by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: March 12, 2008

You have just received your very first iPod. In simple words, you are delighted, you are excited and most hardly to admit, you have no clue on what to do. To make things worse, upon opening the box, you were pretty much surprised about the lack of instructions or operating manuals, whatsoever. You have checked and rechecked the box to no avail.

Truth is, most iPod's do not come with a manual, leaving most people scratching their heads without a clue on how to proceed. Having been one of those people and lacking that magical touch of intuition, I can offer some tips and advice on what to do to get your iPod set up and running and have your feet tapping to your favorite music in no time.

Four easy steps for iPod newbies:

1) After opening the box and having already dealt with the humiliating sense of defeat, your next step is to put your iPod aside and set up an account with iTunes. This can be done by visiting the Apple.com website and looking for the log in tab. You will be directed to a page where you will be able to set up a new account by entering your contact information along with your credit card number.

2) Once your information has been entered you will be able to start window shopping and selecting your favorite music tracks to download. iTunes is one of the largest libraries of music and video available over the Internet. You can preview each song before deciding to purchase. Expect to spend some time on this website as the amount and variety of songs displayed can be truly amazing.

3) Next, you can connect the iPod to your computer. This part is actually the easiest as most iPods start to sync the music automatically without no need to intervene. Sync time obviously depends on the amount of music to transfer.

4) Once this step is complete, select to eject your iPod from the computer. You must pay particular attention not to unplug it from the USB cable unless you see the message : "Ok to disconnect".

You can be proud of yourself now and give your self a pat on the back as this was actually your final step.

Welcome to the iPod community! As a new iPod customer you will shortly realize how addictive using an iPod may turn out to be. You will quickly become familiar with all the other features and amenities the iPod has to offer. Now that you are an expert, you may surprisingly find yourself assisting other clueless iPod newbies just as I have been doing right now!

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