The Apple iPod Nano can be used to rent movies, play games, track your fitness and even record
videos. It's impressive but it can also be intimidating for first time users. So for the thousands of
you out there who’ve purchased or received their first iPod Nano, I'm going to help you through
the process of setting it and syncing it with the media from your computer.
First step; download the latest version of iTunes. It's free, works on both Mac and PC ad you can
find it by going to cnetdownlaod.com. If you already have iTunes, make sure you're updated to
the latest version since the fifth generation Nano requires iTunes 09 or later. If you're new to the
iTunes, expect to take some time exploring the features and importing a media. It's time well
spent since the organization and operation of your Nano is basically an extension of iTunes.
Next, connect your Nano using the included cable to one of your computer’s USB ports. If
iTunes isn’t already opened, connecting the iPod should launch the program and kick you into a
set up assistant. Here is a way you can name your iPod and designate whether you want the iPod
to automatically sync your music and photo collections.
Checking these is the right way to go if you have a modest sized media library and you want the
easiest way to just load up and go. Leaving the boxes unchecked means that you'll need to
manually select the music and photos that get added alter on. Either way, don’t think too hard
about this because you can always go back and change your selection down the road.
On the Nano, you also have an option called voice over where the iPod can speak the currently
playing song and artist to you in a synthetic voice when you press and hold the headphone
clicker. If it's not a feature that attracted you to the Nano to begin with, I say leave it unchecked
to save some time on set up.
Again, you can always go back later and enable the feature if you want it. So right now, just go
through that and check it on or off. Now we come to the iPod’s summary panel. You can see the
name and model of you iPod here along with option for how the iPod syncs media from iTunes
and another section for voice features.
The big thing to note here is that if you check the manually manage music and videos box,
iTunes will no longer push music and videos on to your iPod automatically. Instead, you'll need
to drag selections in playlist from your library and unto the players icon. Some people like the
précised control that manual management gives them but most users tend to leave this unchecked
and let the iPod do its thing automatically.
On the top edge of the window, you'll find a selection of tabs for your iPod including the current
summary page, music, movies, TV shows, podcast, iTunes, photos, contacts and games. In each
of these tabs, you get to decide what media from your iTunes collection gets transferred to the
Nano. For instance, in the music tab, you can decide to sync your entire music library or just a
specific playlist, artist, and genres listed below.
When you're happy with the selections, ht the apply button in the bottom right corner and iTunes
will start moving your music over to the Nano. Okay, so now you know how to manage your
iPod Nano in iTunes. Let’s also look at some ways that you can personalize the Nano using the
settings on the device itself.
One thing a lot of users miss is the ability to customize the main menu screen. Let’s say you're
really into TV shows and just like having to click around to find them, if you dive into the
settings menu and select general menu, you'll find a list of media options you can add or remove
from the main menu. Some other handy features worth mentioning, this is selection of EQ
presets in the playback section of the settings menu to help make the most of the iPod sound
quality.
Also, a volume feature to prevent you or your children from turning up the iPod too loud and a
large font option under the general settings menu. Also, if you get frustrated with the cover flow
you taking over your screen every time you hold the Nano sideways, you can switch that off in
the general settings menu as well. So there you go, some handy tips on setting up your first
Apply iPod Nano. For cnet.com, I'm Donald bell.
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