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iPod: The Missing Manual | 
| Author: J.d. Biersdorfer
Publisher: O'Reilly
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 923772
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 059600477X
Dewey Decimal Number: 004.165
UPC: 636920004776
EAN: 9780596004774
ASIN: 059600477X
Publication Date: June 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The iPod is the world's bestselling music player. But if you think that it's just a music player, then you must think Clark Kent is just a newspaperman.In this book, New York Times tech columnist J. D. Biersdorfer blows open the secret doors of this gleaming, chrome-and-white beauty. With humor and authority, she lays bare an astonishing collection of useful tips, tricks, and shortcuts like these: - iPod as PalmPilot. The iPod can suck in your calendar, address book, to-do list, and notes from a Mac or PC, and then display them at the touch of a button. It also doubles as an alarm clock and stopwatch.
- iPod as hard drive. You can use your iPod to carry gigantic files from place to place.
- iPod as e-book. The iPod makes an excellent book reader, capable of scrolling through recipes, driving directions, and even Web pages.
- iPod as GameBoy. The iPod's games are perfect time-killers for waiting rooms, bus rides, and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
iPod: The Missing Manual is much more than it seems, too. It not only covers all iPod models for both Mac and Windows, including the super-slim 2003 series, it's also the ultimate guide to iTunes, MusicMatch Jukebox Plus, and even the new iTunes Music Store.No matter what kind of music moves you, iPod: The Missing Manual will help you get much more out of your iPod--and much more into it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! June 21, 2007
John R. Vacca (Pomeroy, Ohio)
Are you getting the most out of your iPod? If you're not, then this book is for you. Author J D Biersdorfer, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that has easy to follow graphics, crystal-clear explanations, and guidance of the most useful things your iPod can do.
Biersdorfer, begins by showing you what lies underneath all of the menus on your iPod or iPod Nanao and what each item does. Then, the author focuses on introducing you to iTunes most basic and useful tools. Next, she shows you how to make playlists of songs you've added to iTunes. She also looks at how much you will spend in the iTunes store. The author then spotlights the video side of iTunes. Then, she shows you even more ways to use your iPod. The author continues by explaining the simple procedures for playing your iPod songs through the woofers and tweeters in your life. Then, she explains what to do if your iPod's acting weird. Finally, the author kicks it up a notch and gives you some ideas of what else you can do with iTunes and the iPod besides just watching and listening.
In this most excellent book, you'll learn how to install iTunes. Perhaps more importantly, this book will show you everything from turning your iPod on, to charging your iPod without a computer.
 I won't throw it away, but ... February 10, 2005
Werner Cohn (Brooklyn, NY USA)
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
I bought this book at the same time that I bought my iPod. I was taken in by the "Missing Manual" part, hoping that the book would give some basic information on how to use the iPod and the related software. It does no such thing.
To illustrate my frustration with this book, let me relate a couple of exeriences.
The iPod idea is not really meant for classical music, since classical music pieces are not organized around "songs." I happen to be interested in classical music, and, with time, I have been able to work around the iPod's limitations and make it serviceable for Beethoven, Bach, and the rest. But this book was of NO help in this. Instead, it tells the reader that if he is a classical music buff, he will just have to suffer for his art.
Keeping in mind my first lessons in computing, back in the 1980's, I know that the three basic laws of all computing are backup, backup, and backup. When you work with an iPod, backup is even more important than for ordinary computing. This book is of very little help with that. Again, I had to learn by myself, without much help from this book.
On the other hand, there are things in this book that are interesting. The way to use this book is not as a source of answers to questions you have (that would really be a manual), but as a source of ideas and facts that you never knew were there. So I won't throw it out in disgust; I'll read in it from time to time. I have gained some insights from it and will no doubt do so in the future.
 Lives Up to Its Name January 12, 2005
choiceweb0pen0 (Lafayette, LA USA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Lucky enough to get a 20 Gigabyte 4G iPod, I wanted to know how to do everything on it as quickly as possible. While I had used iTunes before getting this iPod, I found this book useful and very readable to discover how to use my iPod for more than playing tunes. I appreciate all the shareware and freeware mentioned in the book is on the book publisher's website. Most are fairly small downloads that won't take too long even on a dial-up connection.
Yes, the information is dated as this book gets to be a year old now, but still it is a useful reference book and hopefully a newer edition will be out later this year. I found many websites to supplement I do admit I just borrowed this book from the library, so my expectations are lower than someone who forked out money to get it. I picked up Guy Hart-Davis's "How to Do Everything With Your iPod & Ipod mini second edition" and while it does cover some things the missing manual doesn't, it is less readable and even more out of date, not to mention a condescending lecture on stealing music. So look through this book and consider waiting for a new edition and/or try out some online resources.
Lightweight, too lightweight. October 14, 2004
Giles Becket (CINCINNATI, OHIO USA)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Many of the missing manual books are excellent, but this one, in my opinion, falls sadly short. Surely people who are interested in a technical insight to a technical device want useful details, rather than reiteration of the obvious and endless "soggy' jokes.
The book isn't without some merit, and I would recommend borrowing it from a library or a friend so you can flip through it. But, I would wait before buying it in the hope the author updates it and puts more "meat" into the text.
 Fooled again... October 10, 2004
Sander Claassen (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
67 out of 74 found this review helpful
Because we bought an iPod mini recently, I thought it would be smart to get some insider's information how to make use of all its features. So I first checked some magazines, but they were kind of expensive. For just a little more, I might as well buy a complete book, I reasoned. But then I checked some often mentioned ipod related web sites. I already found some interesting information there, but I still found them not as complete as I had expected. So I checked Amazon to see if there were some good books. After reading reviews of different books, I had the impression that "iPod & iTunes: Missing Manual" was not just a good and complete book about the iPod. It was probably also the best around.
But when the book was delivered and I started reading it, I immediately noticed that I had stepped into that trap again: there are no good manuals for frequently updated hardware and software...
I should have sticked with trying things out by myself, perhaps checking some of the web sites once in a while.
Having read the book, I should say it's outdated (why bother about the old MusicMatch software for Windows?) and very superficial. I would have expected many more smart tricks (like how to create smart playlists). Overall, I think at most 10% of the book has some value. But to call this book a manual or reference is way too much honor for it.
I almost did not find any really surprising insights in this book. If you're not too stupid to be able to try out the iTunes software for yourself (going through all its (sub)menus once to see what it does), you don't need this book at all.
Anyway, this book proved to me (once again) that one should never buy books like these, unless it's your hobby to support their authors/publishers.
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