How Do You Sync An IPod Touch?

So you've made the decision to purchase a top of the range Apple iPod, the iPod Touch and enjoy the large touch screen and use the wi-fi in all its glory. Next you will want to sync content from your iTunes library over to your new iPod – how do you do this? Well the good news is that it is really easy to do. Please note, I've assumed that this is the very first time you have connected your iPod to iTunes and that you are using an Apple Mac computer.

1.    When you first turn on your iPod a symbol will appear on the screen asking for you to connect the iPod to iTunes. Firstly, open iTunes and then connect your iPod to iTunes using the white USB connection lead supplied in the package. After a few seconds the screen will refresh asking you to give the device a name.

2.    Next you will be asked if you want to sync all of your content over to the iPod. Here, you will need to select NO. Apple have had to make compromises with the iPod Touch in terms of hard drive space to accommodate the physical size of the device, the touch screen and the wi-fi facility. As a consequence, the hard drive on an iPod Touch is limited to 8Gb, 16Gb or 32Gb depending on which model you purchased (quite small compared to the 160Gb for the iPod Classic). So this means if you have a large library, then you won't be able to fit everything on in one go.

3.    After the screen refreshes again, you will see your iPod Touch appear in the devices section of iTunes on the left hand navigation. Select the icon for the iPod, which has now been assigned the name you gave it in step 1 above. At the top of the display are a series of tabs showing from left to right, Summary, Music, Movies, TV shows, Podcasts, Photos, Info and Applications. For now, we will ignore music, movies and tv shows and come back to them a little later.



4.    Podcasts. Select the podcast tab where a new box will appear showing a list of all the podcasts (audio or video) which you subscribe to. To keep your content fresh, select sync either '1 most recent episode' or '1 most recent unplayed'. Next to sync all podcasts or selected podcasts, click on selected. Finally click on the tick box next to the specific podcasts you want to sync as you may not want them all.



5.    Moving to Photos, it is a very similar process. By default, iTunes will pull in photos from iPhoto but this can be changed manually if necessary. Press selected albums which pulls in a list of all the albums, not events from your iPhoto library. Scroll down the list and select the specific albums you want to see on your iPod.



6.    Info tab next… Select sync all contacts, the specific calendar you want to and any Safari bookmarks you may have. Further down the page is a list of any email accounts you have set up in Apple Mail. Select the account you want to sync.

7.    Once you are happy with your selection, press sync. Now, depending on how much content you are syncing, this could take a while so let it runs it's course and come back to the machine.

8.    Once the sync is complete, we can turn our attention to music, movies and TV. Personally, I move up to the main library and drag and drop content in from here. For music, find the particular album, albums or playlist you want (by pressing and holding down the command key). Next, keep holding down the mousepad and drag these albums over to hover over the name of your iPod. A small green + sign will appear and when it does, let go of the mouse. In the above status bar, you will see all of your tracks being copied over to the iPod.

9.    For movies and TV shows, the process is exactly the same, select the movies you want and then drag and drop the content onto the iPod. You need to keep in mind however that movies and TV shows have a much larger file size than a music track and will rapidly fill up the iPod's hard drive. So watch the movie you want and then delete it.

So there you have it, it really is a simple process to set up and does the majority of the hard work for you. Give it a try and if you get stuck, let me know?