I’ve just bought a new Apple iPod Mini and am really excited about getting started loading my music onto it, but I can’t figure out how to do so! Windows Media Player can synchronize music with the iPod, but the iPod itself doesn’t then seem to know the music is there. HELP!
This is a surprisingly common question for new iPod owners who are using Microsoft Windows on their PC, and the basic answer is that you must use Apple iTunes to get music onto your iPod. Windows Media Player can see the iPod, but only as a hard disk, the section on the iPod where the music is stored is “hidden” and only iTunes knows how to get to it.
Let me take you through the steps of getting some music onto an Apple iPod with iTunes on a Windows XP system, then I’ll show you quickly why WMP can’t do the same thing.
The first time you plug your iPod into your PC via the included USB cable, you’ll probably see something like this:
What’s happened is that the underlying drivers for this class of device have been updated by Microsoft and the changes have been automatically applied – thankfully! – but you need to reboot. Do so, and then the next time you start up, your iPod will not generate any messages of this nature.
Now you really need to get a recent copy of iTunes onto your PC. There’s a CDROM that’s included with your iPod that has the iTunes program thereon, but if you don’t want to mess with that, you can simply go to apple.com/itunes to download the latest version.
The next step is to actually launch the iTunes program. If you don’t have the very latest version, you might well see this dialog window:
Generally, it’s a good idea to make sure you always have the latest version, so click “yes” and it’ll pop up your Web browser and take you directly to the download page, at which point you want to enter your email address, uncheck any boxes to skip certain types of email, and start the download:
I always uncheck these boxes, personally, as I already get too darn much email, but you might enjoy learning about free music available from the popular iTunes Music Store, etc., as indicated.
Either way, eventually you’ll be able to launch iTunes and have it start up, rather than ask you to do other stuff. At that point it will recognize the iPod that you’ve plugged in and step you through the registration process.
It’ll look like this:
You can stick with the default name for your device, but I always try to pick something more fun. For this 30GB iPod Video, I’m going to call it “MicroTV”, because, well, it’s a pretty tiny video screen. I also uncheck “automatically update music” because I like to control what happens to my iPod manually rather than have things magically occur and then not be what I want. You may find that having iTunes sync your iPod automatically works better for you, however.
When you’re done with this configuration step, click “Next” and you’ll see:
If you’re so inclined, register your iPod, or just click “Finish”.
Now, finally, you can see iTunes in all its glory:
All the colorful material in the middle is from the Apple iTunes Music Store. On the left side column, notice all the various categories of music and content, very similar to Microsoft Windows Media Player. Just below the Music Store, however, is what we seek. It says “MicroTV”, as that’s the name of my iPod.
Click on this entry, whatever name you’ve given your own iPod, and you’ll see your music list, which is completely blank:
Now click on the “Library” link also on the left column and you’ll see what albums or music you’ve ripped or otherwise copied into your iTunes library. If you haven’t ripped any CDs, put one into your computer and click on the “Import” button in iTunes that’ll show up.
On this particular computer, I’ve already ripped a few audio CDs, as you can see:
There’s a much nicer way to explore the music, however. Click on the “Browse” button on the top right (it looks like an all-seeing eye) and a new panel will show up that lists genre, artists and albums too:
I’m going to go ahead and copy my jazz album, by Jeff Lorber, onto my iPod. I do that by clicking on the “Jazz” genre, then dragging and dropping that onto the name of the iPod on the left side. Then I can see the music being copied onto the iPod itself:
Doesn’t take very long, and once it’s done, I can eject my iPod and start enjoying the tiny music player.
However, let’s have a quick peek at the basic iPod configuration while it’s still plugged in by clicking on the “iPod Preferences” button on the bottom of the window:
The preferences look like this:
You can probably leave them all as-is, but that’s how you get to them if you want to change anything about your iPod.
At this point we’re done. The easiest way to disconnect the iPod from your computer is to click on the little “eject” button, but before we do, let’s have a very quick look at how Windows Media Player sees the iPod and why it’s so darn hard to get music from WMP to an iPod.
WMP certainly doesn’t show a “MicroTV” option to make life easy. Click on the “Sync” button, however, and you’ll see that it can indeed see the iPod that’s plugged in:
This is deceptive, though, because the section of the iPod that holds the music that the iPod player itself can access isn’t what’s listed. The iPod can serve as a convenient and portable hard disk, and it’s that section of the device that WMP can access. Copy music and it’ll be accessible by another Windows system, but the iPod itself won’t see it. Not good!
To actually get music out of WMP and onto an iPod involves some conversion and fiddling around, as detailed here: Convert WMA into MP3 for use with iPods.
Let’s go back to iTunes, however, and eject the iPod. That’s done by clicking on the tiny upward triangle adjacent to the iPod name:
Now the device is disconnected and you can unplug it, plug in some headphones or earbuds and enjoy your music!
