Pet & Animal: How to Add Music to an iPod

Monday, 15 September 2014

How to Add Music to an iPod

You just got a new iPod and you want to start listening right away. After all, an iPod without music doesn’t do you much good. Adding your music library only takes a few minutes, just follow these steps.

Steps

Syncing Your Library

Download iTunes if necessary. It is free and you can obtain it from the Apple website. Some iPods even come with installation CDs, which is useful if you have a slow internet connection. If you have an older computer, make sure it meets the requirements.
- If you have never used iTunes before, you may want to read this manual on how to use iTunes.
- You can add music to your iTunes library by importing songs off a CD, purchasing music from the iTunes music store, or by adding songs already on your computer.

Connect your iPod to your computer. Use the USB cable that came with your iPod. iTunes should recognize it immediately and it will appear in the Devices section of iTunes.
- If the iPod has not been plugged into a computer before, follow the instructions for naming your iPod and changing the initial settings.
- If iTunes does not recognize your iPod, you may need to restore it.

Set your sync preferences. After connecting, the iPod should be listed in the Devices section. Click on it to open the Summary window. Scroll to the bottom to see your basic sync settings.

Set what music to sync. At the top of the window, click the Music tab. Check the box next to Sync Music, and select whether you would like your entire library synced or only the playlists that you specify.
- Syncing will remove the content that is currently on your iPod. To manually select your music, see the next section.
- Your sync options may vary depending on your iPod model.

Wait for the sync to complete. Once you've made your choices, click the Apply button to start the sync. The amount of time this will take depends on how much music you are transferring. You can check the progress in the iTunes display.

Disconnect your iPod. Once the sync is complete, select your iPod in the Devices menu. Click the Eject button that appears next to the device name. Once the iPod has successfully ejected, you can disconnect it from the computer.^[1]

Adding Songs Manually

Open iTunes and connect your iPod. Your iPod will appear in the Devices section. Select it to open the Summary tab.

Select “Manually Manage Music”. This will disable the automatic sync settings. Click Apply and your device will enter Disk Use mode (iPod Touches will not enter Disk Use mode)^[2].

Add music to your iPod. Open the Library and browse for music that you want to add. Click and drag songs and albums onto your iPod listed in the Devices section.
- You can add whole playlists by dragging and dropping them from the Playlist list.

Eject your iPod. When you are finished adding songs, click on the Eject button that appears next to your iPod when you select it in the Devices section. Once the iPod has successfully ejected, you can disconnect it from the computer.

Using Autofill

Enable Manually Manage Music. Follow the first two steps in the above section.

Select your iPod in the Devices section. Click the arrow next to it to expand the iPod. Select the Music subsection. A list of all of the music on your iPod will appear.

Select the library to Autofill from. At the bottom of the iTunes windows you will find the Autofill bar. Here you can select the library that you will be Autofilling from, as well as adjust the Autofill settings.
- You can choose whether or not you want to replace all of the music on the iPod when you Autofill.
- You can have Autofill pick songs randomly from your library to add.
- You can have Autofill pick higher-rated songs more often.
- You can set how much space you want Autofill to leave. If you set it to 0, Autofill will attempt to fill your entire iPod with music.

Click Autofill. Once you have your settings correct, click the Autofill button to begin the Autofill process. You can see the progress in the iTunes display.

Eject your iPod. When Autofill is complete, click on the Eject button that appears next to your iPod when you select it in the Devices section. Once the iPod has successfully ejected, you can disconnect it from the computer.

Video

Tips

Set up the iPod on the computer you plan to use it on. An iPod set up with a Macintosh will need to have all the songs deleted in order to use it on a Windows operating system. This only needs to be done once if you switch computers, but just to make less hassle, try to use the iPod on only one computer.

There are often free songs on iTunes.

Warnings

Make sure you disconnect the iPod properly to avoid problems or loss of files on your iPod. Click the eject button next to the iPod icon in iTunes, or in the lower right-hand corner, then wait to unplug the iPod until the message on the screen says it’s safe. If you quit iTunes, drag the iPod icon on your desktop to the trash to eject (Mac) or, if applicable, right-click on the iPod icon on your desktop on a Windows PC.