MousePotatoPower

We are going to do a number of things:

• Enable disk use
  • To store files besides music on the iPod, just like a BIG flash drive
• Disable synchronization
  • This allows us to choose what songs to put on the iPod
• Make sure that iTunes imports music as MP3s at an appropriate quality level
  • MP3s are easier to deal with than AAC, or other formats
  • For the average person, encoding quality does not make a very big difference in sound quality

The first and most important thing to do is set Enable Disk Use. This turns your iPod into a HUGE USB drive. Notice that I have over 9GB of non-music files on my iPod.

Next, Manually manage music and videos. I find it much easier to drag and drop the albums and audiobooks that I want onto my iPod, my music collection is too large to fit on my iPod anyway.

Confirm that your Music is NOT sync-ed.

Next: Edit > Preferences

Advanced > Importing

Unless you are an audiophile, stick with

Import Using: MP3 Encoder

Setting: High Quality (160 kbps)

iPod Basics Tutorial