Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
iPod NEW
Guide 2010
EDI TION
Reviews
008 Choosing an iPod
010 iPod line-up
018 iPod touch vs iPhone
021 Nike+ iPod Sport Kit
022 iPhone 3GS
Not sure which iPod is right for you?
Here’s an easy way to find out!
START HERE
Do you want to
Do you want to play YES carr y more than YES
more than music, 14,00 0 songs?
books and podcasts?
NO
NO
NO
gs
iPod nanodeoo
8GB
2000 son s
8 hours vigse
£115 ideo
eo
Are you happy only BUT 16GB
bein g able to view 4000 son s
16 hours v id
your contact s and
£135
appointments , but
not edit them?
YES
NO
REVIEWS 009
iPodcla
iPod classic
160GB
160GB NO
40,000 s ngs
u s video
200 hour
ho
£
£189
Do you want to
watc h much video
on your iPod?
YES
NO
iPhone
From £342.50
depending on
YES capacity.
So a small screen Available in 8GB
woul d be ok? (3G), and 16GB
and 64GB (3GS)
NO
YES
iPod touch
8GB
1750 songs
10 hours video
£149 YES
32GB
7000 songs
40 hours video
£229
NO Would you consider
64GB gettin g a mobile
14,000 songs BUT contrac t and an
80 hours video iPhone instead?
£299
01 0 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
iPod line-
up
Apple has comple tely revamped the iPod, discarding its iconic
white design and adding a host of new technologies. We examine
the ins and outs of Apple’s latest media players.
iPOD TOUCH
The iPod touch got perhap s the least attentio n of any and mic; the 8GB model, which is half the price of
iPod in the line-up’s latest revamp . Stan d this model this, is missing the remote and mic. The 64GB and
beside its predecessor s and you wouldn’t know the 32GB models also have voice cont rol, which is
difference. Externally, it’s nigh-on identical, with a missing from their 8GB sibling.
polished-stee l back, a blanking plate where the So how large is 64GB? According to Apple’s
iPhone has its camera and just three buttons: power, figures, it equate s to 14,000 songs , 80 hours of video
the home button and the volume rocker switch . For and 90,000 photos , althoug h these figures w ill
obvious reasons (no ringer), the iPhone’s mute switch depend upon the mix and the number of app s you
is missing and there’s no Sim card slot. The have installed, photos you have downloade d and
headphon e socket is down at the bottom, too. emails that you’ve received . Logically enough, the
It ships with iPhone OS 3.1 software, so is fully figures are more or less halved for the 32GB edition,
clued up for cut, copy and paste , and landscape which will take 7000 tracks and 40 hours of video,
email writing. It’s also peer-to-pee r savvy, which but only 40,000 photos . The 8GB touch can
is nothing to do with illegal file sharing and all accommodate 1750 tracks, 10 hours of video and
about enabling multi-player gaming over the 10,000 photos , so the conversion is fairly linear.
Internet. It’s fast and responsive , too. Shake to Shuffle
There are also Genius recommendation s for Apps, picks the next track with seemingl y no thought at
much like the Genius feature in iTunes , which all, and the differenc e betwee n this and a first-
suggest s tracks you might like to buy from the iTunes generatio n iPhon e is so pronounce d as to make
Store. This is a great sale s tool for Apple, but its the iPhone feel positively sluggish when using
benefit for consumer s is less clear. As one blogger put demanding applications such as Googl e Earth.
it (bit.ly/8PdC A
): ‘I’m not really interested in Genius for At £299, the 64GB touch isn’t cheap – not
apps, becaus e it will by principle only recommend when you can save yourself £110 and still get your
popula r applications that I’d already have heard of by hands on a 160GB classic . What you’re paying for
word of mouth and through blogs.’ It also boast s the then, isn’t capacit y, but features and iPhone OS
same Spotlight, stereo Bluetoot h and ‘Shake to 3.1’s brilliant brain. When Apple CEO, Stev e Jobs,
Shuffle’ features as the iPhone . If you’re using an old announce d the iPod touch, he called it training
touch that isn’t yet running the 3.1 software, the good wheels for the iPhone.
news is that the update only costs £2.99. That might have been some way off the mark
There are some standa rds across the full touch – you wouldn’t buy this and then progress to the
line-up, including 30 hours of musi c playback, six phone – but the sentiment wasn ’t so wide of the
hours of video playback, and built-in Bluetooth, wifi mark. This is the iPhone for anyone who is happy
and Nike+ support . The 32GB and 64GB version, with the non-Appl e handse t they already own.
reviewed here, come with earphone s with a remote
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 013
Product (Red)
Apple is one of 10 high-profile corporation s licensing the Product (Red) brand for key
member s of their product range. Other partners include Microsoft, Starbuck s and Dell.
For every Product (Red) iPod nano or gift card purchased , Apple will make a contribution
to the Global Fund fighting HIV/Aids in Africa. Ten per cent of all $25 gift cards is
contributed to the fund, while the funds given through the purchas e of an iPod nano is
sufficient to provide 83 single treatment s of a drug that helps prevent the transmission
of HIV from mother to child.
Product (Red) product s cost you no more to buy than the regular equivalents in each
range, so a (Red) nano is identically-priced to a blue or green one. The contribution is
given by the manufacturer directly to the Global Fund without any further contri bution
from yourself. This, alone, should be enough to encourag e you to take a look at the
red nano. They’re really rather nice.
Video formats
The touch support s the same audio and video formats as other iPods. This me ans
there’s still no support for Windows Media Audio or Video . While this is unlikelyto be
an issue for most Mac users, it remains a bone of contention amon g consume r groups,,
who believe that the cost to Apple of licensing Windows Media would amount to a few
pence per iPod, and that the reason for its exclusion is to lock iPod owners out of the
stores that sell music in Windows Media-p rotecte d formats. Supporte d video f ormats
are H.264 and Mpeg-4, with a maximu m resolution of 640 x 480 pixels (which is scale d
down to the touch’s display resolution of 480 x 320 pixels). d
At £149 for the 8GB version, the touch is just £14 more expensiv e than the
equivalently-sized nano, but in terms of features and the sheer fun of using it, t
comparison . If you can live with the higher costs , then the only decision you hahere’s
make is whether to buy the 8GB, 32GB or 64GB model. noo ve
to
Ringtones
It wasn’t a big surprise when Apple announce d it would sell
downloadabl e ringtones from the iTune s Store. What wasn ’t expected
was the model that Apple would employ to sell them.
Rather than buying just the ringtone, iPhone owners mus t buy the
entire song they want to use as a ringtone, then pay an additional 99p
for the ringtone itself. This means that buying a ringtone from It is sible to create your own ringtones using GarageBand.
the iTune s Store costs £1.78. On the plus side, users can edit their Sim
ringtones, so that any section of the track can be used. the iTune s Store)
pos ble toincreate
the iTune
yoursown
interface and select
ringtones using Show in Finder.
GarageBand.
