16 TOP TIPS FOR YOUR IPOD AND ITUNES - Part 2

9 Manage your music manually

iTunes updates your iPod automatically, so that songs removed from the program are also deleted from the player. To store tracks permanently on your iPod, connect it to your PC, click the iPod Preferences button in the bottom right corner of the iTunes window and select the option ‘Manually manage songs and playlists’.

10 Back up important files
As well as copying music to your iPod, iTunes can transfer data files to be stored on the player’s hard disk. With your iPod connected, open the Preferences panel, select the option ‘Enable disk use’ and click OK. An icon for your iPod will now appear in My Computer allowing you to drag and drop files there as you would a storage drive.

11 Join CD tracks together
If you’ve ripped tracks from a mixed CD, the brief gap that now appears between songs during playback can be annoying. Solve the problem by selecting the tracks you’d like to mix from your iTunes Library, then clicking on the Advanced menu and choosing Join Tracks. These tunes will now play continuously on your iPod.

12 Standardise the volume level
To make quiet songs louder and loud songs quieter, click on the Edit menu, select Preferences and then click the Playback tab. Select the option Sound Check and the volume for all songs will be set to the same level. Alternatively, right-click on a track, select Get Info and then click the Options tab to change individual sound settings.

13 Convert files into different formats
If a track in your library is in a different format to your other songs, you can use iTunes to convert it. Click on the Edit menu and select Preferences, then click the Advanced tab and click Importing. From the Import Using menu, specify the encoding format you want to use and click OK. Now select the track, click on the Advanced menu and choose Convert Selection To [your chosen format].

14 Create an iMix
You can share your impeccable music taste with everyone by creating an iMix. Click on the File menu and select New Playlist. Give it a name then drag and drop tracks from your library or iTunes Music store. Click the arrow next to the playlist name and click the Create iMix button. Click Create and then click Publish to upload your iMix.

15 Create a Smart Playlist
Save time adding tracks to playlists individually by using different criteria to organise them. Click on the File menu and select New Smart Playlist. When the Smart Playlist box opens, specify the condition for the playlist, for example only a certain artist or genre, or containing certain word. Set a limit on the number of songs and click OK.

16 Get CD track names
iTunes can automatically search for and assign information for tracks you rip from
CD so you don’t have to. Insert a disc then click on the Advanced menu and select Get CD Track Names. iTunes will search CDDB, an online CD music database, and identify and label song and album titles, artists and more.