Let’s talk music! Let’s talk podcasts!
1,000 songs, non-skip, digital quality, portability – the pencil thin iPod Nano is just the ticket. Jogging, walking or toughing it out on a treadmill life just got a whole lot easier with the addition of the rugged, little iPod that holds either 500 (2GB) or 1000 (4GB) songs. That’s 14 hours of sounds that will go with you everywhere.

So what have I done with mine?
I work two hours from home via the public bus and regional rail lines. I get up at 5:00AM, catch a 6:35AM train, after a jostling pushing bus-ride, coffee on the regional rails, then another jostling, jolting bus ride to get to work by 8AM. I couldn’t do it without music – and I couldn’t make it without my rugged little iPod. It holds my sounds, a few photos of my feline, furry buddies sound asleep at home, a couple audiobooks and my podcasts of various things that interest me.

Portability in the extreme
What makes this tiny 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inch stand out? It’s thin, weighs only 3.5 ounces, yet it backs quite a punch. Using the Click Wheel, you have access to your music, photos, podcasts, extras like a calendar and contacts, a World Clock and many extras On-the-go Options where you can create custom playlists personalized to exactly the songs you want to listen to at that moment.

Photos of the cool cats
I only have a few photos of family, friends and my many felines, but the Nano can actually hold up to 25,000 photos. Now that’s a lot of picnics, baby showwers and weddings to pass around the office! You can also set it up show a slideshow of your favorite shots.

Easy Sync with iTunes
Through iTunes, the premiere iPod syncing software that works on Mac or PC, you import a CD easily, buy songs or podcasts from the iTunes store sync or upload it to your iPod. iTunes starts syncing automatically after hooking up your iPod. Instant music to go, as well as news and commentary on any subject you like. I like the Audiobooks section for those long rides which has over 11,000 titles. Prices start at just $2.95 per title, Songs are only 99 cents. Syncing is blindingly easy and you can start building your own library of audiobooks — a number of them available exclusively at the iTunes Music Store including the all six Harry Potter audiobooks.

Let’s Accessorize!
With all new things comes the upgrades and gizmos to customize the new toy to perfectly fit your tastes and preferences. iPod Nano is no different offering a wide-variety of earphone choices, many colored skins to make you Nano uniquely yours. I prefer the powder-blue skin myself, and the In-Ear Headphones for maximum sound quality and bass resonance.

You car is a stereo on the roll!
Many of the newer cars come iPod capable with the hookups necessary, but since I have an older model vehicle I’ve done the conventional iTrip and plug-in car Monster option. Either way, it allows you to take you music with you on the road with “seamless integration between you car and your iPod.” In other words, fabulous sounds while you drive.

Imagine this scenario.
You stumble out of your bed in the dark, take care of personal business. Now you’re dressed and ready to go. It’s still dark. Out you go, heading towards the local bus stop, still near-comatose. You take out your earbuds, turn on the Nano and wham, music fills your world or the latest Battlestar Galactica podcast about the last gripping episode fills your consciousness. You begin to wake up, ready to face the day on your terms with kick-ass background music or scintillating commentary to make your trip to consciousness just a little bit easier.

You don’t like my scenario? Dream up your own. Just make sure you have music in it, because everything moves, slides, walks, and treads better to a beat – whatever your beat – whether it’s classical, new age or rock and roll. It’s gone digital, all wrapped up in a cute, little box that takes your songs to the next level and beyond. When you think music, think iPod Nano.

About the Author
Judith Brandy is a writer, science fiction fan and breast cancer survivor who runs The Science Fiction Buzz which covers what’s going on in the science fiction genre, conveying the information in a fun and inspiring fashion. Science fiction is about hope, encouragement and the future. It is pure escapism, a window into imagination and fantasy. In a time when our world is super-serious, where diseases abound and terror is delivered with the evening news, The Science Fiction Buzz is a haven. We encourage you to leave your cares behind, and for a few moments, dwell in the astounding.

Here are some iPod features that you may not know about:

–> Parental Supports

The iTunes Music Store also now offers parental controls, so that parents can disable access to Podcasts, shared music, or the iTunes Music Store as a whole. Parents can also restrict music with explicit language.

–> Cool iTunes Tips!

Dp you want to organize your iTunes in a better way? Putting an entire album into a playlist is not exactly the most effective way of organizing your songs, writes Christopher Breen. Here are the convenient ways that you can organize your tunes:

 Song Name
 Time
 Artist
 Album
 Genre
 My Rating
 Play Count
 Last Played

Christopher Breen also mentions the web site of Doug Adams (www.malcolmadams.com/itunes) which offers scripts (many are free and worth downloading) for corralling duplicate files in your iTunes Music Library, converting files from one audio format to another and locating album art on the Web that you can then paste into iTunes.

–> iTunes on your Cellular Phone

Want iTunes on your cell phone so you can carry around your mobile music library with you? Apple, Motorola and Cingular Wireless are introducing the Motorola Rokr E1, the first cell phone equipped with Apple’s iTunes software.

–> iTunes Shortcuts

Who doesn’t love having a little helpful information to make things easier and more effective? Well, that’s what this section is all about!

We’ll take a look at all of the shortcuts that you can use on iTunes, which will make your downloading experience faster, easier, and more powerful.

In fact, you’ll probably learn a few things simply by looking at these shortcuts; features and ideas that you didn’t even know existed! These shortcuts are all gathered from Apple’s great website (www.apple.com).

For your convenient reference, these shortcuts are provided to you in table format. This will make it extremely easy for you to jump to this section of the book when you’re online, or if you can’t remember a particular short cut.

Each table will fall into one of the following categories:

 Playback
 Library and Playlist
 Music Store
 iPod
 Audible
 iTunes
 File Menu
 Edit Menu
 Controls Menu
 Visualizer Menu
 Advanced Menu
 Windows Menu
 Help Menu

Mia LaCron is the founder of IpodFunctions.com -
http://www.ipodfunctions.com/ – devoted to helping individuals get the most
out of their Ipod.

So, you know about iPods and the various ways that you can enjoy them – including as you drive. Yet there’s a very big subject that we want to cover, because this is the biggest reason that people buy this neat little device: iTunes.

It’s not difficult to understand what iTunes is, and why people are somewhat addicted to it (in the good way, of course!). Look at it this way: the iPod is the hardware, and iTunes is the software. Or if you’d prefer a different analogy – one that isn’t so technical – imagine that the iPod is the radio itself, and iTunes are the music stations.

iTunes is the name of an online music store that sells countless numbers of audio tracks that include music, but also include books and other material, too.

While there are a number of websites that legally sell music, iTunes is unarguably the most popular and the most well-known; and that trend doesn’t appear to be stopped whatsoever!

As of the end of the second quarter of 2004, iTunes had sold 70 million songs in its first year and offered 700,000 tracks. Both of these numbers have grown substantially since then, and analysts are busy tallying up the numbers for the rest of 2004, and now into 2005.

So…just how far reaching is iTunes popularity? Well, in England, it seems to be the favorite destination – in fact the # 1 destination of people who are looking to purchase digital music. iTunes’ market share in the UK is 54% while Napster has only 10%.

Mia LaCron is the founder of IpodFunctions.com -
http://www.ipodfunctions.com/ – devoted to helping individuals get the most
out of their Ipod.