portable music player by allowing you to download
music directly from the iTune s Store.
Completing the line-up are the nano and shuffle
iPods. The former has a curved body and screen, and
by borrowing a trick from the touch and iPhone, can
rather cleverly sense its orientation. Flip it on its side
and it knows exactly what you’ve done, with the
screen format changing to match. The shuffle,
meanwhile, is Apple’s screen-less, low-en d entry
device. A masterpiec e of minimalism, it does nothing
but play music, either randoml y or in order, with
trimmed down controls to match.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 011
01 2 REVIEWS
iPOD TOUCH
The iPod touch got perhap s the least attentio n of any
iPod in the line-up’s latest revamp . Stan d this model
beside its predecessor s and you wouldn’t know the
difference. Externally, it’s nigh-on identical, with a
polished-stee l back, a blanking plate where the
iPhone has its camera and just three buttons: power,
the home button and the volume rocker switch . For
obvious reasons (no ringer), the iPhone’s mute switch
is missing and there’s no Sim card slot. The
headphon e socket is down at the bottom, too.
It ships with iPhone OS 3.1 software, so is fully
clued up for cut, copy and paste , and landscape
email writing. It’s also peer-to-pee r savvy, which
is nothing to do with illegal file sharing and all
about enabling multi-player gaming over the
Internet.
There are also Genius recommendation s for Apps,
much like the Genius feature in iTunes , which
suggest s tracks you might like to buy from the iTunes
Store. This is a great sale s tool for Apple, but its
benefit for consumer s is less clear. As one blogger put
it (bit.ly/8PdC A
): ‘I’m not really interested in Genius for
apps, becaus e it will by principle only recommend
popula r applications that I’d already have heard of by
word of mouth and through blogs.’ It also boast s the
same Spotlight, stereo Bluetoot h and ‘Shake to
Shuffle’ features as the iPhone . If you’re using an old
touch that isn’t yet running the 3.1 software, the good
news is that the update only costs £2.99.
There are some standa rds across the full touch
line-up, including 30 hours of musi c playback, six
hours of video playback, and built-in Bluetooth, wifi
and Nike+ support . The 32GB and 64GB version,
reviewed here, come with earphone s with a remote
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
and mic; the 8GB model, which is half the price of
this, is missing the remote and mic. The 64GB and
32GB models also have voice cont rol, which is
missing from their 8GB sibling.
So how large is 64GB? According to Apple’s
figures, it equate s to 14,000 songs , 80 hours of video
and 90,000 photos , althoug h these figures w ill
depend upon the mix and the number of app s you
have installed, photos you have downloade d and
emails that you’ve received . Logically enough, the
figures are more or less halved for the 32GB edition,
which will take 7000 tracks and 40 hours of video,
but only 40,000 photos . The 8GB touch can
accommodate 1750 tracks, 10 hours of video and
10,000 photos , so the conversion is fairly linear.
It’s fast and responsive , too. Shake to Shuffle
picks the next track with seemingl y no thought at
all, and the differenc e betwee n this and a first-
generatio n iPhon e is so pronounce d as to make
the iPhone feel positively sluggish when using
demanding applications such as Googl e Earth.
At £299, the 64GB touch isn’t cheap – not
when you can save yourself £110 and still get your
hands on a 160GB classic . What you’re paying for
then, isn’t capacit y, but features and iPhone OS
3.1’s brilliant brain. When Apple CEO, Stev e Jobs,
announce d the iPod touch, he called it training
wheels for the iPhone.
That might have been some way off the mark
– you wouldn’t buy this and then progress to the
phone – but the sentiment wasn ’t so wide of the
mark. This is the iPhone for anyone who is happy
with the non-Appl e handse t they already own.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 013

Product (Red)
Apple is one of 10 high-profile corporation s licensing the Product (Red) brand for key
member s of their product range. Other partners include Microsoft, Starbuck s and Dell.
For every Product (Red) iPod nano or gift card purchased , Apple will make a contribution
to the Global Fund fighting HIV/Aids in Africa. Ten per cent of all $25 gift cards is
contributed to the fund, while the funds given through the purchas e of an iPod nano is
sufficient to provide 83 single treatment s of a drug that helps prevent the transmission
of HIV from mother to child.
Product (Red) product s cost you no more to buy than the regular equivalents in each
range, so a (Red) nano is identically-priced to a blue or green one. The contribution is
given by the manufacturer directly to the Global Fund without any further contri bution
from yourself. This, alone, should be enough to encourag e you to take a look at the
red nano. They’re really rather nice.

Video formats
The touch support s the same audio and video formats as other iPods. This me ans
there’s still no support for Windows Media Audio or Video . While this is unlikelyto be
an issue for most Mac users, it remains a bone of contention amon g consume r groups,,
who believe that the cost to Apple of licensing Windows Media would amount to a few
pence per iPod, and that the reason for its exclusion is to lock iPod owners out of the
stores that sell music in Windows Media-p rotecte d formats. Supporte d video f ormats
are H.264 and Mpeg-4, with a maximu m resolution of 640 x 480 pixels (which is scale d
down to the touch’s display resolution of 480 x 320 pixels). d
At £149 for the 8GB version, the touch is just £14 more expensiv e than the
equivalently-sized nano, but in terms of features and the sheer fun of using it, t
comparison . If you can live with the higher costs , then the only decision you hahere’s
make is whether to buy the 8GB, 32GB or 64GB model. noo ve
to

Ringtones
It wasn’t a big surprise when Apple announce d it would sell
downloadabl e ringtones from the iTune s Store. What wasn ’t expected
was the model that Apple would employ to sell them.
Rather than buying just the ringtone, iPhone owners mus t buy the
entire song they want to use as a ringtone, then pay an additional 99p
for the ringtone itself. This means that buying a ringtone from It is sible to create your own ringtones using GarageBand.
the iTune s Store costs £1.78. On the plus side, users can edit their Sim
ringtones, so that any section of the track can be used. the iTune s Store)
pos ble toincreate
the iTune
yoursown
interface and select
ringtones using Show in Finder.
GarageBand.
This is how it works: you buy a song from the iTune s Store that Drag it from the Finder window that pops up into a new project in
has an associate d ringtone, or you look through your Purchased GarageBand , use the Cycle Region tool to define a repeating loop
playlist in iTune s and pick one that has a ringtone symbol next to it. and then, from the Sha re menu, pick ‘Send ringtone to iTunes’.
You then open the Rington e Editor in iTunes , choos e the section you Alternatively, you can create a ringtone in a less precis e manner
want to use as your ringtone – which can be up to 30 second s long with iTunes . Start by changing the start and end points of a track
– and set the fade in and fade out points and the playback delay. through iTunes ’ Get Info comman d (accessibl e when right-clicking
Then click purchase . The ringtone is created and downloade d to on a track). Set the star t and end points close together and then
iTune s to be synced with your iPhone. drag the resulting file to your Desktop, changing the name and
At the time of writing, according to Apple, the iTune s Store has half returning it to iTune s creates the tone.
a million songs with ringtones available. Full details can be found online at theappleblog.com/2008/08/07 .
01 4 REVIEWS
iPOD NANO
Take a quick glance at the new iPod nano and you’d
be forgiven for mistaking it for the old one. Aside
from an expande d range of nine colours, it sports the
same slim, curved body and the capacitie s haven’t
increased beyond 8GB and 16GB, either. Flip it over
though, and the big new feature become s obvious:
the new nan o has a video camera on the back.
The fixed-focu s lens records video at VGA
resolution (640 x 480 pixels), but brac e yourself for
some disappointment : the nan o doesn’t shoot still
photograph s becaus e its case is too thin for a sensor
that shoot s high-quality photos . Considering the
limitations imposed by the almost wafer-thin
dimensions, Apple has done a good job. Video is
sharp and stable enough, and its automatic white
balance kept up as well as could be expected , even
under office lighting.
The built-in mic fares well in capturin g sound,
which can be reviewed without earphone s through
the speake r. That work s with music too, but the
sound is too quiet and tinny. You’ll need to enable
disk mod e to get video off the nano, otherwise it
won’t appea r in iPhoto or the Finder. In fairness
though, we only had trouble getting video off the nano
due to problems downloading the VoiceOver Kit, and
under norma l circumstance s it’ll appea r straight away.
VoiceOver guides you around the iPod, and
announces track and artist names . It work s very well
with the Genius Mixes becaus e you don’t need to pull
the nano from a pocket to find out what’s playing.
If you’re not ready to take on a full fitnes s regime
with the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit, you can always fall
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
back on the more casual Pedomete r function, which
uses the accelerometer, to measu re the number of
steps you take each day. Tell the nano your weight
and set a daily step goal, and it records achievements
on a calendar and syncs them to the Nike+ website
through iTunes.
We’re delighted that the nano now has an FM
radio. Now you can soak up some talk radio or new
tunes if your library isn’t striking the right chord. The
glamorously named Live Pause feature stores the last
15 minutes of a broadcast , so interruption s aren’t too
much of a problem, and the new iTune s Tagging
feature shows who and what’s playing.
Screen resolution has increased slightly to 376
x 240 pixels, while maintaining the 204 pixels per
inch density. The 2.2in display is still better suited
to video podcast s and short TV shows than long
movies, but we’re still not convinced by the curved
and slightly reflective surface, which catche s a bit too
much light for our liking.
The nano’s video camera is a great addition, at
least if you don’t already have a good video camera
in your phone, and it’s certainly good enough to
capture the larks that Apple expect s you’ll upload to
YouTube or Facebook . Real-time video effect s are fun,
but a little gimmicky. When did you last use the ones
in Photo Booth?
The nano fills its niche well, beating the shuffle by
virtue of its screen, and with a more discreet form
than the iPod touch. Howeve r, we’d like to see Apple
finally unlock the shuffle’s on-the-fly comp ression
when syncin g music to these lower-capacity iPods.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEWS 015