Working with the iPod Itself
The easiest way to do that? Push the play button once on your iPod to wake it up, and you’ll see this:
Now use the scrollwheel to highlight either “Playlists”, “Artists”, “Albums”, “Songs” or “Genres”, the push the button in the middle of the scrollwheel to select that choice:
I’ll select “songs”, and here’s what I see:
Now I can pick a specific song by again using the scrollwheel, then click “OK” (the button in the middle of the wheel) and the song starts playing:
And now, let’s relax with our own personal jam!
Hope that helps you get up to speed with the iPod. You’ll find it gets a lot easier to work with after a few minutes of fiddling around.
Also the music that I want to download is in my music libary already what do i do about this situation I’m really not tryin to pay for new songs because the music that I want is already on my playlist I just can’t sync the music I want to my MP3 player
My new MP3 player is not able to sync music onto it I’ve been working on this project for 1 week now need anwsers
hi dave i do not no how to put music on my i pod
Hi Dave – just came across your site ….amazing! I love itunes but don’t love not having any means of communication with them (you’ve heard all that one million times)…..
I am sharing my library with my 2 laptop pcs. all above board I think….but my newest computer doesn’t have any music I’ve bought since April. nor does it have my latest playlists.
Both computers are on homeshare….not sure why.
Also can one see the answers to the questions on this page?
Many thanks,
Sheryl
this helped vey much.
thank you
Thanks very much for your guide, I’ve been trying to figure out how to transfer songs all day and managed it 2 minutes after reading this. You’re a star!!
Gladys, I have no idea why that’s happening and would encourage you to closely examine the podcast sync settings in iTunes to see if something’s not set as you believe.
Happy, you’re clear and free: If you try to sync music to your iPod that you don’t have permission to use (for example, a friend buys a song on iTunes, copies the file and you put it in your music library, but don’t know their iTunes password) it will just complain and sync everything else.
Hi,
Do we need to pay money when we sync songs to my ipod shuffle?
Please reply my question as fast as you can.
TQ
Hi Dave,
I have a 30 GB iPod. I have some podcasts that appear on my iTunes, but they won’t download on my iPod. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Gladys
i downloaded all my cds to my computer. i have a ipod. in itunes it shows all my music, but some songs will not download to my ipod…can’t figure out why?
Can I transfer MP3 audio files (ones NOT obtained from itunes)from my PC hard drive and install them onto an ipod SIMPLY? – I understand I need to open an itunes account, however, I do NOT want to buy files from itunes and I do NOT want to use any complicated conversion software. I want to transfer MP3 files from my PC onto an ipod SIMPLY! – Can it be done?
My ipod is not working properly please help me
I updated my ipod to 4.1 and now i can’t sync all of my music . it only syncs 52 out of 416 what do i do ?
I have bought a used Nano 8 gig Ipod and when I successfully downloaded iTunes and also authorized my computer (I went thru this twice)…My Windows XP Acer netbook doenst recognize my Nano ipod so I am unable to transfer my songs ffom the devise. I also went thru the manual disk mode on my Nano and still nothing happens.
Can you help me?
Tim
how do i connect another laptop to my wireless
I just purchased the Apple Nano ipod and my issue is that I want to be able to add music from my computer onto it without “sync-ing.” I have alot of music that I don’t want to have to store on my computer permanently just so that I can have it on my ipod. Is there anyway to add music to the ipod without wiping out all the other songs already stored that may no longer be stored on my computer? Thanks!
hey, so I purchased a new laptop and i downloaded itunes. But when i plug in my ipod, it doesnt show up on my itunes. I can’t figure out how to add music to it.
Btw, I never registered my ipod when i bought it.
ally, I don’t have the latest Kate Perry CD to test, but is it an “interactive music CD” or anything similar? Does it include computer content and/or play videos if you put the CD into a computer? If so, those kind of “smart” discs can be end up unreadable on a Mac. It’s rare, but it’s possible…
no need to feel angry. it`s only my first time with an ipod.
sorry it`s macintyrealistair@gmail.com
Hi ,I`ve been a bit confused about how the “katy perry, “one of the boys” cd can`t go into my ipod. only the first song is a vidio in the laptop the rest don`t on the laptop, aren`t, would it be a dvd or a cd or both .would it go onto my ipod ? ally
Mr taylor
i am new to itunes and i didnt know what to do i accidently deleted all my songs off of my ipod without adding or syncing a lirbrary i need to get my songs back…is there a way i could get them all back?