This is how it works: you buy a song from the iTune s Store that Drag it from the Finder window that pops up into a new project in
has an associate d ringtone, or you look through your Purchased GarageBand , use the Cycle Region tool to define a repeating loop
playlist in iTune s and pick one that has a ringtone symbol next to it. and then, from the Sha re menu, pick ‘Send ringtone to iTunes’.
You then open the Rington e Editor in iTunes , choos e the section you Alternatively, you can create a ringtone in a less precis e manner
want to use as your ringtone – which can be up to 30 second s long with iTunes . Start by changing the start and end points of a track
– and set the fade in and fade out points and the playback delay. through iTunes ’ Get Info comman d (accessibl e when right-clicking
Then click purchase . The ringtone is created and downloade d to on a track). Set the star t and end points close together and then
iTune s to be synced with your iPhone. drag the resulting file to your Desktop, changing the name and
At the time of writing, according to Apple, the iTune s Store has half returning it to iTune s creates the tone.
a million songs with ringtones available. Full details can be found online at theappleblog.com/2008/08/07 .
01 4 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
iPOD NANO
Take a quick glance at the new iPod nano and you’d back on the more casual Pedomete r function, which
be forgiven for mistaking it for the old one. Aside uses the accelerometer, to measu re the number of
from an expande d range of nine colours, it sports the steps you take each day. Tell the nano your weight
same slim, curved body and the capacitie s haven’t and set a daily step goal, and it records achievements
increased beyond 8GB and 16GB, either. Flip it over on a calendar and syncs them to the Nike+ website
though, and the big new feature become s obvious: through iTunes.
the new nan o has a video camera on the back. We’re delighted that the nano now has an FM
The fixed-focu s lens records video at VGA radio. Now you can soak up some talk radio or new
resolution (640 x 480 pixels), but brac e yourself for tunes if your library isn’t striking the right chord. The
some disappointment : the nan o doesn’t shoot still glamorously named Live Pause feature stores the last
photograph s becaus e its case is too thin for a sensor 15 minutes of a broadcast , so interruption s aren’t too
that shoot s high-quality photos . Considering the much of a problem, and the new iTune s Tagging
limitations imposed by the almost wafer-thin feature shows who and what’s playing.
dimensions, Apple has done a good job. Video is Screen resolution has increased slightly to 376
sharp and stable enough, and its automatic white x 240 pixels, while maintaining the 204 pixels per
balance kept up as well as could be expected , even inch density. The 2.2in display is still better suited
under office lighting. to video podcast s and short TV shows than long
The built-in mic fares well in capturin g sound, movies, but we’re still not convinced by the curved
which can be reviewed without earphone s through and slightly reflective surface, which catche s a bit too
the speake r. That work s with music too, but the much light for our liking.
sound is too quiet and tinny. You’ll need to enable The nano’s video camera is a great addition, at
disk mod e to get video off the nano, otherwise it least if you don’t already have a good video camera
won’t appea r in iPhoto or the Finder. In fairness in your phone, and it’s certainly good enough to
though, we only had trouble getting video off the nano capture the larks that Apple expect s you’ll upload to
due to problems downloading the VoiceOver Kit, and YouTube or Facebook . Real-time video effect s are fun,
under norma l circumstance s it’ll appea r straight away. but a little gimmicky. When did you last use the ones
VoiceOver guides you around the iPod, and in Photo Booth?
announces track and artist names . It work s very well The nano fills its niche well, beating the shuffle by
with the Genius Mixes becaus e you don’t need to pull virtue of its screen, and with a more discreet form
the nano from a pocket to find out what’s playing. than the iPod touch. Howeve r, we’d like to see Apple
If you’re not ready to take on a full fitnes s regime finally unlock the shuffle’s on-the-fly comp ression
with the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit, you can always fall when syncin g music to these lower-capacity iPods.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEWS 015
iPOD CLASSIC
The iPod is dead. Long live the classic . Ditching the means that its storage capacity is significantly higher
white iPod made sense for Apple in 2007 as it moved than the flash-base d nano and touch.
away from white as its favoured colour schem e for The classic has a storage capacity of 160GB, and
consume r product s (the MacBook is now the only is remarkably thin for a hard drive-base d device with
white Mac in the range). such a high capacit y. It’s certainly much thinner than
As with the nano and shuffle, Apple has dropped an iPod of comparabl e capacity from a couple of
the plastic casing and honed the classic from year s ago, and the capacity is much more realistic for
aluminium. It’s available users with large music libraries, and for downloading
in either silver with a video content.
white Click Wheel or in Using Apple’s own metrics, the 160GB iPod classic
black. Both versions can hold up to 40,000 songs in AAC format encode d
look stunning while the at 128kbits/sec , 200 hours of video, or up to
brushed aluminium 25,000 iPod-viewable photos.
finishe s on the front fit Sadly, the classic’s screen is nowhe re near as
well with the MacBook good as the touch’s for watchin g video. At 2.5in
Pro rang e of across its diagonal, it’s bigger than the nano’s, but
notebook s and the well short of the touch. And its 320 x 240-pixel
shiny back hark s back resolution is the same as the nano’s.
to the first iPods. The interface on both the classic and the
The classic is the nano makes full use of the colour display. In addition
only iPod in the range to Cover Flow, menu items such as the graphic
to use a hard drive equalizer look great.
rather than flash A l in all, the iPod classic is a worthy updat e to the
memor y for storage. hard disk iPod line. It will have to compet e with the
For many users this w ill touch and the iPhone for attention, and they both
be enough to sway the have far more exciting features and an alluring
decisio n of which iPod touch-sensitiv e display, but the classic has plenty of
to buy in its favour. life left in it and could still prove itself to be the iPod
Using a hard drive for grown-ups.
SHUFFL
E
3.5mm headphon e jack.
The latest version of the iPod shuffle is notabl e for two
That headphon e jack is used to connec t to a
things: it now comes in five colours – silver, black,
USB adaptor, so you can connec t the shuffle to
pink, blue and green – and the headphon e remote is
now available in earphone s from third-party
manufactu rers, which means you don’t have to put up
with Apple’s included earbuds . There’s also a specia l
edition stainless steel shuffle, which costs £75 for 4GB.
It also now comes in two versions, a 2GB (£49)
and a 4GB (£59) model. Other than that , the shuffle
is unchange d from the player that debute d in March.
And that’s no bad thing. The design is sparse,
almost utilitarian but for the rounded edge s and
metallic, coloured aluminium shell. The removal of
control buttons from the main surfaces has allowed
Apple to shrink the shuffle, so it’s now barely bigger
than the spring-loade d clip that’s fixed to its rear
surface. Indeed, the only control button on the
device itself is the on/loop/shuffle slider next to the
artist currently playing, and until recently meant
your shuffle owners were restricted to using only those
Mac headphone s with their device. Now that Sony,
to Klipsch and others have announce d compatible
char headphones, and Belkin and Scosch e are making
ge adaptor s for other third-part y headphones , that’s no
and longer an issue.
sync We enjoyed using the shuffle. The cont rol system
it, as is intuitive enough that it only takes a few minutes
well
to master, and while we don’t envisag e making
as to
great use of VoiceOver, we can see that some
attac
people might find it hand y. Despite the reasonably
h
gene rous 4GB capacity, the option to re-encode
head
music as it is synced in order to reduce the size of
pho
the files is welcome.
nes .
