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ready to help everyone access the full power of these awesome new entertainment devices
With their stylish sleek designs, the ubiquitous iPods appear easy enough to use. But with the unveiling of the revolutionary iPod Touch, the redesigned iPod Nano, and the iPod Classic, selecting an iPod and figuring out how to use it has become even more complicated. Fortunately, for dedicated and future iPodders, "iPod: The Missing Manual" has arrived, and stands ready to help everyone access the full power of these awesome new entertainment devices.
"Not only are there new iPods, there are very different iPods, at that. For example, the Nano can now do video," observes author J.D. Biersdorfer. "By the end of my book, readers will understand how the iPod works, not only for playing music and video, but all the other things it can do, like storing phone numbers or keeping your mind working with a few rounds of iQuiz."
Indeed, for nearly a decade J.D.--who began writing about iPods for Missing Manuals in 2002 -- has been explaining how things work in her weekly Q&A computer column for The New York Times. And in "iPod: The Missing Manual," J.D. entertainingly anticipates and answers the questions most folks are likely to have about their iPods. (David Pogue, the founder of the Missing Manual series and New York Times technology columnist, also contributed to the new iPod book.)
Written with verve, style, and wit, J.D. provides a guided tour of everything new in the family. "The touchscreen interface used by the iPod Touch first appeared on the iPhone, and it has the potential to really change the way we interact with computers of all types. When you see how easy it is to manipulate photos or tap your way across the Web on the Touch, you can't help but think about when this technology is going to start dominating the rest of the computers we work on," she notes about the device's multi-touch interface, 3.5-inch widescreen display and Wi-Fi browsing capabilities.
An avid fan and power user, J.D. rarely leaves home without her iPod. "My current favorite thing to do on the iPod Touch is to use the Safari Web browser to visit. When you get there, you can tap on the poster for an upcoming movie to go to its Web page. Most of the time, you just need to tap the arrow on the video window to start streaming that movie clip across the Touch screen," she adds.
"I also like to stream international news podcasts right off the BBC's Web site. You just go to their podcast page, tap a download link for a show, and you get an earful about what's going on in the rest of the world."
"iPod: The Missing Manual" sports easy-to-follow color graphics, crystal-clear explanations, and guidance on the most useful things your iPod can do. Topics include:
- Out of the box and into your ears. Learn how to install iTunes, load music on an iPod, and get rid of that dang flashing "Do not disconnect" message.
- Bopping around the iPod. Learn everything from turning an iPod off and on to charging an iPod without a computer.
- In tune with iTunes. iTunes can do far more than a jukebox. Learn how to pick and choose which parts of your iTunes library loads onto your iPod, how to move a sacred iTunes Folder to a bigger hard drive, and how to add album covers to a growing collection.
- The power of the 'Pod. Download movies and TV shows, play photo slideshows, find cool podcasts, and more.
O'Reilly's Missing Manual series specializes in producing beautifully written manuals for popular consumer software and hardware products--the book that should have been in the box. J.D.'s new edition of "iPod: The Missing Manual" is the must-have resource for first time users of iPods, Nanos, or Shuffles, upgraders, and gift givers.
Download Chapter 4: iTunes Basics (PDF Format)
iPod: The Missing Manual, Sixth Edition
By J.D. Biersdorfer with David Pogue
J.D Biersdorfer is the author of "iPod: The Missing Manual" and "The iPod Shuffle Fan Book," and is co-author of "The Internet: The Missing Manual" and the second edition of "Google: The Missing Manual." She has been writing the weekly computer Q&A column for the Circuits section of The New York Times since 1998 and has covered everything from 17th-century Indian art to the world of female hackers for the newspaper. She currently co-hosts the weekly NYT Tech Talk podcast and has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times Book Review and the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design.
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