Smart Playlists were first introduced in iTunes 3. With the Smart list you are able to personalize the music that you listen to by updating your playlist with criteria that includes last played, my rating, play count, and comment. You have the choice of using any or all of these criteria when you are creating a Smart Playlist. You also have the option of eliminating some of the criteria, such as song name. The great thing about a Smart Playlist is that it is something different for everyone who creates a playlist.

One thing that you will want to know how to do on your iPod is “rate a song”. To rate a song all you have to do is press the center of the wheel two times. The first press will push the wheel into “jog mode” while the second push of the wheel will push the wheel into “rating mode”. Once you are in the rating mode you will see that there are stars on the screen. You can then turn the wheel to increase or decrease the number of stars that you are giving a
particular song.

Make sure that iTunes is set to either one of the two automatic transfer modes when you are in the iPod options screen. If you are not in one of these modes you won’t be able to transfer the play counts, play dates, or ratings in an
easy manner to your iTunes library.

• Preserve all of your old tapes and LPs.
• Grab hold of Internet streams such as podcasts to listen to whenever and wherever you want.
• Create playlists that are absolutely perfect.
• Create audio files from the text of ebooks, news feeds, and web pages.
• Send these audio files to iTunes for transfer to your iPod.

How many times have you looked at your old cassette tapes and LPs and wish that you still had the capability to listen to them? The Boom Box™ lets you import music from a cassette deck or a turn table to your iTunes library.
You can then transfer this music onto your iPod. The software will automatically detect the tracks and then reduce the background noise as much as possible. Filters, included in the software, will enhance the sound so that the music files are of the highest quality.

Podcasts are becoming more and more popular as people choose to listen to media that they are most interested in. With so many thousands of topics on the Internet to choose from, it’s just a matter of narrowing down your interests, downloading the podcast, and sending it to iTunes. You can then transfer the podcast to your iPod for listening whenever you want.

The Boom Box™ will also allow you to change any web page, email, or other written document into an audio file for listening rather than reading. This will allow you to listen to your favorite blogs, email from family and friends,
or web content from your iPod. This handy function is perfect for those people who are too busy to sit and read or for those who have difficulty reading online.
Another great function of the Boom Box™ is the ability to create great playlists. You can analyze each of the tracks in your iTunes library before adding it to a playlist. This lets you create lists that have similar acoustic sounds and personalities.
The Boom Box™ may cost a bit more than other software applications. And you might be thinking that if you have already invested in buying an iPod, why spend more money? The answer is this: your iPod is a great music
player that has been built with a sturdy and solid hard drive. This means that you are going to have your iPod for many years to come. You will want to make the most of the functionality of your iPod so that you can enjoy it in as many ways as you can.

Griffin iBeams is complete and ready for your dock connected iPod mini or iPod. You can use the flashlight device for finding things in the dark or for when you just want a bit of added light. The laser is a class IIIA laser pointer. This is ideal for when you are doing presentations. Both the flashlight and laser come complete with a protective snap-on cap that you can attach to your keychain so that it is always handy and accessible.

The Griffin iBeam laser is a red laser beam, which can be seem from over two kilometers away. This doesn’t mean that you should spend valuable time playing, but it does mean that your iPod has one more bit of functionality that makes it a great investment. The Griffin iBeam has been designed for the following iPods:

• the iPod mini
• the iPod Photo
• 4th generation iPod that has a click wheel
• 3rd generation iPod that has buttons and a touch wheel

There are many reasons why you would want to use your iPod as a voice recorder such as recording a lecture at school, recording your baby’s first words, capturing the sound of that loon, or laying down some audio tracks for a digital movie and then synching it with the video.

• Open up iTunes and click on the preferences dialog.
• Click on the advanced icon. Then click on the importing tab.
• Choose the on CD insert to show songs. You don’t want to choose the auto-import because when you are in the process of importing an audio book there are some steps that need to be completed before the
  import begins. If the import begins automatically make sure to stop it.
• In the import using pop up choose the AAC encoder. You’ll get higher quality when you choose this format as well as get better support for your audio bookmarks.
• When the setting pop up comes up, choose custom.
• Choose a stereo bit rate of 64 kbps when the AAC encoder setting dialog appears. You’ll also want to choose (1) sample rate of auto, (2) channels of auto, and (3) make sure that optimize for voice is checked. Click okay.
• Uncheck play songs while you are importing the audio book. You’ll also want to uncheck the use error correction when reading audio CDs option. Both of these options will slow down the import process so you’ll want to have them both unchecked to speed things up.
• Click okay.

Once you have optimized your import settings on your iPod you will find that importing audio book CDs is that much easier. This will certainly encourage you to use your iPod for than just music.

One good source for free audio books is the public library where you can often find them on CD. Audio book CDs can’t be played directly on your iPod. This is where iTunes is so invaluable. iTunes is known for making it possible for you to import CDs, keep them organized, and synced with your iPod. However, there is one problem even with iTunes: iTunes has been optimized for music CDs. It is often hit and miss when it comes to producing audio book
files that are easy to use on an iPod. This is because the size and quality of an audio book CD file from the library isn’t always as good as the audio book files you get when you purchase your book from the iTunes Music Store. There are a few things that you can do to improve your luck when it comes to downloading audio book CDs from the library, or other free sources, to your iPod.

Using iPod-iWay is easy! You will first want to navigate to www.ipodiway.com. The process is just like using Yahoo Maps. Enter your starting point and your destination in the form provided. Once your information has been entered click on verify directions to ensure that you get accurate directions. Next click on get directions. You will be prompted to download a .zip file which holds your driving directions. Extract the .zip file into your iTunes Photo Folder. Connect your iPod to the computer, sync, and then you are ready to start driving. This software program is completely free to use and is perfect when you need to drive someplace unfamiliar to you. You will be able to utilize your iPod Photo to the max whether you travel in the US or in Canada.

If you are going to connect your iPod to another computer make sure that you don’t end up connecting to the iTunes library on that computer, if there is one. Choose the manually manage songs and playlists option so that you don’t put someone else’s playlist on your iPod and wipe out your own selection.

• Connect your iPod to the computer. If iTunes doesn’t open automatically, open it manually by clicking on it.
• Set your iTunes preferences. Find the edit menu on the Windows toolbar. Choose preferences. If you are using a Mac you can go directly to the iTunes menu to choose preferences. For both a PC and Mac, click on the iPod button.
• Choose the enable disk use or manually manage songs and playlists option (do this for every iPod model except the iPod shuffle). Both of these options will let you use your iPod as a drive. If you choose manually manage songs and playlists you won’t automatically update your iPod with the songs that you have in your iTunes library. If you are going to be automatically updating your iPod with new songs, you will want to use the enable disk use option instead.
• For the iPod Shuffle. Click on enable disk use. Adjust the storage allocation slider to the exact amount that you want to be used by your audio files and the amount that you want to be used by your data files.
• You will now find the iPod icon on your desktop as well as in my computer in Windows. All you need to do is double click on the icon and drag your files from or to the iPod window to copy them over.
• Remember to eject your iPod before you disconnect it
  from the computer.

• Canon
• Nikon
• Olympus
• Sanyo
• Sony
• Epson
• Casio
• Minolta

See individual camera listings to find out which specific cameras are compatible. You’ll find a complete list of these cameras at www.apple.com/support/ipod/photos.