iPOD CLASSIC
The iPod is dead. Long live the classic . Ditching the means that its storage capacity is significantly higher
white iPod made sense for Apple in 2007 as it moved than the flash-base d nano and touch.
away from white as its favoured colour schem e for The classic has a storage capacity of 160GB, and
consume r product s (the MacBook is now the only is remarkably thin for a hard drive-base d device with
white Mac in the range). such a high capacit y. It’s certainly much thinner than
As with the nano and shuffle, Apple has dropped an iPod of comparabl e capacity from a couple of
the plastic casing and honed the classic from year s ago, and the capacity is much more realistic for
aluminium. It’s available users with large music libraries, and for downloading
in either silver with a video content.
white Click Wheel or in Using Apple’s own metrics, the 160GB iPod classic
black. Both versions can hold up to 40,000 songs in AAC format encode d
look stunning while the at 128kbits/sec , 200 hours of video, or up to
brushed aluminium 25,000 iPod-viewable photos.
finishe s on the front fit Sadly, the classic’s screen is nowhe re near as
well with the MacBook good as the touch’s for watchin g video. At 2.5in
Pro rang e of across its diagonal, it’s bigger than the nano’s, but
notebook s and the well short of the touch. And its 320 x 240-pixel
shiny back hark s back resolution is the same as the nano’s.
to the first iPods. The interface on both the classic and the
The classic is the nano makes full use of the colour display. In addition
only iPod in the range to Cover Flow, menu items such as the graphic
to use a hard drive equalizer look great.
rather than flash A l in all, the iPod classic is a worthy updat e to the
memor y for storage. hard disk iPod line. It will have to compet e with the
For many users this w ill touch and the iPhone for attention, and they both
be enough to sway the have far more exciting features and an alluring
decisio n of which iPod touch-sensitiv e display, but the classic has plenty of
to buy in its favour. life left in it and could still prove itself to be the iPod
Using a hard drive for grown-ups.

SHUFFL
E
3.5mm headphon e jack.
The latest version of the iPod shuffle is notabl e for two
That headphon e jack is used to connec t to a
things: it now comes in five colours – silver, black,
USB adaptor, so you can connec t the shuffle to
pink, blue and green – and the headphon e remote is
now available in earphone s from third-party
manufactu rers, which means you don’t have to put up
with Apple’s included earbuds . There’s also a specia l
edition stainless steel shuffle, which costs £75 for 4GB.
It also now comes in two versions, a 2GB (£49)
and a 4GB (£59) model. Other than that , the shuffle
is unchange d from the player that debute d in March.
And that’s no bad thing. The design is sparse,
almost utilitarian but for the rounded edge s and
metallic, coloured aluminium shell. The removal of
control buttons from the main surfaces has allowed
Apple to shrink the shuffle, so it’s now barely bigger
than the spring-loade d clip that’s fixed to its rear
surface. Indeed, the only control button on the
device itself is the on/loop/shuffle slider next to the
 artist currently playing, and until recently meant
your shuffle owners were restricted to using only those
Mac headphone s with their device. Now that Sony,
to Klipsch and others have announce d compatible
char headphones, and Belkin and Scosch e are making
ge adaptor s for other third-part y headphones , that’s no
and longer an issue.
sync We enjoyed using the shuffle. The cont rol system
it, as is intuitive enough that it only takes a few minutes
well
to master, and while we don’t envisag e making
as to
great use of VoiceOver, we can see that some
attac
people might find it hand y. Despite the reasonably
h
gene rous 4GB capacity, the option to re-encode
head
music as it is synced in order to reduce the size of
pho
the files is welcome.
nes .
It
was
Appl
e’s
head
pho
nes
that
prov
ed
cont r
overs
ial
when
this
versi
on of
the
shuf
fle
was
first
launc
hed:
they
incor
porat
e
the
volu
me
and
track
contr
ols,
inclu
ding
Voic
eOve
r,
which
uses an
automat
ed voice
to
inform
you of
the
track
and
01 6 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

iPod Comparison

TOUCH 8GB TOUC H 32GB TOUCH 64GB

Price £149 (£129 ex VAT) £229 (£199 ex VAT) £299 (£260 ex VAT)

Colours

Sc reen size 3.5in 3.5in 3.5in

Screen resolution 480 x 320 pixels 480 x 320 pixels 480 x 320 pixels
Quoted battery life Up to 30 hours for music, Up to 30 hours for music, Up to 30 hours for music,
up to 6 hour for video up to 6 hour for video up to 6 hour for video
Charge time 4 hours 4 hours 4 hours
(2 hours fast charge to 80% capacity) (2 hours fast charge to 80% capacity) (2 hours fast charge to 80% capacity)

Size (w x d x h) 2.4 x 0.33 x 4.3in 2.4 x 0.33 x 4.3in 2.4 x 0.33 x 4.3in
Weight 115g 115g 115g

FINAL REPORTS
iPod touch iPod iPod iPod shuffle
classic nano

Price £149 (£129 ex VAT ) for 8GB; Pros Large,wide screen + W ifi+ Price £189 (£164 ex VAT ) for 160GB
£229 (£199 ex VAT ) for 16GB; D irectdow nloadfrom iTunes C onta ct Apple
£299 (£260 ex VAT ) for 32GB Cons Lim itedcapacity + N o Pros C overFlow+ H ig hcapacity + A lum in umfront
Contact Apple Bluetooth Cons Slightly sluggish with CoverFlowsw itchedon
Price £115 (£100 ex VAT ) for 8G B ; Price £45 (£39.13 ex VAT ) for 2GB ;
£135 (£117 ex VAT ) for 16GB £59 (£51.30 ex VAT ) for 4G B
Contact Apple Contact Apple
Pros Looksgreat + Wafer thin + Pros Tiny + G oodprice
C overF low Cons Low capacity
+ V ideocamera + N o controlson
Cons Screen too sm allfor video the shuffle itself
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 017

CLASSIC 160GB NANO 8GB NANO 16GB SHUFFLE 2GB & 4GB

£189 (£164 ex VAT) £115 (£100 ex VAT) £135 (£117 ex VAT) £45 (£39.13 ex VAT) to £75 (£65.21 ex VAT)

2.5in 2in 2in n/a

320 x 240 pixels 320 x 240 pixels 320 x 240 pixels n/a
Up to 36 hours for music, Up to 24 hours for music, Up to 24 hours for music, 10 hours
up to 6 hours for video up to 5 hours for video up to 5 hours for video
4 hours 3 hours 3 hours 4 hours
(2 hours fast charge to 80% capacity) (1.5 hours fast charge to 80% capacity) (1.5 hours fast charge to 80% capacity) (2 hours fast charge to 80% capacity)