It
was
Appl
e’s
head
pho
nes
that
prov
ed
cont r
overs
ial
when
this
versi
on of
the
shuf
fle
was
first
launc
hed:
they
incor
porat
e
the
volu
me
and
track
contr
ols,
inclu
ding
Voic
eOve
r,
which
uses an
automat
ed voice
to
inform
you of
the
track
and
01 6 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
iPod Comparison
Price £149 (£129 ex VAT) £229 (£199 ex VAT) £299 (£260 ex VAT)
Colours
Size (w x d x h) 2.4 x 0.33 x 4.3in 2.4 x 0.33 x 4.3in 2.4 x 0.33 x 4.3in
Weight 115g 115g 115g
FINAL REPORTS
iPod touch iPod iPod iPod shuffle
classic nano
Price £149 (£129 ex VAT ) for 8GB; Pros Large,wide screen + W ifi+ Price £189 (£164 ex VAT ) for 160GB
£229 (£199 ex VAT ) for 16GB; D irectdow nloadfrom iTunes C onta ct Apple
£299 (£260 ex VAT ) for 32GB Cons Lim itedcapacity + N o Pros C overFlow+ H ig hcapacity + A lum in umfront
Contact Apple Bluetooth Cons Slightly sluggish with CoverFlowsw itchedon
Price £115 (£100 ex VAT ) for 8G B ; Price £45 (£39.13 ex VAT ) for 2GB ;
£135 (£117 ex VAT ) for 16GB £59 (£51.30 ex VAT ) for 4G B
Contact Apple Contact Apple
Pros Looksgreat + Wafer thin + Pros Tiny + G oodprice
C overF low Cons Low capacity
+ V ideocamera + N o controlson
Cons Screen too sm allfor video the shuffle itself
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 017
CLASSIC 160GB NANO 8GB NANO 16GB SHUFFLE 2GB & 4GB
£189 (£164 ex VAT) £115 (£100 ex VAT) £135 (£117 ex VAT) £45 (£39.13 ex VAT) to £75 (£65.21 ex VAT)
2.4 x 0.41 x 4.1in 1.5 x 0.24 x 3.6in 1.5 x 0.24 x 3.6in 0.7 x 1.8 x 0.3in
140g 36.4g 36.4g 10.7g or 17.2g
01 8 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
ACCESSORIES
Nike+iPod Sport Kit slightly slimme r than a nano . Pluggin g it in over three months , and see how your
add s a new Nike+iPo d entry to the menu , individua l daily workout s chip away at the t
throug h which you selec t your workou t type. mountai n still to climb. You can als o race
Here, you can customis e everything , but agains t other nikeplu s member s anywhe re
Price £19 (£16.50 ex VAT ) the re are plenty of preset s if you need a in the world , settin g task s for each othe r,
Contact Nike + nikeplus.com quick fix. Thes e rang e from runs of 20 to such as being the first to cove r a set
Needs nano or touch + iTunes + Nike+ shoes 90 minutes , 3km to a marathon , and fat distanc e in multiple runs over a certain
Pros Cheaper than a personal trainer + Easy to set up and burning workouts . Pick the one you’re after, time . You’ll see who is in the lead at any
use C ons O nly works with Nike+ shoes + Shouldn’
t really choos e the kind of musi c you want, either time and, becaus e data can only be ente red
be playingspoken word tracks from the album you’ re already playing , an after syncin g with a Nike+iPod equippe d
existin g playlist or a rando m shuffl e of your nano or touch , you can be sure that nobod y
whol e librar y, and head off. For the purists, is cheating.
Of all the Bond kit cars that coul d swim, the re’s also a ‘None’ optio n on the bottom This has been a big earner for both
bracelet s that spa t poisone d dart s and of the music-picke r screens , but that ’s companies. Two of the world ’s coolest
underwate r breathin g equipmen t the size rathe r missin g the point. brand s working togethe r ha s see n Nike
of a Montblan c pen, the mos t realistic Your progress is tracke d both on screen selling more shoe s and, more importantl y,
gadge t was the little transmitte r tha t slotted and throug h your headphones , with the Apple sellin g more music.
into the heel of his shoe . So , it’s not music dippin g wedding-disc o style to make Our only complaint , beyon d the fact
surprisin g that it’s the first on e we’ve seen way for a calm voic e (male or female , it’s up that you’re tied into Nike footwea r is that
make the break from the big screen into to you) to tell you how far you’ve run, how in our tests , it wa s just as likely to play a
the real world, in the shap e of Appl e and far you have to go, your pac e or how many chapte r from an audioboo k as it was to
Nike ’s Spor t Kit. calories you’ve lost. spee d us on with one of our favourite
Admittedl y, this smar t little two-part The clever bit come s when you nex t sync tracks . Considerin g thes e were tagged
combo won’t transmi t your positio n to the with iTunes . You’ll be prompte d to registe r a with the standa rd Book s & Spoke n ID3
nea rest FBI field station , but it might get free accoun t at nikeplus.com , whe re your full tag, as assigne d throug h iTunes ’ drop-
you one step close r to a tumbl e in the hay workou t history will be stored for later down list of gen res, we were surprise d and
with Puss y Galo re as it help s you stay trim analysis . It’s enti rely Flash-base d and, even disappointe d that Apple didn ’t tweak the
and motivate d on your work out. on a corporat e lease d line, ran quite slowly at firmwa re to filter them.
To put it to the test , we took it to perhaps times , but the stat s it spit s out are a Like the bes t technologica l innovations
the mos t gruelling challeng e any mere mortal bette r motivato r than a hastily-hacked though , this is a syste m that will grow as
is likely to undertak e in their life – training spreadsheet . Here, you can set you do. As you becom e more confident,
the 1500km hike from Le Puy to Santiago cumulative goals , such as runnin g 100 miles you’ll be trimming the setting s so that
de Compostel a – to cove r the last six hours they’ re calibrate d to your strid e length
of the route. Set-u p is a no-braine r. Unless and weigh t for a more precis e gaugin g of
you’re up for hackin g a hole in your existing your fitnes s routine. You can also use the
trainers, you need a pair of Nike+ shoe s (we sam e receive r with more than one senso r,
picke d up a pair of blac k Air Zoom Moire) – eithe r becaus e you’re rich enoug h to buy
the re’s a smal l reces s unde r the left-foot several pairs of Nike+ shoes , or you live in
insole . Thi s is plugge d by a small foam a hous e full of fitnes s freaks , each with
placeholder when it arrives , but once their own pair of iPod-compatibl e trainers.
remove d perfectl y house s the lozenge- So, did we like it? Yes, very much . It
shaped transmitte r, so tha t the activation didn’t make us run faste r, but it did keep
butto n point s dow n towa rds the road. The us going longe r, and in that respec t was as
secon d half of the kit is a small receive r, clos e to a persona l trainer as you’re likely
abou t the size of a postag e stam p and to get for less than £20 an hou r.
