by Stephen Cuomo

Created on: January 29, 2009

So you've gone out and bought that brand spankin' new iPod. One problem, no music. I'm here to help you fix that and in this article I will explain to you how to rip CDs for your iPod. The fastest way possible to build your iTunes library, is to import your existing CD collection into the program's library, so now you can keep your CDs in a safe place, or in a box somewhere in your garage. Its your preference.

If you don't have iTunes installed already, the fastest way to do it is using the CD that came with your iPod. If you want the lastest version of iTunes hop onto Apple's website, and download it! You can change the default encoding format for ripping audio CDs once iTunes initially launches. You can pick either AAC or MP3, depending on your own preferences. Make sure iTunes is your default media player, this is very important to do, or else the CD may not be detected in iTunes.

Now what you will do is go ahead and pop that CD into your computers disc drive, *make sure the label is facing up*. It should take iTunes a few seconds to recognize the disc you just inserted into your computer. When it does it should ask you something like "Would you like iTunes to import the CD into your library?". Go ahead and click yes. This may or may not happen depending on how your iTunes preferences are set. iTunes will go ahead and being importing your disc, you will see the progress in a bar in the yellowish part of the display in the window.

As iTunes imports your music, iTunes will find the artist name, name of the song, length of the song, etc. for you (if you are connected to the internet, otherwise this will not work, sorry!). This is a very handy feature of iTunes. Once iTunes has finished the process of ripping the files and converting them, naming them with the proper tags, they will be imported to your library. When a track is successfully converted and imported, a green check will appear next to it.

To get those files on to your iPod to listen to on the go, you will have to open up your library. You can find the files or type in the name of the artist or song you are looking for into the search bar integrated into iTunes, in the top right hand corner. You then drag and drop the songs you want onto your iPod library, the same idea as moving a folder on your PC, or depending on your set preferences, your library will import automatically (this can be a pain sometimes, I usually turn this off).

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