If you’ve been trying to figure out how to upload music to your new iPod nano, don’t worry. We’ll have you playing great songs on your iPod nano in no time. Of course, you might not be so interested in music. But maybe you bought your nanos to play videos or games. Well, good news! Once you’re uploading music to your nano you’ll know how to upload all the other goodies too.
1) Load the music files onto your computer
Where are your music files? For a lot of new nano owners the answer is “on my CDs.” If so, you’ll want to make the files available to your computer. Most people start by copying the files from CDs onto the computer’s hard disk. Note: If you use iTunes and have selected “Copy files to iTunes music folder,” it’s enough to just have the CD in your computer’s CD drive.
2) Import the music into your iPod manager
What’s an iPod manager? For most of us it’s the iTunes software Apple provides you for free. If you don’t have it on your computer already to go the Apple website and download iTunes. It’s a good starting point for new users, and it’s free!
It’s important to know that you can download music from any vendor (Amazon, eMusic, etc) and still use iTunes to move files around. You don’t have to buy from the iTunes store unless you want to.
If you like to be able to find all your iPod music in one location on your computer, set up iTunes to copy all files into the library location. It’s an easy configuration: choose Edit, Preferences, Advanced from the menu and click the “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.” This is handy if you’re going to pull music from CDs — let iTunes manage copying the files off the CD for you.
Okay, you’re ready to import the music to iTunes. There’s several ways to import, but the most common is to click (from the top menu) File, Add Folder to Library, and find and select the directory that contains your music. Click the “OK” button to add the music to the library’s music list. You can also use the Control + O keys and select single files to add.
3) Connect up the iPod
Connect your iPod to the computer with the USB cable that came with your iPod. (Yes, I know most of you knew this…just playing it safe.) The iPod should appear on the left-hand menu.
Now, decide if you want to let iTunes handle synchronizing with your iPod or if you want to handle things manually. I like the “manually manage” approach — it lets me decide which files to move to my nano. It also lets me synch up different computers to just one iPod.
4) Now to upload music to that iPod nano
Are you going to let iTunes manage the uploads? If so, you’re ready to start. Click your iPod’s icon, select “Sync” in the lower right corner, and iTunes handles the rest.
If you decided to manage uploading manually you have a one-time setup to complete. Click your iPod’s icon and select the “Manually manage music and videos” checkbox on the iTunes screen. Now, select the music you want and drag it onto the iPod icon.
5) Be sure to eject your iPod
Never disconnect your iPod nano without ejecting it first. Not taking that extra minute risks corrupting the files. Eject from iTunes by clicking the button at bottom right of the screen.
6) Find more cool stuff!
Now that you have the hang of it, it’s time to go find more music, podcasts, games and videos for your iPod nano. I get my podcasts via iTunes, which has a terrific list. Music, games and videos, on the other hand, can be found in a lot of other stores for very reasonable prices. See my web site for suggestions.
Posted under Consumer Electronics
This post was written by Lydia Vaughn on June 9, 2008