02 2 REVIEWS THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
3G SMARTPHONE
iPho ne 3GS
Contact A pple
Needs U S B2 port + M a c O S X 10.4.11 + iTunes 8.2
Pros 3G + Thou sandsof third-partyapplications available
+ M obileM esyncingover-the-air
Cons N o notes or tasks sync
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE REVIEW S 023
Beginner
026 iTunes for beginners
027 Welcome to iTunes
031 Ripping
034 Playlists
036 Enter the iTunes Store
038 Regular vs iTunes Plus tracks
040 iTunes Store alternatives
044 Podcasts
026 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
What is iTunes?
If you haven’t used iTune s before, then the chance s are your digital music,
if you have any, is collected together in several folders on your hard drive.
This can make it difficult to sort, find and play. By switching to iTunes , you
will have the benefit of a powerful, easy-to-us e piece of software that w ill
catalogue , track, copy, organise and play your music. And best of all, it’s free.
Welcome to iTunes
From downloading movies and listening to pod casts to tuning into Internet feeds,
iTunes proves it is more than just a digital jukebox.
The sidebar lets you navigate all your music and video sou rces, as well
as playlists you have created , smart playlists that iTune s has created on
your behalf, and connecte d devices.
The iTune s Store icon gives you acces s to Apple’s online music
and video shop. Tracks downloade d from here are automatically added
to your library.
Any iPods connecte d to your Mac or PC are also organise d in the
sidebar. Clicking on them lets you inspect their content s and change the
way they work.
The large central window displays your music, movies and TV shows
in whichever way you choos e to organise them . Here, we are sorting
them by artist name.
The search box at the top of the interface lets you quickly find tracks
you want to listen to. Using it in the Store helps you identify tracks,
artists, podcasts , videos, TV shows and applications you want to buy.
The Genius panel links your currently-selecte d track or album to other
tracks in the iTune s Store that you may also like.
02 8 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD
GUIDE
PREFERENCES
With iTunes ’ Preference s settings, you can control how
the application works and how it interacts with your
iPod. The various tab s across the top of the interface
let you acces s different parts of the settings. Some,
such as the Apple TV entry, may be irrelevant,
depending on what extra kit you own.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNER 29
GUIDE
iPOD
Connecting your iPod and clicking its entry in the
sidebar lets you examine and tweak its settings. If
you have a low-capacity iPod such as the shuffle,
you can specify here that iTune s should reduce the
comp ressio n quality of drive-hungry songs when
transferring them to preserve spac e on your player.
The Limit Maximum Volume slider tells your iPod
not to play songs above a certai n volume. This is
particularly useful for parent s who want to protect
their children’s hearing.
VISUALIZER
iTune s has always featured a Visualizer to keep your
eyes entertaine d while your ear s are enjoying the
music. With the arrival of iTune s 8, Apple added a
new Visualizer to the pack. If you want to use your
Mac or PC to provide backg round music for a party,
you can set the Visualizer to run in full-screen mode, in
which case you’ll have no distractin g iTune s interface
running in the backg round.
PODCASTS
iTune s is an excellent podcas t management
application. Apple maintains a lengthy list of available
podcast s through the iTune s Store, and you can add
your own manually if they are not listed there. Once
you have subscribed , iTune s retrieves any associated
artwork and uses this as a placeholde r to manag e the
feed inside its interface. Hovering over the graphic
calls up a play icon, while double-clicking it opens a
list of all episode s in the podcast , allowing you to
choos e the one you want. The number badge in the
upper-left corner show s how many unplayed
episode s there are in each podcast.
03 0 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
RADIO
iTune s doesn’t just play back your own music
– it’s also a first class radio tuner, allowing you to
listen in to web feeds from all around the world.
Helpfully, they are organise d into categories,
base d on content or genre. Here we’re looking
at music from past decades , but the tuner also
catalogue s news and talk channels.
TV
iTune s was once an excellent name for this
application, but over the years its abilities have
becom e more extensive and varied, and just as the
iTune s Store no longer sells only music, so the
application has moved beyond simply playing them. It
is also a fully-fledged movie and TV playback and
organising application. Here, we’re playing back a TV
show downloade d from the web, with full control over
directio n and speed , the ability to scrub to a particular
point and the option to watch it in full-screen mode.
EQUALISER
The Equaliser lets you improve the sound of iTunes
output. It ships with a number of pre-set defaults
(we’re using the ‘Classical’ preset here) to which you
can add your own by dragging the faders into the
app ropriat e position and then saving them. It is
particularly helpful when it comes to tweakin g your
sound for particular sets of speaker s or headphones.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNE R 031
GUIDE
Rippin
If you already have a large collection of
CDs, you don’t want to have to buy all of
your music again. That would be expensive
and unnecessary.
Copying your existing collection into your
library – a proces s called ripping – not only
g
saves you money it also gives you great
control over the way your music is encoded
and stored. iTunes’ flexible settings let you
choos e betwee n better quality tracks and
conservin g spac e on your hard drive, while
giving you the ability to specify precisely what
data should be stored alongside them,
including artist and album names , the year of
Saving your CD collection to your library will publication and digital copies of the album art.
also save you the expense of buying your MASTERING MUSIC FILING
favourite tunes all over again. The first step in encoding your musi c is,
obviously, to fire up iTunes and insert a CD
into your drive. iTunes will interrogate an online
music database , comparing the length and
order of the tracks on the CD with the records
found there to call up the most likely track
names . Sometime s it will find several possible
albums, and ask you to pick which one is
correct. When you do, it will swap out the
default names of Track 1, Track 2 and so on,
for the actual names of the tracks on the CD.
Sometimes it w ill be unable to find any
match at all, in which case you’ll have to
enter your own details, which you can then
upload back to the database. This brings us
to the system’s first potential problem.
Because the database is user-contributed,
like pages in Wikipedia, it can sometimes
contain inaccuracies, where track and artist
names have been spelt incorrectly, the year
of publication is wrong, or it has been
assigned a genre that doesn’t match the
system you are using in your library.
That is why you should always think of the
data drawn down from the database as a
starting point. When you want to start
building up Smart Playlists (see page 72), the
accuracy of this information is paramount, and
so before you go any further you should
032 BEGINNE R THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
examine the data iTunes has gathered and On the off-chance that your chosen genre Get Info. This way you can correct any errors in
check that it is up to scratch. isn’t included on the list, click within the box individual track names.
