iPod and iTunes Hacks

Preface

The iPod is only a few years young and yet it is not an exaggeration to call it a phenomenon. In every corner of the world, through every demographic slice, people are rediscovering their love of music and enjoying their collections in ways that weren’t previously possible. What makes the iPod such an unmitigated success is its fluid integration of design, technology, and music. It is a product only Apple could have created.

When a product becomes a part of your life, you naturally want to get the most out of it. That is what this book is about. It doesn’t cover the basics of how to use your iPod (you already know that). Rather, it lets you tweak your iPod to the nth degree, giving you even more pleasure.

But the iPod is only half the story. iTunes is a powerful piece of software. With it, you can rip your music to digital files, organize your collection, buy music from the iTunes Music Store, and transfer everything to your iPod. As your digital music collection grows, you’ll probably notice that the obsessive behavior typically reserved for organizing your CD collection (Is The Band under B, or T? What about 2 Live Crew?) is transferred to the music on your computer. This book reveals a number of ways to extend, organize, tweak, twiddle, and expand iTunes.

The passion for music is universal throughout cultures and history. So too, apparently, is the passion for the iPod and iTunes (well, at least universal for this moment in history); contributors for this book come from ...