iPodpedia: The Ultimate iPod and iTunes Resource

Chapter 7Music

Whatever else they do, most people use their iPods to play music. As you’ve learned, you can get music on your iPod in a number of ways—you can purchase songs from the iTunes Store, download MP3 files from other online music sites, and rip music from CDs that you own. All of these operations are managed by the iTunes software, which also helps you manage the music stored on your PC and your iPod (and use the music stored on your PC to burn custom mix CDs).

Although the iTunes software might appear easy enough to use at first glance, there’s a lot of complexity and power under the surface—all of which you need to learn to best manage all your digital music.

Understanding Digital Audio File Formats

Before we get into using iTunes ...