2.4 x 0.41 x 4.1in 1.5 x 0.24 x 3.6in 1.5 x 0.24 x 3.6in 0.7 x 1.8 x 0.3in
140g 36.4g 36.4g 10.7g or 17.2g
01 8 REVIEWS
iPod touch vs iPhone
The difference s betwee n the iPod touch
(above left) and the iPhone are getting smaller
with every softwa re update . When Steve Jobs
visited London to launch the iPhone in the UK,
he called the iPod touch ‘training wheels’ for
the phone. At the time, few understoo d just
how right he was. Back then, the touch was
seriously hobbled , with no proper email
application, which limited its appeal to business
users. Now though, after three software
updates , things are very different.
The key difference betwee n the two is
that the iPhone can transfe r data over the
mobile phon e network , so it doesn’t rely
on you always having acces s to a wireless
home or office network to keep up to date
or browse the web. However, the lates t iPod
touch now features the sam e excellent email
application as the iPhone, and so has serious,
legitimate busines s uses.
One obvious difference betwee n the
two is that the iPod touch is thinner and lighter
than the iPhone. Another benefi t is that while
the iPhone incurs a monthly ongoing charge,
the touch only requires a one-off, up-front
payment, with no ongoing contract s or fees.
For that, you get the same high resolution,
touch-sensitiv e screen , complete with
orientation sensor to switch application layouts
to match the orientation of the device itself.
This also means you can play game s that
were originally designe d for the iPhone, such as
Super Monkey Ball, which racked up impressive
sales as soo n as Apple opene d the App Store.
A wide range of other applications from
Apple’s Store are also iPod touch-
compatible , allowing you to expand its
feature set over time. However, those apps
that make use of iPhone-specifi c tools, such
as the built-in GPS senso r, will have limited
or no functionality. Each application ’s system
requi rement s are detailed at the Store.
Unfortunately, by opting for an iPod touch in
preference to the iPhone, you will also lose the
latter’s built-in camera . If you don’t plan on
sending multimedia text messages , this won’t
be a problem , but if you want to post blog
entries from your touch using the third-party
softwa re from WordPress or TypePad, you w ill
be unable to post photos to your website.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
There is one other important difference
between the two devices. While all iPod owners
get minor software update s for free to keep
their devices up to date with the lates t security
patche s and the most current editions of
iTunes , iPod touch owner s have to pay for
major firmware updates . This fee is normally
small though, with the 3.1 software delivered in
Septembe r 2009 costing just £2.99.
The reason iPod owners have to pay for
update s is that for accountin g purposes , the
iPhone and touch are see n as different product
types , preventing Apple from giving away the
software for free to a non-subscriptio n device.
So the question you have to ask yourself is
whether you need dat a connectivity on the
move, a built-in camera , GPS or free system
softwa re updates . If you do, then opt for the
iPhone over the iPod touch. If not, you can
save yourself a not-inconsiderabl e ongoin g cost
by sticking with the iPod. Whichever device you
choose , much of what follows in this guide
remain s relevant. The iPhone has excellent
music - and video-playback features, which
mimic those found on the iPod touch.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
ACCESSORIES
Nike+iPod Sport Kit
Price £19 (£16.50 ex VAT )
Contact Nike + nikeplus.com
Needs nano or touch + iTunes + Nike+ shoes
Pros Cheaper than a personal trainer + Easy to set up and
use C ons O nly works with Nike+ shoes + Shouldn’
t really
be playingspoken word tracks
Of all the Bond kit cars that coul d swim,
bracelet s that spa t poisone d dart s and
underwate r breathin g equipmen t the size
of a Montblan c pen, the mos t realistic
gadge t was the little transmitte r tha t slotted
into the heel of his shoe . So , it’s not
surprisin g that it’s the first on e we’ve seen
make the break from the big screen into
the real world, in the shap e of Appl e and
Nike ’s Spor t Kit.
Admittedl y, this smar t little two-part
combo won’t transmi t your positio n to the
nea rest FBI field station , but it might get
you one step close r to a tumbl e in the hay
with Puss y Galo re as it help s you stay trim
and motivate d on your work out.
To put it to the test , we took it to perhaps
the mos t gruelling challeng e any mere mortal
is likely to undertak e in their life –
the 1500km hike from Le Puy to Santiago
de Compostel a – to cove r the last six hours
of the route. Set-u p is a no-braine r. Unless
you’re up for hackin g a hole in your existing
trainers, you need a pair of Nike+ shoe s (we
picke d up a pair of blac k Air Zoom Moire) –
the re’s a smal l reces s unde r the left-foot
insole . Thi s is plugge d by a small foam
placeholder when it arrives , but once
remove d perfectl y house s the lozenge-
shaped transmitte r, so tha t the activation
butto n point s dow n towa rds the road. The
secon d half of the kit is a small receive r,
abou t the size of a postag e stam p and
slightly slimme r than a nano . Pluggin g it in
add s a new Nike+iPo d entry to the menu ,
throug h which you selec t your workou t type.
Here, you can customis e everything , but
the re are plenty of preset s if you need a
quick fix. Thes e rang e from runs of 20 to
90 minutes , 3km to a marathon , and fat
burning workouts . Pick the one you’re after,
choos e the kind of musi c you want, either
from the album you’ re already playing , an
existin g playlist or a rando m shuffl e of your
whol e librar y, and head off. For the purists,
the re’s also a ‘None’ optio n on the bottom
of the music-picke r screens , but that ’s
rathe r missin g the point.
Your progress is tracke d both on screen
and throug h your headphones , with the
music dippin g wedding-disc o style to make
way for a calm voic e (male or female , it’s up
to you) to tell you how far you’ve run, how
far you have to go, your pac e or how many
calories you’ve lost.
The clever bit come s when you nex t sync
with iTunes . You’ll be prompte d to registe r a
free accoun t at nikeplus.com , whe re your full
workou t history will be stored for later
analysis . It’s enti rely Flash-base d and, even
on a corporat e lease d line, ran quite slowly at
times , but the stat s it spit s out are a
bette r motivato r than a hastily-hacked
training spreadsheet . Here, you can set
cumulative goals , such as runnin g 100 miles
REVIEW S 021
over three months , and see how your
individua l daily workout s chip away at the t
mountai n still to climb. You can als o race
agains t other nikeplu s member s anywhe re
in the world , settin g task s for each othe r,
such as being the first to cove r a set
distanc e in multiple runs over a certain
time . You’ll see who is in the lead at any
time and, becaus e data can only be ente red
after syncin g with a Nike+iPod equippe d
nano or touch , you can be sure that nobod y
is cheating.
This has been a big earner for both
companies. Two of the world ’s coolest
brand s working togethe r ha s see n Nike
selling more shoe s and, more importantl y,
Apple sellin g more music.
Our only complaint , beyon d the fact
that you’re tied into Nike footwea r is that
in our tests , it wa s just as likely to play a
chapte r from an audioboo k as it was to
spee d us on with one of our favourite
tracks . Considerin g thes e were tagged
with the standa rd Book s & Spoke n ID3
tag, as assigne d throug h iTunes ’ drop-
down list of gen res, we were surprise d and
disappointe d that Apple didn ’t tweak the
firmwa re to filter them.
Like the bes t technologica l innovations
though , this is a syste m that will grow as
you do. As you becom e more confident,
you’ll be trimming the setting s so that
they’ re calibrate d to your strid e length
and weigh t for a more precis e gaugin g of
your fitnes s routine. You can also use the
sam e receive r with more than one senso r,
eithe r becaus e you’re rich enoug h to buy
several pairs of Nike+ shoes , or you live in
a hous e full of fitnes s freaks , each with
their own pair of iPod-compatibl e trainers.
So, did we like it? Yes, very much . It
didn’t make us run faste r, but it did keep
us going longe r, and in that respec t was as
clos e to a persona l trainer as you’re likely
to get for less than £20 an hou r.
02 2 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

3G SMARTPHONE
iPho ne 3GS

Price Various,dependingon m odeland contract

Photography Danny Bird

Contact A pple
Needs U S B2 port + M a c O S X 10.4.11 + iTunes 8.2
Pros 3G + Thou sandsof third-partyapplications available
+ M obileM esyncingover-the-air
Cons N o notes or tasks sync
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 023

Few Apple product s have polarise d opinion replaceable.

in the way that the iPhone has since it was first
announced back in January 2007. Depending
on who you listen to, it’s either the most
desirable gadge t on the planet , or an over-
priced and fairly ordinary mobile phone.
So is this latest incarnation, the iPhon e 3GS,
worthy of all the attention? Yes. And no. As a
piece of hardware, the improvement s over the
original iPhone – GPS, 3G and an increase in
capacity to 16GB or 32GB – barely merit a
mention . But in terms of what it can now do,
thanks mostly to the software update to version
3.1, it’s a world away from the first iPhone.
And there’s the rub. The greatest
improvements , the best new features and the
cause of most of the excitemen t around its
launch, are all containe d inside the software
update , which is free to owners of the first
iPhone. This make s the decision about whether
or not to upgrad e relatively easy. Unless you
nee d the 3G data transfer, or more spac e for
music and movies, don’t bother. If you don’t
already have an original iPhone and have been
waiting for a 3G version before buying, then
there’s no reason for further procrastination. If
you own an iPhone 3G, you might want to hold
off. After all, the 3G remains on sale, as the
differences are slim, to say the least.
shares many common features. The most
The iPhone 3GS comes in two capacities,
notable of these, in the lates t update , is
16GB and 32GB, and the most obvious
Spotlight, a powerful sea rch tool that
physical difference from the original handse t is
inter rogate s every applicatio n on your iPhone
its plastic, curved back. This is available in a
for the phrase you specify and organise s the
choice of either white or black.
result s according to application. It’s a powerful
The slight curve on the back makes it more
– and very fast – way to work with the device.
comfortable to hold than the original model.
The GPS receiver works in partnershi p with
Other than that they’re practically identical.
the Google Maps app to provide data on your
Hardware cont rols are still limited to the on/off
current locatio n and the surrounding area. In
switch, hom e button, hold switch and volume
our tests, it worked well, pinpointing our
cont rols, and the screen, while lovely, is still
location and plotting it on the map.
prone to smears . The camera though, has been
Central to the software is its link with
upgraded to a more usable three megapixels,
MobileMe, Apple’s replacement for .Mac.
and it can now be used to shoot video and
You can sync mail with your MobileMe email
send multimedia messages . Battery life is up to
account, as well as contacts, calendars and
five hours of talk or web surfing time, and up
bookmarks, all over the air. Just set it up, ask
to 300 hours standb y.
it to check for updates automatically every
The iPhone’s operating system is a cut-
15 minutes, and you’ll never be out of touch,
down edition of the same operatin g system that
so long as you’re in range of O2’s 3G network
runs Apple’s line of Mac computers , and so it
or a wifi hotspot.

The iPhone 3GS

features a three-
megapixel camera, which
is more than enough
if you want to upload
images to the web for your
friends.

Despite the appearance

of screws on the bottom of
the device, the iPhone
3G S’s battery is not
 If the iPhone has a killer feature, it’s the ability to
accept push mail from your MobileMe account, as well as
contacts, calendars and bookmarks, while you’re on the
move.

If the iPhone has a killer feature, it’s this.

