iPod: The Missing Manual, 6th Edition

Chapter 1. Meet the iPod: Out of the Box and into Your Ears in 15 Minutes

If you’re like most people, you don’t want to waste time getting your spiffy new iPod up and running. You probably don’t want to wade through anything longer than a couple of paragraphs. Oh, and you’d like some color pictures, too.

Sure, Apple thoughtfully tucks a little pamphlet of starter info in with every iPod it sells. It’s nicely designed as far as pamphlets go. But you may find that it doesn’t go far enough. You want more help than a few line drawings and some haiku-like instructions.

This book—especially this chapter—can help you out.

You won’t get bogged down in oceans of print here. You’ll learn a bit about your particular iPod model and how to get it whistling sweet tunes in your ear in a minimal amount of time. If you want more information on in-depth iPodding or getting the most out of iTunes, you can find that stuff in chapters farther down the road.

But for now, it’s time to get rolling with your new iPod. Ready?

Meet the iPod Classic

In just a few short years, Apple has transformed the iPod from a humble little 5-gigabyte music player with a black-and-white screen into a full color, gorgeous portable media system that can play movies, TV shows, and video games—all while still fitting comfortably in the palm of your hand. And it’s come a long way from those first 5 gigabytes: now you can stuff 160 gigabytes of music, photos, videos, and more onto the biggest iPod.

In those 160 gigabytes, you can fit ...