The iPod touch Pocket Guide
Ginormous knowledge, pocket-sized.
The iPod touch Pocket Guide
Christopher Breen
Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510/524-2178
510/524-2221 (fax)
Find us on the Web at: www.peachpit.com
To report errors, please send a note to [email protected].
Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education.
Copyright © 2010 by Christopher Breen
Executive editor: Clifford Colby
Editor: Kathy Simpson
Production editor: David Van Ness
Compositor: Myrna Vladic
Indexer: Ann Rogers
Cover design: Peachpit Press
Cover image: Mike Tanamachi
Screen photo: iStockphoto
Interior design: Peachpit Press
Notice of Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact [email protected].
Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.
Trademarks
Apple, iPod, iPod touch, iTunes, iPhone, and Mac are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-68045-7
ISBN-10: 0-321-68045-6
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America
About the Author
Christopher Breen has been writing about technology since the latter days of the Reagan administration for such publications as MacUser, MacWEEK, and Macworld. Currently a senior editor for Macworld, Breen pens its popular “Mac 911” tips-and-troubleshooting column and blog, routinely opines about digital media in its Playlist blog, and hosts the Macworld Podcast. He’s also the author of Peachpit’s The iPhone Pocket Guide, The iPod & iTunes Pocket Guide, and The Flip Mino Pocket Guide. When not engaged in technological pursuits, he’s a professional musician in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Acknowledgments
This book would not be in your hands (or, if you’re that sort of person, on your e-book reader) if not for the dedication of the following people.
At Peachpit Press: Publisher Nancy Ruenzel, who continues to support these efforts; Cliff Colby, who graciously agreed to give the iPod touch a book of its own; Kathy Simpson, who, as usual, did everything that needed doing after the manuscript left my computer and took up residence on hers (we make a hell of a team!); production pro David Van Ness, who, with barely an anxious ripple, turned our work into the lovely book you hold now; Myrna Vladic, who made words and pictures fit so attractively within the confines of these pages; and Rebecca Plunkett, who performed a book’s most thankless yet necessary job: indexing.
At home: My wife, Claire, who put up with the missed nights and weekends that come with putting together not just one book, but two; and my daughter, Addie, who gave her father a huge smile and welcome hug at the end of every working day.
Abroad: Macworld Editorial Director Jason Snell, who never said, “I’d like exclusive rights to that brain full of iPod goodness”; the folks at Lynda.com for their patience; and the boys from System 9 for their continued cool-cattedness.
And, of course, the sleep-deprived designers, engineers, and other Apple folk who gave birth to the original iPod touch and the software that runs it, and the countless developers who make the iPod touch a more wonderful hunk of technology with each passing day.
Contents
Chapter 1: Meet the iPod touch
Great iPod, Pocket Computer, Portable Game Player
Chapter 2: Setup, Settings, and Sync
Creating and Configuring a Playlist
Chapter 5: Mail, Contacts, and Calendar
Chapter 8: The Other Applications
Chapter 9: Tips and Troubleshooting
Getting Started
So you have a new iPod touch. Congratulations! It’s a wonderful piece of technology, and you’re going to love it.
Understanding just how eager you are to dig in and play with this new object of your affection, I’ve put together a few pages devoted to getting your iPod touch up and running in the shortest time possible. Just follow these steps:
1. Look at the box.
If the box tells you that you have an iPod classic, iPod nano, or iPod shuffle, return this book for a copy of my The iPod & iTunes Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press); this book focuses only on the iPod touch. If the box has iPhone plastered across the front, you’ll want to delve instead into my The iPhone Pocket Guide (also from Peachpit Press); again, this book is about the iPod touch. If the box reads Macaroni and Cheese, open it; boil the pasta for 9 minutes (add 2 minutes for higher altitudes); toss in a tablespoon of milk, pat of butter, and powdered cheese sauce; stir; and enjoy. Then pick up the other box that has the words iPod touch printed on it.
2. Open the box.
No, the iPod touch hasn’t been switched on since it left the factory. There’s a plastic sticker over the top of the display that shows the touch’s interface. Peel off that sticker; then you can remove the iPod from its mounting tray.
3. Install iTunes.
If you don’t already have a current copy of iTunes on your computer, download it from www.apple.com/itunes/download. (Apple hasn’t bundled a CD copy of iTunes with the iPod for quite some time.) Follow whatever onscreen directions are necessary to put iTunes on your Windows PC or Mac.
4. Connect the iPod to your computer.
You’re welcome to click the iPod’s Home button (the single round button at the bottom of the display), but if the iPod is charged, all you’ll see is a picture of a connector cable pointing to an icon of the iTunes application. This picture is a very broad hint that your new iPod touch isn’t going to do much more than tempt you with its untapped talents until you plug it into your computer. Not much satisfaction in that, is there?
Remove the Dock-connector cable from the box; then attach the wider end to the bottom of the iPod and the squatter end to a powered USB 2.0 port on your Mac or Windows PC. This cable is the means for both charging the iPod and transferring data between it and your computer.
5. Register your iPod (or don’t).
After you install iTunes and attach the iPod to your computer, iTunes should launch automatically. If it doesn’t, launch it.
