How-to guides

How do I extend the battery life?
Battery life has been a subject of much dispute with the Apple iPod. Apple reccomends you update your firmware, use the hold switch, avoid extreme temperatures, use compressed songs, and minimize use of the backlight.

Apple tips and tricks to get the most out of your battery

How do I use diagnostics mode?

 * Monochrome diagnostics: iPod 3G and 4G
 * Color diagnostics: iPod photo, iPod video

How do I create Audiobook files?
1) If you are using .mp3 (or other) files, convert them to the AAC format using iTunes. The files will appear in the iTunes folder on your computer as .m4a files.

2) Locate the files on your hard-drive.

3) Rename the file's extension from .m4a to .m4b.

4) Import into iTunes, then across to your iPod.

The files will now appear in the Audiobooks category of your iPod. The "Remember playback position" and "Skip when shuffling" options will be automatically selected and greyed out in the info section of each file.

How do I add artwork to my music?
If you don't already have the album artwork, get it either by scanning the original CD cover, or searching for it using a site like Slothdog CD Cover Finder or Google Image.

In iTunes you can either drag and drop the artwork onto the artwork pane in the bottom left corner (if you can't see it: press the box with the triangle pointing up in the bottom left / Ctrl+G / or open it under the Edit menu).


 * If you want to add the artwork to multiple tracks:

1) Select the tracks.

2) Right-click and select 'Get Info'.

3) Drag and drop the artwork to the 'Artwork' box, or double-click the artwork box to browse for it on your computer.

4) Click OK.


 * If you want to add multiple artwork to tracks:

This has to be done on a track by track basis.

1) Right-click and select 'Get Info'.

2) Select the 'Artwork' tab.

3) Drag and drop the extra artwork into the artwork box. It will appear next to the current artwork.

4) Click OK, or click 'Next'/'Previous' to move to the next file (if you are doing all the tracks on an album), Ctrl + (arrow key) will do the same thing.

How do I enable artwork on my iPod?
1) Connect your iPod to your computer.

2) In iTunes go to 'Edit'/'Preferences...' and select the 'iPod' options tab.

3) Under the 'Music' tab check the box next to 'Display album artwork on your iPod'.

4) Click OK.

The iPod will spend some time (depending on how much music you have) extracting the artwork from the songs and adding it to it's database for playback.

How do I 'repair' artwork on my iPod?
1) Check that the songs have artwork associated with them - if you click on a song in iTunes from your iPod it will display the artwork (if it has any) regardless of wether your iPod is doing so.

2) Check that the 'Display album artwork on your iPod' option is still checked under your iPod settings through iTunes. If not, check it, click OK, and see if that solves the problem.

3) If 'Display album artwork on your iPod' is checked: uncheck it, click OK. The artwork will be deleted.

3a) Go back to the iPod options Music tab and re-check 'Display album artwork on your iPod'. The iPod will spend some time (depending on how much music you have) extracting the artwork from the songs and adding it to it's database for playback.  See if that solves the problem.

4) If the artwork still won't display (you may have noticed that the iPod spends very little time building the artwork datbase - a matter of seconds), select all the files on the iPod through iTunes.

4a) Right click on the selected files and go to 'Get Info'. Without checking or changing anything, click OK.  The file data will be re-built in the database.

4b) Go to the iPod options Music tab and uncheck 'Display album artwork on your iPod'. Click OK.

4c) Go back the iPod options Music tab and re-check 'Display album artwork on your iPod'.  Click OK.  The iPod will spend some time (depending on how much music you have) extracting the artwork from the songs and adding it to it's database for playback.  See if that solves the problem.

If the above methods fail. Apple has a solution on their website you can also try.

note: If you are using a program other then iTunes to access your iPod it may corrupt the artwork database on your iPod.