To make correction s en masse , selec t all of and enter your own. You w ill see that below
the tracks on the CD and right-click on them this are the settings for Volume Adjustment and CHOOSING YOUR QUALIT Y SETTING Now
(hold down control while clicking if using Equaliser Preset. You can safely leave these that you have ensured the data attached to
a Mac with only one mouse button) and select alone as it is better to make changes when you your tracks is accurate, you can set about
Get Info. iTunes will ask if you are sure that you are playing back the tracks through iTunes, but importing them. However, before you do we
want to edit the information for multiple items; if you know that a particular artist’s albums are would advise you to spend a little time thinking
say that you are. The dialog box that appear s is usually quieter than others in your collection, or about how you would like them to be imported.
broken down into boxes, allowing you to enter you want to ensure your classical tracks have Do this once and you can forget about it for all
commo n data such as artist name , composer their own specific equaliser preset applied, you future imports unless you want to tailor them
and album. When enterin g information here, can specify that here. on each import. You could, but that would
always beware of the fact that whatever you There are probably a few tracks on every probably be overkill. Open iTunes’ preferences
input will be applied to every track selected. album that you don’t like all that much; and click the import settings button on the
So, if you are editing the information for a choosing the option to ‘Skip when shuffling’ general tab that appears.
compilation album you should avoid entering will filter them out. You can also have iTunes This is where you specify what iTunes
anything in the Artist field, as it will not apply to play tracks without a break when they have should do when you insert a CD. By default it
each track in the collection. Likewise, a ‘best of’ been mixed together on the original disc by w ill ask for permission to import the contents,
album will have a copyright date for the choosing the appropriate option under but if you are planning on digitising a large
collection itself, but each of the tracks within it ‘Gapless Album’. Finally, the option to collection, you should change this to Import
was probably recorde d and release d in a ‘Remember position’ lets you instruct iTunes or CD and Eject. This way, just inserting a disc w ill
different year, so in this instance you should an iPod to remember where you most recently add it to your library and, when it’s done, it w ill
avoid typing anything into the ‘Year’ box. left off listening to a track. be slid back out, ready for the next one.
Genre, set using an input close to the For regular music tracks this isn’t all that The quality of your imports is controlled by
bottom of the dialog, is a powerful, but important, but if you are ripping an audio book, the drop-down menu immediately below this,
often-overlooked element. It allows you where you don’t want to have to go back to beside Import Using, and Setting. The Import
to group your tracks according to type. There the beginning of a chapter each time you come Using entry controls the type of file created. By
is an industry-recognised series of genres that back to it, it can be a real time and frustration default, iTunes prefers AAC, which is a good
appear in most encoding applications and are saver. OK out of this dialog box and, if you choice as it produces comparatively small files
already entered here, allowing you to choose want to make changes to any individual tracks, with little in the way of degraded quality.
one by clicking on the double-ended arrow deselect the album’s contents and then right- However, you can also choos e Apple
button and picking one from the list. click on them one by one and pick Lossless Encoder for the absolute bes t quality
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNE R 033
GUIDE
possible, AIFF, MP3 or Wav. If you plan on encoding. Obviously if you are ripping spoken word
encoding your music just once then playing it on CDs, mono will often be fine, and it w ill certainly
both an iPod and othe r non-AAC friendly devices, save spac e on your destination drive, as it will have
such as a mobile phone, we would recommend to store only half the quantity of data.
changing this setting to MP3 Encoder. A l music The option to ‘Use Variable Bit Rate
players can handle MP3, making it a safe choice Encoding’ lets you give iTunes responsibility for
with good future-proofi ng. making its own assessment of the complexity
The Setting option below this is wher e you of a track and choosing a quality setting of its
tell iTunes what sample rate to use . The sample own. Less complex pieces, such as spoken
rate defines the number of times per second word or classical music with long, sustained
iTunes will take a sample of the music from the notes, w ill be encoded with a lower bit rate.
disc and save it into the library. The higher the More complex pieces, such as pop music, w ill
rate , the better the quality of the results , thanks be encoded using a higher bit rate.
to a smoothe r sound wave. The lower the rate, However, Variable Bit Rate encoding is
the less information it will sample, and the less intelligent enough to recognis e that the complexity
disk spac e it will consume , although the pay-off of a track can change over the course of its
will be a lower-quality result. duration, and that a slow beginning can build into
iTunes comes with three quality settings a fast-pace d climax. As this happens , iTunes will
already entered. High Quality (128 Kbits/sec) automatically increase the sample rate to maintain
matches regular tracks downloaded from the the best possible
iTunes Store. It is good enough for most, and results. The results should be – in theory at least
unless you have very good headphones you – the perfect compromis e betwee n quality results
shouldn’t notice much difference between this and drive spac e conservation . For more on
and the CD original. The other two options are choosing the most appropriat e quality settings for
Higher Quality (256 Kbits/sec), which matches your imported music, check out
the quality of iTunes Plus tracks, and Spoken ‘Better audio encoding’ (see page 97).
Podcast, which is a lower-quality setting.
However, you can also set a custo m quality IMPORTING YOUR MUSIC
level. The precise settings you can control here Finally you are ready to import your music . OK out
will vary dependin g on the encode r you have of the quality settin g dialogues and the preferences
chosen to use , but it will offer a sample rate panes , and click the Import CD button at the
setting and the option of stereo or mono botto m of the interface. iTunes w ill
show you how it is progressin g in the screen at
the top of its interface, with a bar filling up as
each track is copied to your library. You will
also see them appea r in the listing below.
When your CD has finishe d importing, it can
be returned to its case and safely filed away .
You now need to transfer the tracks to your
iPod.
This can be done in two ways: either
automatically or manually. When you
connect your iPod, it w ill appear as a device
in the
left-hand column of iTunes. Clicking on its
entry w ill let you change how it works, with the
various options open to you varying
depending on which model you have bought.
If you have a nano, touch or classic , you
have the option of manually managin g your
music. If you have a shuffle, iTunes will
manage it for you. To manag e your own, click
the option to ‘Manually manag e music a
videos’ and then click the Music tab at the top
of the interface.
Here you can check a box to have
iTunes sync the music between your iPod
and your computer, so that whenever you
play a track on the iPod, that fact w ill be
reflected in the play count in iTunes. You
can then go on to specify that the whole
library, or just selected playlists should be
synchronised.
However, by manually controlling your
music and videos you can also drag them
directly from the library to the iPod within the
iTunes interface, and for many, this is by far
the simplest option.
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
Playlists
Playli sts are literally lists of song s in the order in
whichthey should play. They are a great way to pick
out a selection of your favourite tracks so you can play
through them – in order or shuffled – without having to
navigate the rest of your iTune s library.
They are organise d in the iTune s sideba r so that
you can click betwee n them to pick different track
selections and, when it come s to syncing your iPod
with iTunes, you can use these defined ranges to slim
down the number of tracks that are transferred to your
portab le player. This is great if you have two iPods:
one fo r general use and a shuffle for taking to the gym.
By set ting up a playlist containing just motivational
worko ut music, you can set your shuffle to only ever
sync with this to ensure that your treadmill warm-up is
neverinterrupted by your iPod slipping into a podcast
iobook of Frenc h lessons.
or aud
There are four principle types: regular playlists,
smart playlists, genius playlists and on-the-g o playlists.