When iTunes sees a brand-new iPod or one that’s been restored (reformatted), it helps you register and set up the device. The first screen you see will offer you a choice: register now by clicking a Continue button, or register later by clicking a button that says, of all things, Register Later. When you register, you’ll be asked to acknowledge a license agreement.
6. Obtain an Apple ID.
Whether or not you choose to register your iPod, you’ll be prompted to enter an existing Apple ID or create a new one. Having an Apple ID allows you to download and purchase media from the iTunes Store and applications from the App Store directly to your iPod touch.
You need a credit card number to procure an Apple ID.
After dealing with the Apple ID screen, you may also be asked whether you’d like to sign up for Apple’s $100-a-year MobileMe service—an online suite that includes an email account; online storage; online picture and video galleries; a Web-based calendar and address book; and synchronization of your email messages, contacts, and calendars across all your computers and mobile devices (including the iPod touch). This service is purely optional.
7. Choose a setup option.
A Set Up Your iPod screen will appear, offering one or two options. The first option is Set Up As New iPod. If you’ve never attached an iPod touch or iPhone to this computer, choose this option and click Continue.
When you do, if you already have some music in your iTunes Library, you’ll be offered options to do several things automatically: sync songs and videos to the iPod, add photos to it, and sync any applications you currently have in your iTunes Library (as you might if you’ve already downloaded some applications from the App Store in anticipation of acquiring your new iPod). iTunes will honor your choices if it can fit everything into your iTunes Library on the iPod. If you have more music in your library than will fit on the iPod, iTunes will sync a portion of the music to the iPod—just music; no videos or pictures.
If you’ve previously synced an iPod touch or iPhone with this computer, you’ll see the additional option to restore the currently attached iPod touch from a backup from one of these previously attached devices. (Yes, you can restore data from an iPhone to an iPod touch.) If multiple backups are available, they appear in the pop-up menu next to this option; just choose the one you want.
As all this is happening, the words Sync in Progress appear on your iPod’s display.
8. Rip a CD.
You say you have no music in your iTunes Library? No worries. I’ll show you how to put some in it.
When I suggest that you rip a CD, I don’t mean physically rip the disc in half. Rip in this context means to copy the audio from the CD to your computer. To do this, insert the disc into your computer’s CD or DVD drive, and launch iTunes (if it doesn’t launch automatically after you insert the disc). By default, iTunes 7 and later tosses up a dialog box that asks “Would you like to import the CD NameofCD into your iTunes library?” (where NameofCD is the name of your disc). Click Yes, and iTunes converts the audio files to a format that can be played on the iPod. Also, the tracks you ripped from the CD appear in iTunes’ main window when you click the Music entry in the iTunes Source list.
To import the CD at a later time, click No in this dialog box. Then, later, with that disc in the drive, select it in the Source list (it appears below the Devices heading), and click the Import CD button in the bottom-right corner of the iTunes window.
9. Copy some music to your iPod.
If the only music you have in your iTunes Library is that which you just ripped from the CD, you need to move it to your iPod. To do this, select your iPod in iTunes’ Source list, click the Music tab in the main window, click the Sync Music option, and choose Entire Music Library. Click the Apply button in the bottom-right corner of the iTunes window; then click the Sync button that now appears there. The music is copied to your iPod.
10. Unmount and play.
When the music has finished transferring, locate the name of your iPod in iTunes’ Source list (it, too, appears below the Devices heading), and click the little Eject icon next to it. When the iPod disappears from iTunes, unplug it from your computer.
This is the “good practice” method for ejecting the iPod, because it allows iTunes to finish whatever business it has with the iPod before unmounting it. Unlike other iPods, however, the touch lets you unceremoniously unplug it from your computer without getting an iTunes complaint in the form of a terse dialog box.
Unwrap the earbuds that came with the iPod, jam them into your ears, and plug the other end into the iPod’s headphone port on the bottom of the iPod. If you have a new 32 GB or 64 GB iPod touch, take a look at the cord dangling from the right earbud. That rectangular gray object you see is the headphone controller for your iPod. Press the middle of this controller, and your iPod will play music.
If you have a new 8 GB iPod touch, an older iPod touch that doesn’t include headphones with a controller, or a different set of headphones that likewise lacks a controller, click the iPod’s Home button, and slide your finger to the right where you see the words Slide to Unlock. This action grants you access to your iPod’s touchscreen controls.
Tap the Music icon in the bottom-left corner of the iPod’s screen. You’ll be taken to a Playlists screen. Tap the Songs icon at the bottom of this screen and then tap the name of a song on the resulting Song screen. The song you tapped will start playing. The Now Playing screen that appears may even display artwork for the song.
To increase the volume, press the top of the headphone controller (if you have one); press the top of the volume toggle switch on the left side of the iPod; or, if you’re looking at the Now Playing screen on the iPod, tap the silver ball in the volume slider at the bottom of the display and drag your finger to the right. To decrease the volume, press the bottom of the headphone controller (again, if present); press the bottom of the toggle switch on the side of the iPod; or tap and drag to the left on the volume slider in the Now Playing screen.
11. Enjoy.
Relax and let the music wash over you. When you’re ready to explore the iPod touch’s many other wonders, read on.