Research In Motion built an empire on the back
of push email on the BlackBerry. By building it
into the iPhone, albeit with the requirement that
you shell out £58 a year for MobileMe, and
adding support for Exchange, Apple w ill grab a
big chunk of the BlackBerry’s market. It’s not
perfect, though. There’s no way to sync notes
from the iPhone ’s Notes application, and iCal
To Dos, which also appear in Mac OS X Mail,
don’t seem to sync either – although there is a
folder for them on the iPhone. And there’s no
way to view calendars to which you’ve
subscribed on your Mac.
If push email is the most important feature
on the iPhone, then the App Store is the most
exciting. On launch day, there were already
hund reds of free and paid-for third-party
applications on the Store. Today there are
thousands. Some are astonishing, others
merely very good. One of the best free
applications at the time of writing, is Remote.
Developed by Apple, it allows you to use your
iPhone as a remote control for iTunes. It
operates over wifi and lets you view your
playlists on the iPhone’s screen. So if you have
a media streaming device, like AirPort
Express, and have your Mac housed in an
office or upstairs room, you can now listen to
and control your music without leaving the
living room. Check out the Application
highlights section (see pages 53-65) for our
pick of
the best iPhone applications that also run
on the iPod touch.
There’s no doubt that the iPhone 3GS is a
quantum leap ahead of the original iPhone in
terms of what it can do. But equally, there’s
no doubt that the hardware improvements
don’t merit paying for the upgrade, and when
you compa re it to the second edition – the
iPhone
3G – that justification becomes even harder to
make. The conclusion? If you already have an
iPhone, upgrade the software and wait for the
next version to see whether the hardware
improvements are marked. If you don’t, the
only decision to make is which contract to
choose. The exception is game players, who
w ill definitely benefit from the iPhone 3GS’s
faster performance.
 0
BEGINNE R 025

Beginner
026 iTunes for beginners
027 Welcome to iTunes
031 Ripping
034 Playlists
036 Enter the iTunes Store
038 Regular vs iTunes Plus tracks
040 iTunes Store alternatives
044 Podcasts
026 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

What is iTunes?
If you haven’t used iTune s before, then the chance s are your digital music,
if you have any, is collected together in several folders on your hard drive.
This can make it difficult to sort, find and play. By switching to iTunes , you
will have the benefit of a powerful, easy-to-us e piece of software that w ill
catalogue , track, copy, organise and play your music. And best of all, it’s free.

Ripping and organising CD as a compilation. Buying music

In its default state, iTune s will recognis e a CD
as soon as you load it and copy the tracks to
your hard drive. It uses a format called AAC,
which results in almost CD-quality results that
can be played back on an iPod.
As well as copying the music, iTune s also
gathers together the names of the tracks,
artists and albums by comparin g the contents
of the CD with records in a massive online
database . This resource contains information
on almost every CD in mass circulation.
Once your tracks have been adde d to
your library, you can start to organis e them
into playlists. The simplest way to do this is
by typing a search term into the box at the
top of the software interface and adding the
results to a list in the left-hand column of the
software. These playlists can then be burnt to
Apple has done deals with all the major music
labels, so that iTune s now carrie s a wider a
range of music than most big name stores.
One notable exception is the work of The
Beatles. Most commentator s attribute this to
a disag reemen t betwee n Apple Inc, creator of
the iPod and iTunes , and Apple Corps, the
recording label set up by The Beatles. Though
this has bee n settled, the band remains
conspicuou s by its absence.
Tracks cost 79p each, and they can be played
as soon as they have bee n downloaded. Needles s
to say this work s best with a fast broadban d
connection.
Videos
Since autumn 2005, it’s been possible to
download videos through the iTune s interface.
The iTune s Store carrie s show s from a wide
selection of broadcaster s from both home
and abroad, including Channel 4, ITV, HBO,
ABC Studios and the BBC. As with the music
side of the business , there’s usually a free
show on offer every week.
Shows cost betwee n £1.89 and £2.4 9
per episode , dependin g on whether you opt
for a standa rd or high-definition version. You
can also buy a complete series in the same
way that you would buy a DVD box set.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD 2
BEGINNER 27
GUIDE

Welcome to iTunes
From downloading movies and listening to pod casts to tuning into Internet feeds,
iTunes proves it is more than just a digital jukebox.

The sidebar lets you navigate all your music and video sou rces, as well
as playlists you have created , smart playlists that iTune s has created on
your behalf, and connecte d devices.
The iTune s Store icon gives you acces s to Apple’s online music
and video shop. Tracks downloade d from here are automatically added
to your library.
Any iPods connecte d to your Mac or PC are also organise d in the
sidebar. Clicking on them lets you inspect their content s and change the
way they work.
The large central window displays your music, movies and TV shows
in whichever way you choos e to organise them . Here, we are sorting
them by artist name.
The search box at the top of the interface lets you quickly find tracks
you want to listen to. Using it in the Store helps you identify tracks,
artists, podcasts , videos, TV shows and applications you want to buy.
The Genius panel links your currently-selecte d track or album to other
tracks in the iTune s Store that you may also like.
02 8 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD
GUIDE

THE GENIUS PLAYLIST

The Genius playlist is automatically generate d by finding
common characteristic s betwee n the currently-selected
song and other tracks in your library. Here iTune s has
generate d a playlist of 25 tracks that it believes w ill ‘go
with’ The Riddle by Nik Kersha w.
The column heading s at the top of the playlist let you
sort the tracks it contains. Clicking on each one will use
it as the sorting criteria. Unles s set to shuffle, iTune s w ill
always play the track s in sequenc e from the top down,
so sorting in this way will change the order in which the
tracks are played.

THE iTUNES STORE

The iTune s Store is Apple’s online download s shop
for music, movies and TV shows. Every week it offers
one track for free. The free selection is update d every
Tuesday. iTune s U is a selectio n of free educational
download s from the world’s leading educational
establishments, including the Open University.
The Search box now only searche s the contents
of the iTune s Store, not your own music collection.
Downloaded material is stored in the ‘Purchased’
playlist in the sidebar, as well as your regular library,
allowing you to quickly find what you have bought.

PREFERENCES
With iTunes ’ Preference s settings, you can control how
the application works and how it interacts with your
iPod. The various tab s across the top of the interface
let you acces s different parts of the settings. Some,
such as the Apple TV entry, may be irrelevant,
depending on what extra kit you own.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNER 29
GUIDE

iPOD
Connecting your iPod and clicking its entry in the
sidebar lets you examine and tweak its settings. If
you have a low-capacity iPod such as the shuffle,
you can specify here that iTune s should reduce the
comp ressio n quality of drive-hungry songs when
transferring them to preserve spac e on your player.
The Limit Maximum Volume slider tells your iPod
not to play songs above a certai n volume. This is
particularly useful for parent s who want to protect
their children’s hearing.

VISUALIZER
iTune s has always featured a Visualizer to keep your
eyes entertaine d while your ear s are enjoying the
music. With the arrival of iTune s 8, Apple added a
new Visualizer to the pack. If you want to use your
Mac or PC to provide backg round music for a party,
you can set the Visualizer to run in full-screen mode, in
which case you’ll have no distractin g iTune s interface
running in the backg round.

PODCASTS
iTune s is an excellent podcas t management
application. Apple maintains a lengthy list of available
podcast s through the iTune s Store, and you can add
your own manually if they are not listed there. Once
you have subscribed , iTune s retrieves any associated
artwork and uses this as a placeholde r to manag e the
feed inside its interface. Hovering over the graphic
calls up a play icon, while double-clicking it opens a
list of all episode s in the podcast , allowing you to
choos e the one you want. The number badge in the
upper-left corner show s how many unplayed
episode s there are in each podcast.
03 0 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

RADIO
iTune s doesn’t just play back your own music
– it’s also a first class radio tuner, allowing you to
listen in to web feeds from all around the world.
Helpfully, they are organise d into categories,
base d on content or genre. Here we’re looking
at music from past decades , but the tuner also
catalogue s news and talk channels.

TV
iTune s was once an excellent name for this
application, but over the years its abilities have
becom e more extensive and varied, and just as the
iTune s Store no longer sells only music, so the
application has moved beyond simply playing them. It
is also a fully-fledged movie and TV playback and
organising application. Here, we’re playing back a TV
show downloade d from the web, with full control over
directio n and speed , the ability to scrub to a particular
point and the option to watch it in full-screen mode.

EQUALISER
The Equaliser lets you improve the sound of iTunes
output. It ships with a number of pre-set defaults
(we’re using the ‘Classical’ preset here) to which you
can add your own by dragging the faders into the
app ropriat e position and then saving them. It is
particularly helpful when it comes to tweakin g your
sound for particular sets of speaker s or headphones.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNE R 031
GUIDE

Rippin
If you already have a large collection of
CDs, you don’t want to have to buy all of
your music again. That would be expensive
and unnecessary.
Copying your existing collection into your
library – a proces s called ripping – not only

