How to convert a video so that you can view it on your iPod Touch.

1. Click on the video in your iTunes.

2. Select Advanced.

3. Select Convert Selection for Pod.

4. Add the converted video to your iPod Touch.

How to enable your iPod Touch to sync with Outlook 2007 Contacts.

1. Open iTunes and connect the iPod Touch to the computer.

2. Select the iPod Touch on the left pane.

3. Click the Info tab at the top of the screen.

4. Under the Contacts section, turn on Sync contacts from to Outlook.

5. Click Apply and you’re done.

Here’s a workaround for a problem when you sync your iPod with a Windows XP computer and you get an error:

Disk cannot be read from or written to

1. Disconnect the iPod.

2. Right-click My Computer and select Properties.

3. Click the Hardware tab.

4. Click the Device Manager button.

5. Expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers.

6. Right-click Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller choose Disable.

Now try attaching your iPod again and syncing. Hopefully it will work. If it doesn’t check out the Apple article: “Disk cannot be read from or written to” when syncing iPod or “Firmware update failure” error when updating or restoring iPod

If you have an iPod Nano or iPod Video, you can display lyrics to songs while the music plays. Here’s how to enable this feature.

1. Get lyrics off the web by searching for the song lyrics. For example, I wanted to find lyrics for “Across the Sea” a song by Weezer. I searched on Google for +”across the sea” +lyrics. I then clicked on a web page that contained the lyrics to the song.

2. Highlight the lyrics on the web page with your mouse, then select Edit > Copy.

3. First you have to add lyrics to the song manually. In iTunes, right click the song you want to add lyrics to and select Get Info.

4. Click the Lyrics tab.

5. Right-click into the box and select Paste. The lyrics should be then be pasted into the box.

6. Sync the song on iTunes with your iPod.

7. When you play the song, the lyrics to the song should show on the screen after pressing the center button a few times.

How to assign a picture to a Contact on your iPod Touch.

1. Tap Contacts.

2. Select the contact entry.

3. Tap Edit.

4. Tap Take Photo if you want to take a new picture. You can also tap Choose Existing Photo and select a photo.

5. Move and scale the photo the way you want it. Drag the photo up, down, or sideways. Pinch or double-tap to zoom in or out.

6. Tap Set Photo and you’re finished assigning a photo to a contact.

Source: iPod Touch Features Guide

It looks like there are a bunch of iPod Touch users that keep getting a screen prompting them for a January Upgrade. When clicking on No Thanks or Remind me later they get an error:

An error occurred. The iTunes store could not process your request.

Then the message won’t go away.

Here are some steps to try for this issue:

1. Unplug the iPod Touch and disconnect the computer from the Internet.

2. Close iTunes.

3. Wait a few seconds and Re-Connect the iPod Touch.

4. Start iTunes.

5. When prompted with the message, click Remind me later or No Thanks, then OK then quickly click the X button at the top to stop loading iTunes shop.

6. Close iTunes and reconnect to the Internet.

7. Start iTunes.

For more assistance, you might want to try the Apple Forum entries: Can’t get rid of iTouch upgrade offer

Tired of carrying your clunky laptop around to give presentations? Present them using your iPod instead. I recently discovered an applications called iPresent It that can accomplish this. It converts PowerPoint presentations or PDF files to a format that can be displayed on any color iPod. The software isn’t free, but at $17.95 it seems worth it to me. You will also need to purchase an iPod AV cable to work with it as well so that you can attach your iPod to a projector.

How to enable your iPod Touch to sync with the Outlook 2007 Calendar.

1. Open iTunes and connect the device to the computer.

2. Select the iPod Touch on the left pane.

3. Click the Info tab toward the top of the screen.

4. Under the Calendars section, turn on Sync calendars from to Outlook. Set any of the other options listed as needed.

5. Click Apply.

Now your iPod Touch will sync with Outlook 2007.

You can reset your Home screen back to the way it was when you first started using your iPod Touch. Here’s how.

1. From the Home screen choose Settings.

2. Select General.

3. Select Reset.

4. Select Reset Home Screen Layout.

Source: iPod Touch Features Guide 

How to delete your iPod or iPhone backup from your computer. Doing so might save you a bit of hard drive space. It’s also good to keep things clean if you no longer sync the device with your computer any longer.

1. Open iTunes.

2. Select iTunes > Preferences (Mac) or Edit > Preferences (Windows).

3. Select the Syncing tab.

4. Select an iPod or iPhone on the list and click Remove Backup.

Enable or prevent the iPod Touch from automatically capitalizing letters.

1. Select Settings from the home screen.

2. Select General.

3. Select Keyboard.

4. Turn Auto-Capitalization to on or off.

I received a new iPod Nano over the holidays. I have carried it with me everywhere. It’s been in my pocket or in my bag most of the time. In under 3 weeks, the thing has many scratches all over it. Even on the back side where the metal part is. I have not exposed this iPod to too much that I thought could do this much damage. The most it has been up against is other fabric in my pocket or bag. I did start using the included pouch that comes with the iPod to protect it. I have still seen new scratch marks on the unit appear. I suspect that the outside is just plain cheap and non-resilient.

I highly recommend investing in a case. I wouldn’t recommend buying one at your local Apple Store or Best Buy though. Those places seem to charge way too much for a simple plastic case. I have found many cases on eBay and at dollar stores in my area for around $1. Of course it’s too late for me. My iPod is already beaten up and it doesn’t really matter how much protection I have at this point.

See also:
Keep your iPod scratch free

Need to extract the music files off of your iPod to your PC? I located a handy tool that will take all of the music files from your iPod and convert them into MP3 format. It will also copy your video files as well.

The tool is called iPodExtract. I prefer it because it has a very simple interface. Just select your iPod drive, then select where you want the files to go. Please note that the iPod must be enabled as a hard drive before using this tool.

How to add a clock for a different time zone to your iPod.

1. Select Extras from the Main Menu.

2. Select Clock.

3. Select New Clock.

4. Choose a continent.

5. Choose the city or country for the new clock.

That’s it. Your new clock is now created so that you can save information for more than one time zone.

How to add notes that you have created on your computer to your iPod.

1. Connect your iPod to the computer and enable your iPod as a hard drive.

2. Create your text document in an application like Wordpad or TextEdit.

3. Your iPod should show up as a hard drive under Computer on PC, or on your Mac Finder. Save or drag and drop your text file in the Notes folder on your iPod.

That’s all there is to it. You should be able to access the notes on your iPod now by selecting Extras > Notes.