You’ve now read our posts about mp3 players and bought yourself an Apple iPod Nano. Congratulations. You can worry about upgrading your leg warmers and Wham! CDs later, but for now I want to talk how you can download songs onto your new iPod so you can start listening.
The first decision that must be made before you start downloading is which download service you’d like to use. The obvious and most ubiquitous choice here is Apple’s own iTunes store. Chances are you’ve heard of this one or perhaps even received a gift card for the store before, and for good reason. iTunes carries a beast of a music library that is sure to satisfy even the most eclectic listener. It also offers video downloads, podcasts, games and more, but since the focus here is on music we’ll ignore this fact for now.
The best alternative option, in my opinion, is the Amazon MP3 store. While not as comprehensive as the iTunes store, Amazon does have some advantages over its more commonly-used competition, the most significant of these being its price point and compatibility. A quick look at both music stores will show that many songs and albums are considerably cheaper in the Amazon store. Additionally, Amazon’s MP3 downloads are almost universally compatible, whereas iTunes’ AAC music format has yet to find a home on many computer and home media players. iTunes took a step forward last year by making their sales DRM-free (previously iTunes downloads could only be transferred to five computers), however the change resulted in a price increase and did little to remedy Apple’s compatibility issues. Of course this still makes the iPod more versatile than your old portable CD player, but it’s worth noting nevertheless.
Now that you’ve chosen your store of choice, you need only click to download (the service will prompt you set up an account if you haven’t done so already), open your songs in iTunes, and transfer the songs to your iPod Nano using the enclosed USB cable. Simply connect the wide, flat end of the cable to your iPod and plug the USB end into your computer. From here, iTunes will begin an automatic synching process.
For more information on this process, consult your iPod’s instruction manual or visit the official Apple website.
