Getting Set UpAccessories

If you live in a multi-iPod* household or own more than one player, you know that loading music from a computer onto all devices can be complicated. You can't just set the whole library to sync, or your iPod* or iPhone* will end up with everyone else's stuff on it, rather than just the stuff you want to hear (and see).

The solution lies in making use of iTunes* playlists, and then structuring those playlists to support all players.

Tip: When upgrading to a new a computer, consider converting the older model into a dedicated music machine. Connect it to a stereo, and maybe add a big hard drive to turn it into a jukebox that doubles as an iPod* loading dock the whole household can use to manage their music.

Syncing with iTunes, Step-by-Step

One: Create a master playlist for each iPod*

Our method involves making a new "master" playlist with the music for each iPod* and iPhone*. Choose New Playlist from the File menu.

Two: Name the playlist

Enter a name for the playlist. In our example, we're creating a master playlist for a new iPhone*, so it's called "iPhone tunes."

Three: Select and sort the iTunes* music library

Deciding which music goes on each iPod* can be fun, if a bit time consuming (you don't have to do it all at once). To get started, select the Music menu item in iTunes to bring up the complete list of songs in your iTunes library. Then click the top of the Artist column to sort the whole library by artist—this will make songs easier to find while creating your playlists.

Four: Drag songs into the master playlists

Scroll through the iTunes library looking for stuff to go on each iPod. When you find songs you want, drag them onto the master playlist. To select entire albums over, select the top song, then hold Shift and click the bottom song. You can also pick and choose multiple songs using the CTRL button, as in other applications.

Five: Keep an eye on capacity

As you add songs to the master playlist, iTunes* will show you at the bottom of the screen how much disk space that playlist occupies. If you're dealing with a high-capacity model like the 160 GB iPod, you'll probably be able to fit your entire music collection on there, but other models have less capacity. The idea is to create a master playlist that consumes slightly less space than your iPod can hold (7 GB for an 8 GB iPhone, 39 GB of a 40 GB iPod, and so on). If there are other iTunes playlists that you want to sync to a player, aside from the master playlist, leave room for those.

Six: Select the player within iTunes*

Connect an iPod* or iPhone* with its USB cable. When the iPod* or iPhone* shows up in the iTunes* navigation bar, click on it. We've selected an iPhone* in our example.

Seven: Set each player to sync to its master playlist

As you probably know if you've had an iPod for a while, the row of tabs across the top of the main iTunes screen lets you configure settings for the device. Select the Music tab, check the 'Sync music' box, and select the master playlist for that iPod or iPhone—plus any other playlists you left room for back in Step Five. Connect any of them (an Apple iPod dock makes the connection quicker), and the master playlist will sync automatically onto the proper iPod... just don't disconnect it before you read the next step.

Tip: iPhones and most iPods also accept photos and video, and all of them can play podcasts. You can choose which ones will sync in the Photo, Podcast, and Video tabs. The process is similar to that of syncing music, just keep in mind that you'll need to leave room in the memory to handle all the playlists, podcasts, and photo albums that are going to sync.

Eight: Apple the new sync settings

You've successfully configured your iPod to sync to one or more specific playlists. Click the Apply button and wait as the songs load onto the player. This could take an hour or more if you're syncing a high-capacity iPod, but at least you can use other applications on your computer as the new data loads.

Nine: Eject each iPod* and iPhone*

Before you disconnect an iPod* or iPhone* from your computer, hit the eject button in the iTunes* navigation bar. If you disconnect the cable while data is traveling between the computer and iPod*, you risk corrupting the data on the iPod*.

Whew. . . depending on how many iPods you were configuring, this may have taken quite some time, but all that hard work will pay off. Every member of the household can now control exactly what goes onto each iPod* by editing their master playlist. Every time they connect their iPod* or iPhone*, their songs will transfer onto them automatically from the same iTunes* application.