g
Saving your CD collection to your library will
also save you the expense of buying your
favourite tunes all over again.
saves you money it also gives you great
control over the way your music is encoded
and stored. iTunes’ flexible settings let you
choos e betwee n better quality tracks and
conservin g spac e on your hard drive, while
giving you the ability to specify precisely what
data should be stored alongside them,
including artist and album names , the year of
publication and digital copies of the album art.
MASTERING MUSIC FILING
The first step in encoding your musi c is,
obviously, to fire up iTunes and insert a CD
into your drive. iTunes will interrogate an online
music database , comparing the length and
order of the tracks on the CD with the records
found there to call up the most likely track
names . Sometime s it will find several possible
albums, and ask you to pick which one is
correct. When you do, it will swap out the
default names of Track 1, Track 2 and so on,
for the actual names of the tracks on the CD.
Sometimes it w ill be unable to find any
match at all, in which case you’ll have to
enter your own details, which you can then
upload back to the database. This brings us
to the system’s first potential problem.
Because the database is user-contributed,
like pages in Wikipedia, it can sometimes
contain inaccuracies, where track and artist
names have been spelt incorrectly, the year
of publication is wrong, or it has been
assigned a genre that doesn’t match the
system you are using in your library.
That is why you should always think of the
data drawn down from the database as a
starting point. When you want to start
building up Smart Playlists (see page 72), the
accuracy of this information is paramount, and
so before you go any further you should
032 BEGINNE R
examine the data iTunes has gathered and
check that it is up to scratch.
To make correction s en masse , selec t all of
the tracks on the CD and right-click on them
(hold down control while clicking if using
a Mac with only one mouse button) and select
Get Info. iTunes will ask if you are sure that you
want to edit the information for multiple items;
say that you are. The dialog box that appear s is
broken down into boxes, allowing you to enter
commo n data such as artist name , composer
and album. When enterin g information here,
always beware of the fact that whatever you
input will be applied to every track selected.
So, if you are editing the information for a
compilation album you should avoid entering
anything in the Artist field, as it will not apply to
each track in the collection. Likewise, a ‘best of’
album will have a copyright date for the
collection itself, but each of the tracks within it
was probably recorde d and release d in a
different year, so in this instance you should
avoid typing anything into the ‘Year’ box.
Genre, set using an input close to the
bottom of the dialog, is a powerful, but
often-overlooked element. It allows you
to group your tracks according to type. There
is an industry-recognised series of genres that
appear in most encoding applications and are
already entered here, allowing you to choose
one by clicking on the double-ended arrow
button and picking one from the list.
On the off-chance that your chosen genre
isn’t included on the list, click within the box
and enter your own. You w ill see that below
this are the settings for Volume Adjustment and
Equaliser Preset. You can safely leave these
alone as it is better to make changes when you
are playing back the tracks through iTunes, but
if you know that a particular artist’s albums are
usually quieter than others in your collection, or
you want to ensure your classical tracks have
their own specific equaliser preset applied, you
can specify that here.
There are probably a few tracks on every
album that you don’t like all that much;
choosing the option to ‘Skip when shuffling’
will filter them out. You can also have iTunes
play tracks without a break when they have
been mixed together on the original disc by
choosing the appropriate option under
‘Gapless Album’. Finally, the option to
‘Remember position’ lets you instruct iTunes or
an iPod to remember where you most recently
left off listening to a track.
For regular music tracks this isn’t all that
important, but if you are ripping an audio book,
where you don’t want to have to go back to
the beginning of a chapter each time you come
back to it, it can be a real time and frustration
saver. OK out of this dialog box and, if you
want to make changes to any individual tracks,
deselect the album’s contents and then right-
click on them one by one and pick
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
Get Info. This way you can correct any errors in
individual track names.
CHOOSING YOUR QUALIT Y SETTING Now
that you have ensured the data attached to
your tracks is accurate, you can set about
importing them. However, before you do we
would advise you to spend a little time thinking
about how you would like them to be imported.
Do this once and you can forget about it for all
future imports unless you want to tailor them
on each import. You could, but that would
probably be overkill. Open iTunes’ preferences
and click the import settings button on the
general tab that appears.
This is where you specify what iTunes
should do when you insert a CD. By default it
w ill ask for permission to import the contents,
but if you are planning on digitising a large
collection, you should change this to Import
CD and Eject. This way, just inserting a disc w ill
add it to your library and, when it’s done, it w ill
be slid back out, ready for the next one.
The quality of your imports is controlled by
the drop-down menu immediately below this,
beside Import Using, and Setting. The Import
Using entry controls the type of file created. By
default, iTunes prefers AAC, which is a good
choice as it produces comparatively small files
with little in the way of degraded quality.
However, you can also choos e Apple
Lossless Encoder for the absolute bes t quality
THE ULTIMATE iPOD
GUIDE
possible, AIFF, MP3 or Wav. If you plan on
encoding your music just once then playing it on
both an iPod and othe r non-AAC friendly devices,
such as a mobile phone, we would recommend
changing this setting to MP3 Encoder. A l music
players can handle MP3, making it a safe choice
with good future-proofi ng.
The Setting option below this is wher e you
tell iTunes what sample rate to use . The sample
rate defines the number of times per second
iTunes will take a sample of the music from the
disc and save it into the library. The higher the
rate , the better the quality of the results , thanks
to a smoothe r sound wave. The lower the rate,
the less information it will sample, and the less
disk spac e it will consume , although the pay-off
will be a lower-quality result.
iTunes comes with three quality settings
already entered. High Quality (128 Kbits/sec)
matches regular tracks downloaded from the
iTunes Store. It is good enough for most, and
unless you have very good headphones you
shouldn’t notice much difference between this
and the CD original. The other two options are
Higher Quality (256 Kbits/sec), which matches
the quality of iTunes Plus tracks, and Spoken
Podcast, which is a lower-quality setting.
However, you can also set a custo m quality
level. The precise settings you can control here
will vary dependin g on the encode r you have
chosen to use , but it will offer a sample rate
setting and the option of stereo or mono
BEGINNE R 033
encoding. Obviously if you are ripping spoken word
CDs, mono will often be fine, and it w ill certainly
save spac e on your destination drive, as it will have
to store only half the quantity of data.
The option to ‘Use Variable Bit Rate
Encoding’ lets you give iTunes responsibility for
making its own assessment of the complexity
of a track and choosing a quality setting of its
own. Less complex pieces, such as spoken
word or classical music with long, sustained
notes, w ill be encoded with a lower bit rate.
More complex pieces, such as pop music, w ill
be encoded using a higher bit rate.
However, Variable Bit Rate encoding is
intelligent enough to recognis e that the complexity
of a track can change over the course of its
duration, and that a slow beginning can build into
a fast-pace d climax. As this happens , iTunes will
automatically increase the sample rate to maintain
the best possible
results. The results should be – in theory at least
– the perfect compromis e betwee n quality results
and drive spac e conservation . For more on
choosing the most appropriat e quality settings for
your imported music, check out
‘Better audio encoding’ (see page 97).
IMPORTING YOUR MUSIC
Finally you are ready to import your music . OK out
of the quality settin g dialogues and the preferences
panes , and click the Import CD button at the
botto m of the interface. iTunes w ill
show you how it is progressin g in the screen at
the top of its interface, with a bar filling up as
each track is copied to your library. You will
also see them appea r in the listing below.
When your CD has finishe d importing, it can
be returned to its case and safely filed away .
You now need to transfer the tracks to your
iPod.
This can be done in two ways: either
automatically or manually. When you
connect your iPod, it w ill appear as a device
in the
left-hand column of iTunes. Clicking on its
entry w ill let you change how it works, with the
various options open to you varying
depending on which model you have bought.
If you have a nano, touch or classic , you
have the option of manually managin g your
music. If you have a shuffle, iTunes will
manage it for you. To manag e your own, click
the option to ‘Manually manag e music a
videos’ and then click the Music tab at the top
of the interface.
Here you can check a box to have
iTunes sync the music between your iPod
and your computer, so that whenever you
play a track on the iPod, that fact w ill be
reflected in the play count in iTunes. You
can then go on to specify that the whole
library, or just selected playlists should be
synchronised.
However, by manually controlling your
music and videos you can also drag them
directly from the library to the iPod within the
iTunes interface, and for many, this is by far
the simplest option.
 THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

Playlists
Playli sts are literally lists of song s in the order in
whichthey should play. They are a great way to pick
out a selection of your favourite tracks so you can play
through them – in order or shuffled – without having to
navigate the rest of your iTune s library.
They are organise d in the iTune s sideba r so that
you can click betwee n them to pick different track
selections and, when it come s to syncing your iPod
with iTunes, you can use these defined ranges to slim
down the number of tracks that are transferred to your
portab le player. This is great if you have two iPods:
one fo r general use and a shuffle for taking to the gym.
By set ting up a playlist containing just motivational
worko ut music, you can set your shuffle to only ever
sync with this to ensure that your treadmill warm-up is
neverinterrupted by your iPod slipping into a podcast
iobook of Frenc h lessons.
or aud
There are four principle types: regular playlists,
smart playlists, genius playlists and on-the-g o playlists.
We’ll cover each in detail here.

