Apple iPod Touch Getting Started - Page 7

Getting Started with iPod touch: 7 A guide for using iPod touch and iTunes for teaching and learning For detailed information about the specifications of each iPod model, including hard drive size, battery duration, and included accessories, visit www.apple.com/itunes. To learn more, see "Resources" later in this guide for information about tutorials, a guided tour of iPod touch, and the iPod touch User Manual. iTunes at a Glance iTunes is an application for organizing and playing digital audio and video content. It has an incredibly easy-to-use interface for managing the content on iPod. iPod touch and iTunes work seamlessly together to synchronize music, video, and other files available on a computer with iPod touch. This can be set up to happen automatically so that when an iPod touch is connected to a computer, the iTunes library is automatically synced to the iPod touch. iTunes is also used to connect to the iTunes Store for downloading free academic content from iTunes U and other sources, applications from the App Store, podcasts, music from around the world, audiobooks, full-length movies and TV shows, speeches, and more. With Apple TV, the contents of an iTunes library, such as movies and TV shows, can be viewed on a classroom's TV. iTunes is compatible with both Mac and PC and comes pre-installed on every Mac computer. It is available as a free download at www.apple.com/itunes/download. Adding content to your iTunes library is as easy as downloading it from the iTunes Store or importing a CD. The iTunes library can hold a collection of digital audio and video files, such as music from a CD, video files downloaded from iTunes U, and audiobooks purchased from the iTunes Store. As an iTunes collection grows, you can maintain multiple libraries for classroom use. When you connect an iPod touch to your computer, an icon for it appears in the iTunes sidebar. When you click this icon, iTunes displays the contents of the iPod touch and you can also define settings for how you want to use the device. For more information about these settings, see "Adding Content to iPod touch Using iTunes" later in this guide. Using iTunes, you can organize songs and other items into lists called playlists. Files are not duplicated each time you place them in a playlist. They are simply aliases, or pointers, to the actual files in your iTunes library. The sidebar displays all of the playlists in the iTunes library. You can create your own playlists to organize the content in iTunes in the best way for you and your students, such as a playlist for a specific student project or for a particular class. For example, if the class is studying the American Civil War period, you could create one playlist with songs from that time period and with video clips available from iTunes U. You can also create Smart Playlists that automatically update according to criteria you set-for example, podcasts you've added in the last month. From the iTunes window, you go to the iTunes Store by clicking iTunes Store in the sidebar when you are connected to the Internet. As you download free or purchased items, iTunes automatically adds the titles to your library. With the Parental Controls feature of Mac OS X, you can choose to restrict students' access to the iTunes Store or to explicit content from the iTunes Store. (You can allow access to iTunes U content even if access to the iTunes Store is restricted.) See "Restricting Access with Parental Controls" later in this guide for more information. For links to more detailed information and tutorials about iTunes, see "Resources" later in this guide.