We have two ipods and on on I can drag the songs to it and the other ipod won’t take any of them. I also can’t uncheck any songs that are on the ipod that won’t let me drag the songs to. Please help, thanks! Angel
Hi,
I would like to download music to my new iPod nano, but I don’t want to download the music FROM iTunes, because I know it costs money. Is there anywhere I can download the music to iTunes then to my iPod? If so, can you tell me about it? I heard your some sorta do-it-all? Thank you :).
haaaaaaaaaaay um i cant work out how too get songs off my usb onto my ipod ?
hi dave….
i hav ipod shuffle, when i brought this i did not get cd so m still unable to download songs in ipod from pc….
plz help
can this one works in windows 7?
iPod isn’t working? Reset it (hold down the menu and center buttons and count to ten. slowly). If that doesn’t fix it, you might need to talk with someone at Apple to find out your options. Good luck, everyone!
I have itune of version 8.1.1.10 which is not responding in any way when i am connecting my Apple iPod Classic (80GB, silver) made in 2006 using my usb cable on my computer and i am unable to copy songs, videos in my ipod, i am a new i pod user so please tell me a way to solve my problem
hi dave,
i reside in bengaluru, ive a 60GB ipod since the past 7 years. now the battery isnt charging properly and the ipod gets hanged sometimes what do i do?
I just bought a third generation ipod touch (which I was really excited about) until I found out that it does not work with WMP – frustrating. Instead, I am trying to figure out itunes, but am not finding it user friendly at all. I’ve tried using MGTEK dopisp, but I get a screen that says that it doesn’t support my device. Do you have any suggestions? Considering returning the ipod if I can’t use Windows Media Player. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Dave,
How can I download CD’s to my ipod from the internet rather than downloading one song at a time?
Thanks!
why is it when everytime i plug in my usb cable to the port– like it has to have a “device” somewhere there right? but i have none. now i cant put songs in my ipod. im a new user in ipod
i have a ipod nano 5g. it is 16gb and says it holds 4000 songs. i went to load 2015 songs and it told me not enough room. help.. do i need to squash the music some how. if i delete a song of itunes is says it will delete from my ipod next time it conects why and how can i stop it. once i out music on ipod i want to unload of comptour due to memroy . but will update music now and again please help specialy with first one i havent yet got to use it yet
I get error Oxe800000a on my ipod and I can’t transfer songs imported into itunes to the ipod. I get no green plus sign.
I personally prefer to use Windows Media Player for all my music, so it kinda sucks your stuck with using iTunes if you have a iPod. :/
Hi Dave,
How can I download CD’s to my ipod from the internet rather than downloading one song at a time?
Thanks!
Dear Dave u procedures were well thought out and i think i have a better understanding. I did think it was confusing on how to dowload music from a windows media player that is an HP. I do have all that music and did not want o pay for it. Help would be nice, Benjamin
I am struggling with my iPod and you made it very easy with the step by step procedure. Well done.
hey Dave….I have WMP ver12. it is doubling and tripling my library and playlists. any idea why? also, the “updating media files” seems to run all the time, is this normal? sure slows things down. thanks for your help
Hey Dave…….I have window media player 12. for some reason it has been doubling and tripling the songs in my library and sometimes my saved playlists as well. any ideas? also, do all of the versions constantly update the media files and make the whole thing real sluggish? any help you can give is greatly appreciated
Dear Dave,
I’m living and working in Cambodia for 2 years and travelling alot for my work. My friend put music on my i-pod shuffle for me which are songs NOT from my i-tunes library….I’m getting desperate to delete and add new ones and haven’t got a clue how to do it…can you help??
hey i have a mp3 go gear philips that i have no idea how to sync videos to it would be great if youd help me. thanks
hii dave
i have an apple ipod shuffle.i have already downloaded itunes to it i also dragged songs frm my music folder to it and after ejecting when i switch it onn it showz no music in unit… i have tried it at least 10 times but end up with same result please help mee…
Dave, I can download music to my iPod but I don’t want to download the music FROM iTunes, because I heard it costs money (I think). So is there a program where I can download the musics to iTunes then to my iPod? If so, can you (or anyone else) tell me? Thank you :).
I bought an iPod touch 3g to replace my 2g, iTunes asked if I wanted to replace the old one with this one, I did, only it told me the iPod had to reset so it turned off and it didn’t automatically turn on, so I did it manually. Now I have no songs or apps on it and when I plug it in the screen is white and just says iPod. I don’t have the internet, I live in a rural area, and I don’t know if that will affect the iPod. Can you help me?
hey dave .. i have an ipod nano and everything worked fine .. but then a friend of me bought a ipod and we tryied to get my music on her ipod .. and we finelly got it but now i cant put any music on my ipod anymore and i dont know why .. its really weird… well i downloaded winamp.. but this didnt help … please help me .. i wanna put new music on my ipod
ive downloaded 2 songs onto my pc, but cant find where they are,they dont show up on my plqaylist, although i can listen to them on my laptop. any ideas ?
i don’t know how to put music on my ipod can u help me PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Dave.Your website helped me, I am P.C. Literate but MAC ignorant.