REG ULAR PLAYLISTS

Regul ar playlists are the best place to star t when you
want to get to grips with the way this kind of sorting
tool works. Regular playlists are entirely manually
sorted , and rely on you telling iTune s specifically which
tracks you want it to include.
To create a new playlist, click the ‘+’ button at the
botto m left of the iTune s interface and you’ll see a new
entry – called untitled playlist – appea r in the sidebar.
Give it a name and hit return and you’ve completed
the rst
fi step in creatin g your playlist.
You now need to work your way through your
library, dragging the tracks you want to include over
onto tothe playlist’s entry in the sideba r. There is no limit
the butnumber of tracks you can include in the playlist,
it thereis best to always keep in mind what the playlist is
entire for. It’s not suppose d to be a duplicate of your
workolibrary, so create specifi c uses in mind, such as
the kinut music, Spanish lessons , chill-out music and
backg d of music you might like to have in the
alway round when you have friends around to dinner,
playliss remembering that you can creat e as many
any p ts as you want if a particular track won’t fit into
Tr articular one.
your acks added to a playlist are not move d out of
playlislibrary, so they can appea r in more than one
have t at a time, and deleting the playlist when you
from finishe d with it won’t actually remove the tracks
to a
ano
your compute r. Dragging them from one playlist
ther also duplicate s them in the new location,
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
rather than moving them, so if you want to use one
playlist as the basis of another, this is a quick and
easy shortcut.
Regular playlists will play back in the order in which
you have built them up, so if you have created one by
dragging tracks in a rando m order and want them to
play in a specifi c sequenc e you should now drag them
into the correct order by holding down the mouse
button on them and sliding them up and down the
list to their new location.
You can also click on the heading s at the top of
each column to sort them in order. Clicking twice
reverses the order, just as it does when you do the
same thing in the regular library view.
The most obvious use for a regular playlist, of
course, is to define a list of tracks that you want to
burn to CD. Drag your chosen track s into the playlist
and the status bar at the botto m of the interface w ill
keep you update d on their total length. So long as you
keep this number less than 74 minutes, you know that
the selection will fit happily on a regular CD.
SMART PLAYLISTS
Smart playlists are sorted and organise d by iTunes
itself on the basis of criteria you specify at the time
they are created . Your starting point is very similar
to
that for regular playlists, in that you click the ‘+’ button
in the lower-left corner of the interface.
In this instance, however, you do so while holding
down the alt key, which swaps its icon from a ‘+’ to a
cog. This is the smar t playlist indicator, and it w ill
appea r on the icon beside the playlist’s entry in your
iTune s sideba r.
Once you have clicked it, though, you are no
longer given an empty, untitled playlist as you are
with a regular playlist, but instea d presente d with a
dialog box, waiting for you to enter the criteria that
tracks must meet for inclusion in the playlist. iTunes
will use the details you supply here to judge tracks in
your library and add any that match to your new
smart playlist.
Start by picking a criteria from the extensiv e list
containe d within the first drop-dow n menu, and then
use the secon d one to refine it. As the second
drop-dow n change s dependin g on what you have
chosen in the first, it is important that you build your
playlists in this order.
So, for example, you might want to build a playlist
showing tracks you like but have not played in the last
three months, to help you rediscover your favourite,
forgotten music. As iTune s keeps track of the number
BEGINNER 035
of times you have played a track on your iPod as well
as within the application itself a playlist of this kind w ill
track your music, no matte r where it was last played.
Start by picking ‘Last played’ from the first drop-
down and then ‘is not in the last’ from the secon d
drop-down . At this point, the final part of the dialog
will switch from a regular date box to two entries: a
box in which you can enter a number and a drop-
down letting you choos e betwee n days, weeks and
months . We’ll enter 3 in the box, and pick
‘months’ from the drop-dow n menu.
That’s the first half of the playlist done. Now we just
need to narrow the results to the bes t possible tracks,
so we’ll click the ‘+’ button at the end of the dialog to
add a new line and specify that the list should only
include track s with more than three stars by picking
the appropriate entries from the drop-dow n list and
clicking on the third star in the rating box that appears.
Leaving live updating checke d means that as you
rate more tracks over time the smar t playlist will be
updated , and as you play entries on that list they w ill
slowly disappea r, to be replaced by those that have
not bee n played within the specified period, making
this a living, self-perpetuatin g playlist.
GENIUS PLAYLISTS
Genius playlists are generate d by iTune s (version 8 and
above) and the latest breed of iPods (except the
shuffle) by looking at the music in your collection and
suggestin g other tracks you might like. It does this by
comparing your tastes with those of everyone else
who use s iTune s 8 or a compatible iPod and making
logical deduction s from the results.
To create a Genius playlist in iTunes , star t playing
any track and click the button sportin g the Genius icon
in the lower-right corner of the interface. It’s the one
that has a curvy star with neutrons flying around it
imprinted on its surface.
If you don’t like the results, click again; if you do like
them, you can save the playlist by clicking ‘Save
Playlist’ at the top of the interface.
ON THE GO PLAYLISTS
On the Go playlists are created on an iPod while you’re
out and about. They let you make a not e of tracks you
want to store as you listen to them , by holding down
the click-wheel’s cent re button as each track is playing
and then selecting Add to On-the-Go playlist from the
menu that pops up. These playlists are synch ronised
back to your iTune s installation the next time you swap
data betwee n your iPod and Mac or PC.
03 6 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
Enter the iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is the world’s most successful outlet for legal downloads.
Built right inside the iTunes interface, it makes short work of finding the artists
and tracks you’re after, downloading them and putting them onto your iPod.
No wonder it sells more than 2 billion songs a year.
1. Flexibility and Price The secret to its
success may be its proximity to the iPod, but
it has some pretty smar t features, too. Our
favourite has to be the fact that you can buy
single tracks , even if they weren’t originally
sold as a single. This is becaus e the vast
majority of albums have been split up, allowing
you to buy 10 tracks from 10 different artists
for the price of a single album , rathe r than
being restricted to buying a complete CD.
Although there is some variation in the
pricing, and audiobook s in particula r are often
more expensive, the secon d great thing about
the iTune s Store is the pricing structure, which
means you’ll always be paying one of only
three price s for a single song or album.
2. Audiobooks Before the iTune s Store, the
best place to look for audiobook s was Audible.
Fortunately, much of the Audible library is
available throug h iTunes , allowing you to
download track s in a format that beats even
the AAC encoding used on iTune s Store tracks.
The Audible format allows the iPod to keep
track of where you left off the last time you
were listening to a book, so the next time you
press play, you pick up from the same spot.
This is a major advantag e over CD-based
talking books, which don’t allow you to
bookmark your position.
3. Staying legal The world of online music is a
minefield. Plenty of sites offer free or cut-price
downloads , but pay little attention to the kind
of trouble they could get you into. Other
options, called peer-to-pee r services, let you
downloa d music from other users’ computers,
and almost always operate outside of the law.
By sticking to an outlet like the iTune s Store,
you’ll be buying safe in the knowledge that
whatever you downloa d will have been cleared
by the studios and artist, and be free from
copyrigh t infringement. At the same time
though , the rules are fairly gene rous , allowing
you to download your tracks ont o multiple
iPods and, with the arrival of iTune s 9, share
them around family members’ computer s in
your hom e using iTune s Sharing.
4. You keep your downloads How annoyed
would you be if one day you found a truck
outside waiting to take away all your CDs?
Well, that’s what can happen with a music
rental service, which is how some of the iTunes
Store’s rivals work. Although they open their
music catalogue s for a low price, you never
own your downloads . Instead, you must
continue paying a fee. Once you stop, the
music stops playing. By buying your music
outright, you needn’t worry about this.
5. Celebrity playlists Apple has done a good
job of evangelising the iTune s Store to artists.
Even Madonna has publicly endorse d it in a
web conferenc e with Steve Jobs , Apple’s CEO.
It’s no surprise that so many celebrities are
willing to submit recommende d playlists. They
include playlists, from artists as varied as The
Cure, Brian Wilson, Robbi e Williams, Charlotte
Church and Russell Crowe.
Not only do these give you a uniqu e insight
into the musical tastes of your favourite artists,
but they give you the ideal means of expanding
your collectio n by buying all the tracks at once,
or just individual examples . Who would have
guessed Robbie Williams would nam e Wichita
Lineman as his favourite song?
6. iMix We can’t all be celebrities, but we can
have our moment of fame by submitting our
own playlists. Of course , it’s a money-making
schem e for Apple, but it means you can share
your favourite tracks.
Producing your own iMix is easy. Once
you’ve created a playlist, click the arrow icon
to the right of its nam e in the iTune s sideba r.
iTune s will analyse the tracks that are available,
gather together the ones that it sells and bundle
them in one place . You’ll be given the chanc e
to name your tracks and give them a
description and , once they’re published, see
them featured on the store.
7. Suggestion s Amazon hit the nail on the head
when it started to sugges t othe r books you
might like on the basis of your past purchases,
so naturally it was only a matter of time before
BEGINNE R 037
Apple started to do the same. When it
launched iTune s 6, the suggestion s box was
rolled out as a beta feature that was still in
development , but available to all users from
day one, on the understandin g that it might
not be entirely perfect.
It’s now fully featured, and has bee n joined
by Genius, Apple’s serve r-base d tool for
analysing your library and the track you are
listening to, and suggestin g other items you
might like to buy to complete your collection.
8. Exclusives and pre-released tracks When
you’re the biggest outlet for online music, you
can negotiate some pretty special deals, which
is why the iTune s Store carries exclusive tracks
from the likes of U2’s Bono and Mariah Carey.
Even when it hasn’t manage d to negotiate
a deal, its ability to publish music without
requiring it to first be burnt to CD and then
distribute d worldwide means that it often has
tracks ready for purchas e long before they
make it to regular high street stores. Sign up
for the weekly iTune s new music email and
you’ll be informe d of these deals before
everyon e else, as well as the weekly free
download, which is always worth trying; you
may not like it, but at least it didn’t cost you
anything to find out.
9. Bundles As operator of the iTune s Store and
creator of the iPod, Apple is able to offer
brande d bundles not available in regular shops.
In the past , these have proved highly popular,
with black and red iPods signed by U2
available through the store, and special
engraved Harry Potter players sold with every
Potter audiobook already loaded . They make a
highly unusual, and highly appreciate d gift.
10. It’s more than just music The iTune s Store
is no longer just a music and audiobook s store.
It’s now also an outlet for movies , television
shows and even application s than run on the
iPhone and iPod touch . With the addition of
Apple TV it has becom e an end-to-en d digital
medi a shop, allowing you to buy all your
entertainment in one place.
03 8 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