We’ll cover each in detail here.
rather than moving them, so if you want to use one of times you have played a track on your iPod as well
playlist as the basis of another, this is a quick and as within the application itself a playlist of this kind w ill
easy shortcut. track your music, no matte r where it was last played.
Regular playlists will play back in the order in which Start by picking ‘Last played’ from the first drop-
you have built them up, so if you have created one by down and then ‘is not in the last’ from the secon d
dragging tracks in a rando m order and want them to drop-down . At this point, the final part of the dialog
play in a specifi c sequenc e you should now drag them will switch from a regular date box to two entries: a
into the correct order by holding down the mouse box in which you can enter a number and a drop-
button on them and sliding them up and down the down letting you choos e betwee n days, weeks and
list to their new location. months . We’ll enter 3 in the box, and pick
You can also click on the heading s at the top of ‘months’ from the drop-dow n menu.
each column to sort them in order. Clicking twice That’s the first half of the playlist done. Now we just
reverses the order, just as it does when you do the need to narrow the results to the bes t possible tracks,
same thing in the regular library view. so we’ll click the ‘+’ button at the end of the dialog to
The most obvious use for a regular playlist, of add a new line and specify that the list should only
course, is to define a list of tracks that you want to include track s with more than three stars by picking
burn to CD. Drag your chosen track s into the playlist the appropriate entries from the drop-dow n list and
and the status bar at the botto m of the interface w ill clicking on the third star in the rating box that appears.
keep you update d on their total length. So long as you Leaving live updating checke d means that as you
keep this number less than 74 minutes, you know that rate more tracks over time the smar t playlist will be
the selection will fit happily on a regular CD. updated , and as you play entries on that list they w ill
slowly disappea r, to be replaced by those that have
SMART PLAYLISTS not bee n played within the specified period, making
Smart playlists are sorted and organise d by iTunes this a living, self-perpetuatin g playlist.
itself on the basis of criteria you specify at the time
they are created . Your starting point is very similar GENIUS PLAYLISTS
to Genius playlists are generate d by iTune s (version 8 and
that for regular playlists, in that you click the ‘+’ button above) and the latest breed of iPods (except the
in the lower-left corner of the interface. shuffle) by looking at the music in your collection and
In this instance, however, you do so while holding suggestin g other tracks you might like. It does this by
down the alt key, which swaps its icon from a ‘+’ to a comparing your tastes with those of everyone else
cog. This is the smar t playlist indicator, and it w ill who use s iTune s 8 or a compatible iPod and making
appea r on the icon beside the playlist’s entry in your logical deduction s from the results.
iTune s sideba r. To create a Genius playlist in iTunes , star t playing
Once you have clicked it, though, you are no any track and click the button sportin g the Genius icon
longer given an empty, untitled playlist as you are in the lower-right corner of the interface. It’s the one
with a regular playlist, but instea d presente d with a that has a curvy star with neutrons flying around it
dialog box, waiting for you to enter the criteria that imprinted on its surface.
tracks must meet for inclusion in the playlist. iTunes If you don’t like the results, click again; if you do like
will use the details you supply here to judge tracks in them, you can save the playlist by clicking ‘Save
your library and add any that match to your new Playlist’ at the top of the interface.
smart playlist.
Start by picking a criteria from the extensiv e list ON THE GO PLAYLISTS
containe d within the first drop-dow n menu, and then On the Go playlists are created on an iPod while you’re
use the secon d one to refine it. As the second out and about. They let you make a not e of tracks you
drop-dow n change s dependin g on what you have want to store as you listen to them , by holding down
chosen in the first, it is important that you build your the click-wheel’s cent re button as each track is playing
playlists in this order. and then selecting Add to On-the-Go playlist from the
So, for example, you might want to build a playlist menu that pops up. These playlists are synch ronised
showing tracks you like but have not played in the last back to your iTune s installation the next time you swap
three months, to help you rediscover your favourite, data betwee n your iPod and Mac or PC.
forgotten music. As iTune s keeps track of the number
03 6 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE BEGINNE R 037
1. Flexibility and Price The secret to its 4. You keep your downloads How annoyed Apple started to do the same. When it
success may be its proximity to the iPod, but would you be if one day you found a truck launched iTune s 6, the suggestion s box was
it has some pretty smar t features, too. Our outside waiting to take away all your CDs? rolled out as a beta feature that was still in
favourite has to be the fact that you can buy Well, that’s what can happen with a music development , but available to all users from
single tracks , even if they weren’t originally rental service, which is how some of the iTunes day one, on the understandin g that it might
sold as a single. This is becaus e the vast Store’s rivals work. Although they open their not be entirely perfect.
majority of albums have been split up, allowing music catalogue s for a low price, you never It’s now fully featured, and has bee n joined
you to buy 10 tracks from 10 different artists own your downloads . Instead, you must by Genius, Apple’s serve r-base d tool for
for the price of a single album , rathe r than continue paying a fee. Once you stop, the analysing your library and the track you are
being restricted to buying a complete CD. music stops playing. By buying your music listening to, and suggestin g other items you
Although there is some variation in the outright, you needn’t worry about this. might like to buy to complete your collection.
pricing, and audiobook s in particula r are often
more expensive, the secon d great thing about 5. Celebrity playlists Apple has done a good 8. Exclusives and pre-released tracks When
the iTune s Store is the pricing structure, which job of evangelising the iTune s Store to artists. you’re the biggest outlet for online music, you
means you’ll always be paying one of only Even Madonna has publicly endorse d it in a can negotiate some pretty special deals, which
three price s for a single song or album. web conferenc e with Steve Jobs , Apple’s CEO. is why the iTune s Store carries exclusive tracks
It’s no surprise that so many celebrities are from the likes of U2’s Bono and Mariah Carey.
2. Audiobooks Before the iTune s Store, the willing to submit recommende d playlists. They Even when it hasn’t manage d to negotiate
best place to look for audiobook s was Audible. include playlists, from artists as varied as The a deal, its ability to publish music without
Fortunately, much of the Audible library is Cure, Brian Wilson, Robbi e Williams, Charlotte requiring it to first be burnt to CD and then
available throug h iTunes , allowing you to Church and Russell Crowe. distribute d worldwide means that it often has
download track s in a format that beats even Not only do these give you a uniqu e insight tracks ready for purchas e long before they
the AAC encoding used on iTune s Store tracks. into the musical tastes of your favourite artists, make it to regular high street stores. Sign up
The Audible format allows the iPod to keep but they give you the ideal means of expanding for the weekly iTune s new music email and
track of where you left off the last time you your collectio n by buying all the tracks at once, you’ll be informe d of these deals before
were listening to a book, so the next time you or just individual examples . Who would have everyon e else, as well as the weekly free
press play, you pick up from the same spot. guessed Robbie Williams would nam e Wichita download, which is always worth trying; you
This is a major advantag e over CD-based Lineman as his favourite song? may not like it, but at least it didn’t cost you
talking books, which don’t allow you to anything to find out.
