How to Download Music on Your iPod Nano

By Ron Augustine

The iPod Nano is a digital music player from Apple. If you've just purchased your first Nano and want to download songs to it, you only need to follow a few steps, and you'll be up to your ears in tunes in no time.

Install iTunes on your computer. This program, available as a free download from Apple, consolidates and organizes the music on your computer so that you can easily transfer it to your iPod Nano. You can download versions for both Mac and Windows computers (see link in Resources). Once you have iTunes up and running, you can buy songs from the iTunes store, rip songs from your own CDs, or add MP3 files from your computer to your iTunes library.

Plug the white cord that came with your iPod Nano into a USB port on your computer, and plug the other end into your Nano. The computer will automatically recognize the iPod Nano after a few seconds, and it will guide you through setup, which shouldn't take longer than five minutes. Now you can plug the device into your computer at any time to transfer songs to your Nano or take songs off it.

Transfer music. You can set up iTunes to automatically sync your iPod Nano with your music library, so that the songs and playlists on your Nano will be identical to those on your computer. If you choose this option, all you have to do is plug in the Nano, and all songs will be transferred.

You can also manually manage your music. With your iTunes library open, simply drag songs from the library to the Nano icon in the left-hand column of iTunes. The track will copy to the Nano. Click on the Nano icon to see that the song in the Nano's library.

To take a song off your Nano manually, click the title in your Nano's library, then hit "Delete" on your keyboard. The song will instantly be removed from the Nano.

Eject the Nano. When you're finished downloading or deleting songs and want to unplug the Nano, click the "Eject'" icon to the right of the Nano icon in iTunes. Wait a couple seconds until the Nano icon disappears. The Nano and USB cord can now be unplugged from the computer.

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