REGULAR VS iTUNES PLUS TRACKS

When Apple first announce d the iTunes Store (bac k then
called the iTune s Music Store, as music was all it sold) at the same
time as iTune s 4, its brilliance was its simplicity. Many rivals had
already opene d their own stores, with mixed success , and most
music purchase s were still made in the real world.
However, in the same way that it came late to the MP3 party
with the iPod and then swept the floor, Apple bide d its time until
iTune s 4 and then produce d a Store that beat every competitor
hands down. Only now, several years later, are we seeing serious
competitio n emerge once more.
The secret of its success ? Simple pricing. Where othe r stores
bowed to the whims of the music industry and sold their music at
a wide variety of prices, Apple put its foot down and demande d a
flat fee of 79p for individual tracks and £7.99 for albums . Whatever
you wanted to buy, you knew exactly what it would cost before you
steppe d into the store.
Well, that was the theory, but of course there were some
exceptions . For starters , it gave away one free son g every week to
try and stimulate sales of further material from the same artist or
band. Eventually, it also started having occasiona l sales, which in a
store with no actual inventory, sound s a little strange . It’s not like it
needs to make spac e in the iTune s store room, after all.
But then things started to change . First, Apple CEO Stev e Jobs
wrote an open letter on the Apple websit e explaining that he, like the
company ’s many customers , would like to see music sold online
without any digital rights managemen t features in place. And a few
weeks later, that’s exactly what happened . British publishe r EM I teame d up
with Apple to offer tracks free of digital rights measu res, meaning they could
be playe d back on an unlimited number of
PCs and Macs running iTunes , and installed on as many of your iPods
and iPhones as required.
Sold under the iTune s Plus banner and given their own section in the Store,
these tracks were also encode d at higher quality, and you could set iTune s to
always downloa d Plus versions of any track by default if one was available.
This was an important distinction in the early days as iTune s Plus broke
Apple’s simple pricing structu re by costing more than the standa rd 79p a pop.
Now pricing is even more variable, but the quality is not. A l tracks are now
available in the same high quality, and it is possible to use them all on as many
devices as you like.
However, just becaus e the tracks don’t have any rights management
applied doesn’t mean you are free to do whatever you like. You don’t own the
copyright in the tracks , and you are still not at liberty to pass them on to other
people. The easiest way to think of it is to liken them to tracks that you have
copied to your library from a regular CD. These recordings don’t have digital
rights measu res in place either, but you’re not at liberty to pass them around.
To discourag e you from passing on tracks you have bought through the
Store, the email add ress you used to register for your accoun t is embedde d
in each one , making it easy for Apple or the publishers to track you down,
should your purchase s then appear online for others to download.
04 0 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE

iTUNES STORE ALTERNATIVES

Some wouldn’t believe it, but there are alternative digital music stores outside of
iTunes . Apple’s online media store has revolutionised the way we buy and download
not only music, but now also movies, TV shows, audio book s and podcasts . Yet it is
not the only place to find great-value (or just great) digital music and media content.
Here’s the lowdown on other places that are worth a look.

DIGITAL MUSIC STORES

PlayDigital
PlayDigital is the download service offered by Play.com, the popular
Channel Islands-base d online music, game, book , and gadge t retailer.
Highly competitive, with millions of track s available from major artists,
there should be something for everyone here. Available as 192Kbits/sec
or 320Kbits/se c files, the retailer boast s that even the lower quality files
deliver close to CD sound quality. Although there are no movie, TV or
audiobook files available, all music download s from PlayDigital are in
the popular MP3 format.
Selections can be sampled before purchasing , and tracks or albums
can be pre-ordered before a future release date . Price s are very
competitive, with most single tracks typically costing 70p. If you buy
an EP or album, this can drop further, with some track s startin g from as
little as 65p. Downloading is fast and easy with multiple files bundled
together in a Zip file, and song s can even be purchase d and then
downloaded at a later time. Files can be transferred to an iPod in the
usual ways, and artwork should be picked up through iTune s – so long
as you have an iTune s Store account.
A l download s from Play’s digital store are fully licensed by the
copyright holders, and so are perfectly legal, and have no Digital Rights
Managemen t coding to restrict playability or transferring. Purchased
tracks are yours to keep, and even if the files are accidentally deleted,
you can simply log back on to play.com and re-download the track or
tracks from the ‘My Downloads’ section of your accoun t where they w ill
be listed, although there is a re-download limit.
Format MP3
Cost UK prices from 65p per track, 70p per track (typical)
Where play.com
HMV Digital
HMV, one of the UK’s biggest and most-truste d high street and
online music retailers, has sold download s through its digital store
on hmv.com for some time. Single track or album MP3s have
long been available, with individual songs starting at an iTunes
Store-rivalling 79p. A typical album price also matche s iTunes
penny for penny at £7.99, and like other online digital music
retailers, all files on HMV Digital are authorised by the owners,
meanin g that they are DRM-free and legal.
Downloads are delivered as high-quality 320Kbits/se c and
super-quality 510Kbits/se c MP3s through a Download Manager
application, and can be playe d through your machine on or offline,
transferred to your iPod or burnt to CD. A few words of warning,
though . The site recommend s backing up tracks after downloading,
as they may be withdrawn and then not offered for cost-f ree
re-download , and although content can be transferred to an iPod,
downloading has to be done using a Windows-base d machine.
DRM-free tracks are soon to be added to the HMV Jukebox
subscription-based streaming service, too. Costing £5.99 a month,
there are more than 4 million tracks to choos e from, which can be
listened to an unlimited number of times, while members can
creat e their own playlists. But, as the HMV Jukebox service is not
compatible with Macs at all, Mac users w ill have no option but to
stick to the regular HMV Digital MP3 downloading service. Format
MP3
Cost UK prices from 79p per track; £7.99 per album (typical)
Where hmv.com
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNER 041
GUIDE

7digital
This download service has been expande d in recen t years, and it
now offers music, video and audioboo k files in a variety of
formats. With a catalogu e of titles from major record labels in
every major genre, as well as a separat e ‘indiestore’ offering new
music from smaller bands and artists, 7digital is now very much
a part of the UK’s digital music download landscape.
As with most major online music stores, both single s and
albums are available to buy, with prices starting at 99p per
individual track, with a 13-track album typically costing £7.99,
saving £4.88 if all the track s are bought together. There are also
some good deal s to be had on new releases . Selecte d albums
are often available at £5 in 320Kbits/se c MP3 download for
around 12 tracks, making each track only 42p, and of a higher
quality than those found in the iTune s Store. Other medi a such as
audiobook s can cost as little as £1.59 a title, and are available in
parts, costing 79p each, while video content is generally priced
from £1.50 per file. But, again , procee d with caution.
DRM-free AAC and MP3 (with 192Kbits/se c and 320Kbits/sec
encoding) music and audioboo k download s are offered for the
iPod, though potentia l purchase s need to be checke d to see if they
are available in your desired file type. It’s the same for videos; if
you don’t check that the file is a Portable Mpeg-4 download
(higher quality Mpeg-4 files are also available), then you could end
up with a WMV file, not compatible with an iPod. It’s an easy
enough proces s though; just check the ‘available formats’ badge
next to the album artwork.
Selections are downloade d in a Zip file through 7’s Download
Manager, and can be copied to your compute r, burnt to a CD and
then transferred to your iPod. Purchase s can be re-downloaded
from the 7digital Locker, a secure backup of your download s from
the 7digital store.
Format 192Kbits/se c and 320Kbits/se c AAC and MP3
Cost UK prices from 42p per track, 99p per track (typical); 79p
per audiobook part; £1.50 per video
Where 7digital.com
eMusic
eMusic has been around since the early part of the decade , and bills
itself as ‘a digital entertainmen t retailer focused on serving customer s
aged 25 and older’. It claims to be both the world’s largest seller of
independen t music and the second-largest digital music retailer, offering
more than 4 million music tracks from over 27,000 independen t labels
and more than 2,000
audiobook titles. With an excellent value cost-f ree 50-download,
14-day, yours-to-kee p trial membership , eMusic is worth a look.
A subscription-base d service dealing only in MP3s , eMusic users have
a fixed amount of download s eac h month depending on their
subscription , which is reset every 30 days. Downloads are in
192Kbits/se c MP3 format for music tracks, but audiobook buyers suffer,
having to make do with 64Kbits/se c files. As with othe r services,
purchase s are delivered easily and quickly via eMusic’s Download
Manager, and once again they can be transferred to an iPod, an unlimited
number of computers,
and recorded to CD.
Pricing plans allow you to pay as little as 30p per track or
£7.99 per audiobook (with free re-downloads) , and tools such as the
eMusic toolbar offer member s a free daily MP3 music download. But
by offering just titles by independen t labels, eMusic arguably dent s its
appeal to the broader audience.
Championing the independen t cause is to be admi red and indie kids
will no doubt find something to tickle their musical taste buds, but many
listeners may be left wanting. eMusic claims that ‘independen t music is
simply about great music’, and that may be true, but potential member s
may be put off by the non-mainst ream choices available.
Format MP3
Cost UK prices from 30p per track; pricing plans of £9.99,
£13.99, and £17.99 per month
Where emusic.com
AmazonMP3
One of the most recognise d worldwide names in online retailing, amazon.co.u k now offers digital
download s to UK customers . Currently limited to music files, they are DRM-free, 256Kbits/sec,
and range betwee n 29p and a whopping £11.49 for individual tracks, with albums available
betwee n £2.99 and £8.99. Delivered quickly through the Amazon MP3 Downloader, there is a
wide choice available, spannin g all musical genres.
As with other digital stores, tracks can be sampled before buying, a proces s tha t can be
simplified using the site’s 1-Click payment system. One neat and time-savin g touch is that the
Amazon MP3 Downloader can deliver files with cover art into the chosen media library of your
choice; saving them directly into iTune s is just one option. Once purchased , the tracks are
restriction-free, so they can be transferred to any compute r, iPod or CD as many times as you like. Spotify
Format 256Kbits/se c MP3 Spotify has radically change d the landscape
Cost from 29p per track; £2.99 to £8.99 per album with respec t to listening to music online. Despite
Where amazon.co.uk only launching in 2009, and still not widely
available in North America by the end of the
year, it has becom e synonymou s with streaming
music over the Internet.
Why is it so successful ? Becaus e of the huge
SUBSCRIPTIO N SERVICES range of available music, the eas e with which you
Napster can find it and compile playlists, and the fact that
The Napster name will be well-known to and burnt to a CD. These can then be the basic, ad-supporte d version is free. Those
many. The compan y claims that it is the imported into iTune s and the files transferred ads take the form of banner s in the Spotify player
world’s most- recognise d brand in online onto an iPod. The compan y claims this is a and radio-style adverts betwee n tracks. If you’re
music, and has ‘extensive content waste of time though, and recommends used to listening to commercial radio, you won’t
agreement s with the four major record buying a non-Apple, WMA-compatibl e portable even notic e them, but they can be intrusive.
labels’. That may or may not be true, but player instead. If you find them too intrusive, the answer is a
how does it sell that content? Napster Light meanwhile, goes down the Premium subscription . Costing £9.99 per month,
The answer is largely by subscription, more traditional iTune s Store route, offering this allows you to listen advert-free and to
and almost exclusively to owners of individual tracks in the ubiquitou s MP3 format download the free iPhone app. Both the iPhone
Windows and othe r MP3-compatible for 79p, while albums start at £6.95. Download app and the Desktop subscription version s
portable musi c players. But don’t despair. is by a Windows-base d system only, though, allow you to download tracks for listening to
There are ways to get content onto your and while your individually-bought MP3 tracks offline for the duration of your subscription.
iPod from the former pee r-to-pee r service. can be transferred onto your iPod through Premium and free user s can also buy tracks
There are catches , though. iPod owners iTunes , we suspec t that as this provider offers from Spotify’s partne r, 7digital. Format MP3
can listen to more than 6 million tracks predominantl y WMA-encoded content, most Cost Free with adverts or £9.99 per month
from 540,00 0 albums, from 450,00 0 artists iPod user s probably won’t bothe r. for Premium subscription , which includes
on a PC or home stereo system , and a Format MP3 download s and iPhone app
subscribe r accoun t can be used to Cost from 79p per track; £6.95 per album Where spotify.com
purchas e tracks, which can be downloaded Where napster.com
THE ULTIMATE iPOD
GUIDE
FREE AND SPECIA L INTERES T DOWNLOADS
Artist homepages
The first stop to find free tracks by your favourite artist should be
their official website. With many musician s now embracing the
digital age, you can often find unrelease d tracks, videos and
interviews on their homepage . Some files may be of a lower
quality than those of digital music stores and stream rather than
download, but for those rare and exclusive remixes , and new
single previews, an artist’s website can be hard to beat.
MySpace
Social networking and online community site MySpac e has a
surprisingly good music section, with a sea rchabl e artist facility,
enabling you to find favourite artists quickly. A built-in music player
can be found on most artist’s pages , playing a selection of their
tracks. A downloa d button lets you save your favourite tracks
from the site to your compute r, although not all artist s have
enabled this function. But with millions of page s and more than
30 genres to choos e from, there should be something for you.
Where myspace.com
We7
This UK-based site offers free 192Kbits/se c MP3s, ready
to download, play and transfer to your iPod, but with a catch.
As they are both cost- and DRM-free, a six- to 12-second
advertisemen t appear s at the start of each song. However, the
BEGINNER 043
site that can count Peter Gabriel as one of its founders, also
offers 320Kbits/se c tracks free of ads , which can bought and
downloaded . We7 also operate s a credit system that can
convert tracks to advertisement-f ree versions once they have
been in your library for at least 28 days.
Where we7.com
Specia l interest sites
There are many website s now offering free downloads , with
lots of them targeting the non-mainst ream music market.
MacIDOL (m acidol.com ) claims to have tracks by some of the
‘hottest musicians on the planet’. Aiming to spread the word
about these artists’ work, the site offers ‘musi c made for the
iPod’, with thousand s of tracks in all genres by independent
singers. Similarly, Epitonic (epitonic.com
), GarageBan d (garageband.
com), Matado r Records (matadorrecords.com ) and Sub Pop (subpop.
com) all serve up tracks by indie and emerging artists.
Classical music fans haven’t been left in the dark, either.
Passionato (passionato.com) offers DRM-free downloads , with more
than 18,000 recording s available. Single tracks or albums can
be delivered in high-quality 320Kbits/se c files, and can be
transfer red to iPods and computer s or burnt to CD in all of the
usual ways. Catalogue s from major and independen t labels are
available, with albums typically starting at $9.99 (about £6.20),
although the service is currently only available to UK buyers.
If that’s not enough, Swedish site eclassica l (eclassical.com
)
offers 192Kbits/se c and 320Kbits/se c classical DRM-free
MP3s starting at US 49¢ (abou t 30p), and puts a no-cost
download on its homepag e almost every day.
iTunes Store
And finally, don’t forget the iTune s Store itself as anothe r resource
for downloading free tracks. Apple’s omnip resen t digital store
offers no-cos t files as part of album promotions, and a free
‘Single of the Week’ is offered up every seven days.
There’s also a ‘Free on iTunes ’ page with more no-cost
content. Independen t websit e (itsfreedownloads.com ) also offers
links to no-cos t conten t on international iTune s Stores, which
can include track s which have long since disappea red from the
iTune s Store’s own current free pages.
044 BEGINNER