bookmark your position. 6. iMix We can’t all be celebrities, but we can
have our moment of fame by submitting our 9. Bundles As operator of the iTune s Store and
3. Staying legal The world of online music is a own playlists. Of course , it’s a money-making creator of the iPod, Apple is able to offer
minefield. Plenty of sites offer free or cut-price schem e for Apple, but it means you can share brande d bundles not available in regular shops.
downloads , but pay little attention to the kind your favourite tracks. In the past , these have proved highly popular,
of trouble they could get you into. Other Producing your own iMix is easy. Once with black and red iPods signed by U2
options, called peer-to-pee r services, let you you’ve created a playlist, click the arrow icon available through the store, and special
downloa d music from other users’ computers, to the right of its nam e in the iTune s sideba r. engraved Harry Potter players sold with every
and almost always operate outside of the law. iTune s will analyse the tracks that are available, Potter audiobook already loaded . They make a
By sticking to an outlet like the iTune s Store, gather together the ones that it sells and bundle highly unusual, and highly appreciate d gift.
you’ll be buying safe in the knowledge that them in one place . You’ll be given the chanc e
whatever you downloa d will have been cleared to name your tracks and give them a 10. It’s more than just music The iTune s Store
by the studios and artist, and be free from description and , once they’re published, see is no longer just a music and audiobook s store.
copyrigh t infringement. At the same time them featured on the store. It’s now also an outlet for movies , television
though , the rules are fairly gene rous , allowing shows and even application s than run on the
you to download your tracks ont o multiple 7. Suggestion s Amazon hit the nail on the head iPhone and iPod touch . With the addition of
iPods and, with the arrival of iTune s 9, share when it started to sugges t othe r books you Apple TV it has becom e an end-to-en d digital
them around family members’ computer s in might like on the basis of your past purchases, medi a shop, allowing you to buy all your
your hom e using iTune s Sharing. so naturally it was only a matter of time before entertainment in one place.
03 8 BEGINNER THE ULTIMATE iPOD GUIDE
7digital
This download service has been expande d in recen t years, and it
now offers music, video and audioboo k files in a variety of
formats. With a catalogu e of titles from major record labels in
every major genre, as well as a separat e ‘indiestore’ offering new
music from smaller bands and artists, 7digital is now very much
a part of the UK’s digital music download landscape.
As with most major online music stores, both single s and
albums are available to buy, with prices starting at 99p per
individual track, with a 13-track album typically costing £7.99,
saving £4.88 if all the track s are bought together. There are also
some good deal s to be had on new releases . Selecte d albums
are often available at £5 in 320Kbits/se c MP3 download for
around 12 tracks, making each track only 42p, and of a higher
quality than those found in the iTune s Store. Other medi a such as
audiobook s can cost as little as £1.59 a title, and are available in
parts, costing 79p each, while video content is generally priced
from £1.50 per file. But, again , procee d with caution.
DRM-free AAC and MP3 (with 192Kbits/se c and 320Kbits/sec
encoding) music and audioboo k download s are offered for the
iPod, though potentia l purchase s need to be checke d to see if they
are available in your desired file type. It’s the same for videos; if
you don’t check that the file is a Portable Mpeg-4 download
(higher quality Mpeg-4 files are also available), then you could end
up with a WMV file, not compatible with an iPod. It’s an easy
enough proces s though; just check the ‘available formats’ badge
next to the album artwork.
Selections are downloade d in a Zip file through 7’s Download
Manager, and can be copied to your compute r, burnt to a CD and
then transferred to your iPod. Purchase s can be re-downloaded
from the 7digital Locker, a secure backup of your download s from
the 7digital store.
Format 192Kbits/se c and 320Kbits/se c AAC and MP3
Cost UK prices from 42p per track, 99p per track (typical); 79p
per audiobook part; £1.50 per video
Where 7digital.com
eMusic
eMusic has been around since the early part of the decade , and bills
itself as ‘a digital entertainmen t retailer focused on serving customer s
aged 25 and older’. It claims to be both the world’s largest seller of
independen t music and the second-largest digital music retailer, offering
more than 4 million music tracks from over 27,000 independen t labels
and more than 2,000
audiobook titles. With an excellent value cost-f ree 50-download,
14-day, yours-to-kee p trial membership , eMusic is worth a look.
A subscription-base d service dealing only in MP3s , eMusic users have
a fixed amount of download s eac h month depending on their
subscription , which is reset every 30 days. Downloads are in
192Kbits/se c MP3 format for music tracks, but audiobook buyers suffer,
having to make do with 64Kbits/se c files. As with othe r services,
purchase s are delivered easily and quickly via eMusic’s Download
Manager, and once again they can be transferred to an iPod, an unlimited
number of computers,
and recorded to CD.
Pricing plans allow you to pay as little as 30p per track or
£7.99 per audiobook (with free re-downloads) , and tools such as the
eMusic toolbar offer member s a free daily MP3 music download. But
by offering just titles by independen t labels, eMusic arguably dent s its
appeal to the broader audience.
Championing the independen t cause is to be admi red and indie kids
will no doubt find something to tickle their musical taste buds, but many
listeners may be left wanting. eMusic claims that ‘independen t music is
simply about great music’, and that may be true, but potential member s
may be put off by the non-mainst ream choices available.
Format MP3
Cost UK prices from 30p per track; pricing plans of £9.99,
£13.99, and £17.99 per month
Where emusic.com
AmazonMP3
One of the most recognise d worldwide names in online retailing, amazon.co.u k now offers digital
download s to UK customers . Currently limited to music files, they are DRM-free, 256Kbits/sec,
and range betwee n 29p and a whopping £11.49 for individual tracks, with albums available
betwee n £2.99 and £8.99. Delivered quickly through the Amazon MP3 Downloader, there is a
wide choice available, spannin g all musical genres.
As with other digital stores, tracks can be sampled before buying, a proces s tha t can be
simplified using the site’s 1-Click payment system. One neat and time-savin g touch is that the
Amazon MP3 Downloader can deliver files with cover art into the chosen media library of your
choice; saving them directly into iTune s is just one option. Once purchased , the tracks are
restriction-free, so they can be transferred to any compute r, iPod or CD as many times as you like. Spotify
Format 256Kbits/se c MP3 Spotify has radically change d the landscape
Cost from 29p per track; £2.99 to £8.99 per album with respec t to listening to music online. Despite
Where amazon.co.uk only launching in 2009, and still not widely
available in North America by the end of the
year, it has becom e synonymou s with streaming
music over the Internet.
