Windows® 7 All-in-One for Dummies®

Chapter IV.2. iPod and iTunes in Windows 7

In This Chapter

• Getting your iPod to work

• Getting your iPod to work right

• Copying songs from your iPod to your computer

• Solving the problems everyone has with iPods and Windows

So you went out and splurged on a brand-new iPod, eh? Yeah. Me, too — six times, at last count. That teensy, tiny Shuffle is positively o-o-o-zes cool.

No doubt you've discovered that the iPod works fine with Windows — as long as you use Apple software and buy from the Apple music store, and you don't want to do anything Apple doesn't want you to do. B-o-r-i-n-g.

Look. You bought your iPod. You paid for your music (or you got it for free, legitimately). You bought your PC. You paid for Windows 7. So why in the heck are you treated like a criminal every time you want to do something reasonable?

Note

As Windows 7 hit the stands, Apple and the iTunes Store were experiencing a traumatic transition: Before 2009, Apple controlled the music you bought in the iTunes Store, and you had few options and no rights. Because most iPod owners bought their music from the Apple iTunes Store, Apple called the tune and set the rules for what you can and can't do with your purchase. It's all about C.R.A.P. music; see Book IV, Chapter 1 for details.

By the time Windows 7 arrived in the fall of 2009, Apple had seen the error of its ways (and the plummeting of its income) and converted almost all its iTunes tunes to the MP3 format, which can't be controlled.

Note

You, too, can convert your digital-rights-encumbered ...