PODCASTS
Although podcast s seem to take their name from the word
‘iPod’, they are not exclusive to Apple’s range of medi a players.
They are pre-recorded audio or video programme s that are
posted up by their creators and delivered to subscribers
whenever a new episod e become s available.
Audio podcast s are usually recorded as MP3 files, and
distributed in the same way as news items in an RSS feed. You
can subscrib e to them using links on their publishers’ web pages,
but the easiest way to find and manag e podcas t streams is to use
the directory built in to iTunes.
The range of podcasts available is almost unlimited, and
they come from all manner of sou rces, ranging from personal
bloggers who want to tell us all about their day-to-day lives, to
national newspapers like The Guardian and broadcasters
like the BBC. Often the major broadcasters use them to replay
episodes of regular programmes, such as the BBC’s The
Archers podcast, which replicates each day’s edition of Radio
4’s long-running farming soap. Sometimes they act as ‘best
of’ compilations, such as those put out by many programmes
on Radio 2. And sometimes they are bespoke programmes
recorded solely for distribution as a podcast, such as those
from The Guardian, or the technology programmes from PC Pro
and Custom PC magazines.

SUBSCRIBIN G TO PODCASTS
To subscrib e to a podcast , fire up iTune s and click on iTunes
Store. Podcast s are the exception in the Store, for while most
of the material you will downloa d from there carries a fee,
the podcast s are free. Use the search box at the top of the
interface to type in either the name of a podcas t you know you
want to subscrib e to, or use a keyword that might be found in
its description.
Cookery, technology, photograph y and politics are all examples
of clearly defined keywords that will yield extensive lists of podcast
results. iTune s will present a list of results split into various
categories , such as Music, Videos , Spoken Word, Applications and
Podcasts . Eac h section will contain a couple of examples of the
genre, but clicking on the word Podcast s at the top of that section
will expose a far more diverse list. You can then click on each item
in turn to read a short description and see a list of previous
episodes . A large Subscrib e butto n lets you sign up to receive each
update when posted.
You w ill notice that most entries on a list of episode s are
accompanie d by an information lozenge, which is a small ‘i’ inside
a grey circle. Clicking this will give you a short written summary of
the content s of that episode , as entered by the produce r.

KEEPIN G UP TO DATE
Now, whenever you start iTunes , it will check for update s to your
subscribe d feeds. Whenever it finds one it will download it and
store it in the Podcast s section in the left-hand column. You w ill
 BEGINNER 045

see a numeric badge appea r beside this indicating the cumulative

number of downloade d episode s across all your subscriptions
you have yet to hear.
iTune s monitors your listening habits and check s that you are
actually playing each episode of a podcas t stream to which you
have subscribed , either throug h iTune s itself, or on your iPod. If it
sees that you have not listened to several episode s recently, it w ill
stop downloading update s so that it doesn’t clog up your drive
spac e with media that clearly doesn’t interest you any more. To
re-subscrib e to a feed, click the grey exclamation point icon in the
left-hand column and use the option to resum e the downloads.

LISTENING ON THE MOVE

Half the fun of podcast s is the fact that you can listen to them
any time, anywhere; even when you don’t have acces s to a
radio. To do this, you obviously need to transfer them to an iPod.
Fortunately iTune s can help here, throug h syncing.
Connect your iPod to your PC or Mac and it w ill appea r in the
left-hand column, as usual. Click this entry to view its settings.
Ensure that the option to sync automatically is checked , and
then click onto the Podcast s tab. Here you have the option of
synchronising all podcast s or just those tha t you select. The
results of syncing them all are obvious , but if you want to listen
to just a few on the move – perhap s becaus e you have an iPod
shuffle and so there’s no point in even trying to copy the video
podcasts to it – pick the option to synchronise only selected
podcast s and then place a check in the box beside each one
you want to synch ronise . Initiate a manual synchronisatio n by
clicking the Sync Now button, and from then on all transfers
will be done automaticall y.
iTune s is clever enough to recognise that if you are doing most
of your podcas t listening on the move it needs to take this into
accoun t when assessin g whethe r or not you are keeping up to
date with the programme s it is downloading . Fortunately this isn’t
something you need to worry about yourself, as by its very nature
synch ronisatio n is a two-way process . Any episode s you listen to
on your Mac or PC will be marked as listened to on your iPod,
and any that you listen to on your iPod will also be marked as
listened to on your Mac or PC the next time you synch ronise.

UNSUBSCRIBIN G FROM PODCASTS

Unsubscribing from a podcas t is just as easy as deleting a file on
your compute r. Click the Podcast s entry in iTune s left-hand
column and pick the podcas t you want to delete from the pane
on the right. Each podcas t source is presente d as a distinct folder,
with all of the episode s held inside it. Deleting the folder will ask
you if you are sure you wan t to unsubscrib e from the feed, and
then what you want to do with any downloade d episodes.
Opening the folder and then clicking on the episode s inside
lets you delete them individually, allowing you to free up spac e on
your hard drive without unsubscribin g from your feeds entirely.