Why is it so successful ? Becaus e of the huge
SUBSCRIPTIO N SERVICES range of available music, the eas e with which you
Napster can find it and compile playlists, and the fact that
The Napster name will be well-known to and burnt to a CD. These can then be the basic, ad-supporte d version is free. Those
many. The compan y claims that it is the imported into iTune s and the files transferred ads take the form of banner s in the Spotify player
world’s most- recognise d brand in online onto an iPod. The compan y claims this is a and radio-style adverts betwee n tracks. If you’re
music, and has ‘extensive content waste of time though, and recommends used to listening to commercial radio, you won’t
agreement s with the four major record buying a non-Apple, WMA-compatibl e portable even notic e them, but they can be intrusive.
labels’. That may or may not be true, but player instead. If you find them too intrusive, the answer is a
how does it sell that content? Napster Light meanwhile, goes down the Premium subscription . Costing £9.99 per month,
The answer is largely by subscription, more traditional iTune s Store route, offering this allows you to listen advert-free and to
and almost exclusively to owners of individual tracks in the ubiquitou s MP3 format download the free iPhone app. Both the iPhone
Windows and othe r MP3-compatible for 79p, while albums start at £6.95. Download app and the Desktop subscription version s
portable musi c players. But don’t despair. is by a Windows-base d system only, though, allow you to download tracks for listening to
There are ways to get content onto your and while your individually-bought MP3 tracks offline for the duration of your subscription.
iPod from the former pee r-to-pee r service. can be transferred onto your iPod through Premium and free user s can also buy tracks
There are catches , though. iPod owners iTunes , we suspec t that as this provider offers from Spotify’s partne r, 7digital. Format MP3
can listen to more than 6 million tracks predominantl y WMA-encoded content, most Cost Free with adverts or £9.99 per month
from 540,00 0 albums, from 450,00 0 artists iPod user s probably won’t bothe r. for Premium subscription , which includes
on a PC or home stereo system , and a Format MP3 download s and iPhone app
subscribe r accoun t can be used to Cost from 79p per track; £6.95 per album Where spotify.com
purchas e tracks, which can be downloaded Where napster.com
THE ULTIMATE iPOD BEGINNER 043
GUIDE
MySpace
Social networking and online community site MySpac e has a
surprisingly good music section, with a sea rchabl e artist facility,
enabling you to find favourite artists quickly. A built-in music player
can be found on most artist’s pages , playing a selection of their
tracks. A downloa d button lets you save your favourite tracks
from the site to your compute r, although not all artist s have
enabled this function. But with millions of page s and more than site that can count Peter Gabriel as one of its founders, also
30 genres to choos e from, there should be something for you. offers 320Kbits/se c tracks free of ads , which can bought and
Where myspace.com downloaded . We7 also operate s a credit system that can
convert tracks to advertisement-f ree versions once they have
We7 been in your library for at least 28 days.
This UK-based site offers free 192Kbits/se c MP3s, ready Where we7.com
to download, play and transfer to your iPod, but with a catch.
As they are both cost- and DRM-free, a six- to 12-second Specia l interest sites
advertisemen t appear s at the start of each song. However, the There are many website s now offering free downloads , with
lots of them targeting the non-mainst ream music market.
MacIDOL (m acidol.com ) claims to have tracks by some of the
‘hottest musicians on the planet’. Aiming to spread the word
about these artists’ work, the site offers ‘musi c made for the
iPod’, with thousand s of tracks in all genres by independent
singers. Similarly, Epitonic (epitonic.com
), GarageBan d (garageband.
com), Matado r Records (matadorrecords.com ) and Sub Pop (subpop.
com) all serve up tracks by indie and emerging artists.
Classical music fans haven’t been left in the dark, either.
Passionato (passionato.com) offers DRM-free downloads , with more
than 18,000 recording s available. Single tracks or albums can
be delivered in high-quality 320Kbits/se c files, and can be
transfer red to iPods and computer s or burnt to CD in all of the
usual ways. Catalogue s from major and independen t labels are
available, with albums typically starting at $9.99 (about £6.20),
although the service is currently only available to UK buyers.
If that’s not enough, Swedish site eclassica l (eclassical.com
)
offers 192Kbits/se c and 320Kbits/se c classical DRM-free
MP3s starting at US 49¢ (abou t 30p), and puts a no-cost
download on its homepag e almost every day.
iTunes Store
And finally, don’t forget the iTune s Store itself as anothe r resource
for downloading free tracks. Apple’s omnip resen t digital store
offers no-cos t files as part of album promotions, and a free
‘Single of the Week’ is offered up every seven days.
There’s also a ‘Free on iTunes ’ page with more no-cost
content. Independen t websit e (itsfreedownloads.com ) also offers
links to no-cos t conten t on international iTune s Stores, which
can include track s which have long since disappea red from the
iTune s Store’s own current free pages.
044 BEGINNER
PODCASTS
Although podcast s seem to take their name from the word
‘iPod’, they are not exclusive to Apple’s range of medi a players.
They are pre-recorded audio or video programme s that are
posted up by their creators and delivered to subscribers
whenever a new episod e become s available.
Audio podcast s are usually recorded as MP3 files, and
distributed in the same way as news items in an RSS feed. You
can subscrib e to them using links on their publishers’ web pages,
but the easiest way to find and manag e podcas t streams is to use
the directory built in to iTunes.
The range of podcasts available is almost unlimited, and
they come from all manner of sou rces, ranging from personal
bloggers who want to tell us all about their day-to-day lives, to
national newspapers like The Guardian and broadcasters
like the BBC. Often the major broadcasters use them to replay
episodes of regular programmes, such as the BBC’s The
Archers podcast, which replicates each day’s edition of Radio
4’s long-running farming soap. Sometimes they act as ‘best
of’ compilations, such as those put out by many programmes
on Radio 2. And sometimes they are bespoke programmes
recorded solely for distribution as a podcast, such as those
from The Guardian, or the technology programmes from PC Pro
and Custom PC magazines.
SUBSCRIBIN G TO PODCASTS
To subscrib e to a podcast , fire up iTune s and click on iTunes
Store. Podcast s are the exception in the Store, for while most
of the material you will downloa d from there carries a fee,
the podcast s are free. Use the search box at the top of the
interface to type in either the name of a podcas t you know you
want to subscrib e to, or use a keyword that might be found in
its description.
Cookery, technology, photograph y and politics are all examples
of clearly defined keywords that will yield extensive lists of podcast
results. iTune s will present a list of results split into various
categories , such as Music, Videos , Spoken Word, Applications and
Podcasts . Eac h section will contain a couple of examples of the
genre, but clicking on the word Podcast s at the top of that section
will expose a far more diverse list. You can then click on each item
in turn to read a short description and see a list of previous
episodes . A large Subscrib e butto n lets you sign up to receive each
update when posted.
You w ill notice that most entries on a list of episode s are
accompanie d by an information lozenge, which is a small ‘i’ inside
a grey circle. Clicking this will give you a short written summary of
the content s of that episode , as entered by the produce r.
KEEPIN G UP TO DATE
Now, whenever you start iTunes , it will check for update s to your
subscribe d feeds. Whenever it finds one it will download it and
store it in the Podcast s section in the left-hand column. You w ill
BEGINNER 045